Blackhouse - One Man´s Collection
Shouldn´t need an introduction... BUT! Blackhouse is one of the oldest (and still active) industrial acts from the United States. Been around since the 1984 debut Pro-Life, and to this day has released around 25 albums... and also this compilation. Need a quick intro to this legendary act, then this compilation should serve your hunger. A cool cardboard-thick digipack with a detailed and informational booklet inside, and a very refreshing and cool looking cover-artwork in a scene which has been drowned in second world-war and serial killer-imagery. The compilation offers tracks made between 1984 to 1988, with an extra and last bonus track (maybe brand new!).
Blackhouse is NOT your typical old-school industrial act, although the true old-school industrial sound-aesthetic is there alright. Soundwise they are something in-between early SPK, Einsturzende Neubauten and Whitehouse. Power-electronics infused industrial with elements of ritual-ambiance... and been very much Christian-themed?! Yup! They were also the first Christian-based industrial-act, a pre-cursor to such acts as Swedish Mental Destruction.
Lots of cool cuts on this compilation. The first track More Than You And Me, being a VERY convincing subversive piece of religious industrial mood music. Organic heart-beat drum, edgy 80´s horror-synths, and really excellent warped ritualistic voices here (love the way the voices travel through speakers!). The second track Rhythmus moves away from the gentle hypnotic moods and straight into brutal and rhythmic industrial music, screaming distortion and pounding industrial-scrap rhythms... What more can you ask for?!. Third track Numerology moves closer into complete madness, you simply HAVE to hear it...to understand my short description of it! Next track Power of the Lion is the only track from the debut Pro-Life, any fan of old-school industrial will love it (Kind of... with the Throbbing Gristle´ ish distorted flanger sound). Remember Who Took the Fall is the fifth track, offers almost rap-like vocals and martial industrial rhythms. Sixth track Stairway To Heaven adds more subversive atmospheres to the mix... heart-beat pulse-drum, creepy reversed and distorted vocals shifts between the left channel speaker and to the right with a horrific haunted-house piano sound (Very kind of... Amiterville/Haunted-house thing with this track!).
Seventh track Hope Like A Candle, a piece of iconic industrial music. Probably the most iconic of all the Blackhouse tracks. Rhythmic scrap-metal industrial with a kind of eerie Whitehouese´ish sound going in the background. Eight and ninth track Answers For You and What Do You Know About Me gets closer to that early Whitehouse/and Minimal-Man-sound. Love the rhythmic-noise monotony and the warped over-the-top vocals here! Tenth track Rock Rock offers a dark and cool futuristic Terminator-sound/mood. Cold robotic dancy track with a sense of ritualistic doom anyone? Next track simply Dog, is the track which does not appear on any Blackhouse album. And yes, being God backward if you haven´t noticed. Cool kind of dub´ish Scorn-like rhythms, screaming microphone/loose-wire-distortions, and recording of barking dogs? It´s mad as hell, but it works!. Last track being Totally Gone, almost works around a kind of... Fad Gadget meets the Human League kind of melody/sound (Interesting).
And there you go. Madness from the start and to the end. Lots of cool 80s industrial rhythms to please fans of Dive or Esplendor Geometrico, tons of eerieness for fans of Suicide and Minimal Man and lots and lots of severe sound-brutality to please Whitehouse and SPK fans. A truly great industrial-music gem, and a perfect introduction to the beginner! And again, it´s out as the coolest looking digipack to Dark Vinyl (link below!)
Seventh track Hope Like A Candle, a piece of iconic industrial music. Probably the most iconic of all the Blackhouse tracks. Rhythmic scrap-metal industrial with a kind of eerie Whitehouese´ish sound going in the background. Eight and ninth track Answers For You and What Do You Know About Me gets closer to that early Whitehouse/and Minimal-Man-sound. Love the rhythmic-noise monotony and the warped over-the-top vocals here! Tenth track Rock Rock offers a dark and cool futuristic Terminator-sound/mood. Cold robotic dancy track with a sense of ritualistic doom anyone? Next track simply Dog, is the track which does not appear on any Blackhouse album. And yes, being God backward if you haven´t noticed. Cool kind of dub´ish Scorn-like rhythms, screaming microphone/loose-wire-distortions, and recording of barking dogs? It´s mad as hell, but it works!. Last track being Totally Gone, almost works around a kind of... Fad Gadget meets the Human League kind of melody/sound (Interesting).
And there you go. Madness from the start and to the end. Lots of cool 80s industrial rhythms to please fans of Dive or Esplendor Geometrico, tons of eerieness for fans of Suicide and Minimal Man and lots and lots of severe sound-brutality to please Whitehouse and SPK fans. A truly great industrial-music gem, and a perfect introduction to the beginner! And again, it´s out as the coolest looking digipack to Dark Vinyl (link below!)
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