Search - Neuroticfish :: The Bomb

How to blow up EBM

Keith Tyler | Seattle, WA, USA | 12/19/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"While Neuroticfish would otherwise seem to be an archetype of industrial/EBM, listening to this EP leaves me wondering whether the artist's "EBM is dead" mantra is a eulogy, or a mission.



The music is good, energetic and invigorating, sufficiently dark and bitter-sounding for industrial/EBM. And while the music is commendable, it somehow seems more of a vehicle than a devotion.



The deathblow to suspension of belief is the "your ad here" snippet inserted into the intro, bridge, or elsewhere in the song and its remixes (save for the Dune version). Is it some kind of sardonic statement? An expression of "EBM has become commercial" so blatant it grates? Either way, it destroys the enjoyment of the song, regardless of its benevolence or truth.



The song is still a good one, and the additional tracks are also recommended. In order to fully enjoy it, you'll have to tacitly accept the jarring commercialism. Which, one imagines, is the opposite of the desired effect."