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Label: Cyclops
Tracks:
- Impaled On Railing (4:44)
- A Man Of Thin Air (5:06)
- Embalmed In Acid (5:42)
- The Heavy Metal Guillotine Approach (5:27)
- Drum One (3:14)
- The One That Sounds Like Tangerine Dream (1:31)
- A Body In Free Drift (8:29)
- The Dream (2:38)
- Petroleum Addicts (11:02)
Line-up:
- Andy Tillison-Diskdrive - Vocals, organ, synthesizers
- Sam Baine - Piano, synthesizers
- Dan Watts - Guitars, samples
- Alex King - Drums
- Ken Senior - Bass
"More Exotic Ways to Die" is the new album of the english band Parallel or
90 Degrees (Po90 for the friends).
We can estimate as the band has brought its style over to the industrial
rock considerably. There is no doubt that in the stereo of these boys must
have sounded groups like Nine Inch Nails, Filter or Gravity Kills lately. We
might qualify this album basically as a crossing among progressive rock and
industrial rock (have they invented the progressive industrial rock?). An
album that probably just will like fans of the current sounds and fans of
bands like Nine Inch Nails, Porcupine Tree or Radiohead among others, and is
going to be difficult to assimilate by classic progressive rock consumers.
Personally I consider this album lower than the previous ones, but what is
indisputable is that po90 continue taking risks in new sounds that
complement their peculiar progressive style. Andy Tillison's certain vocal
lack is obvious in several parts of the album.
First, there's a long suite which gives title to the album, divided in 7
parts (the first 7 tracks of the disc), which at the same time might be
considered to be songs one by one. Some, very direct pieces like "Impaled on
Railing", an old track the band recovers in this album, the industrial "A
Man of Thin Air", "Embalmed in Acid", or powerful "The Heavy Metal
Guillotine Approach". Then we have Dan Watts track, "Drum One", very techno,
the "Ambient" one "The One that Sounds Like Tangerine Dream", and probably
the best piece of the suite, the ending "A Body in Free Drift", that reminds
Po90 of the previous works. The rest are "The Dream", a clearly Nine Inch
Nails track, and surely the best of the entire album, "Petroleum Addicts",
progressive, dirty, forceful, industrial, psychedelic and even symphonic.
Hitherto the new album, but there is still more, because the CD
incorporates a wide multimedia section where we can find almost four more
records in mp3.
First we have a compilation, "Enjoy your Own Smell". Then there is the first
album recorded by the group as far back as 1989 when still they play under
the name of Gold Frankincense and Disk Drive. Also it is included part of an
album that they recorded also under the name of Gold Frankincense and Disk
Drive, just after "No More Travelling Chess" album, with the title "This is
not the End of the World (But you Can See it from Here)". What we find here
are only the four Andy Tillison's compositions, the rest three ones were
composed by the former guitarist of the group, Guy Manning, and they appear
in his own CD's.
The surprise that the group offers us, due hidden under the name "The Great
Gig in the Garden", is a full version of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the
Moon" that performed and recorded the band in 1996 just for fun.
Finally we have a techno-industrial version of "A Man of Thin Air", performed
by Dan Watts, a video-clip and all type of information about the band.
In short, and considering only the new album "More Exotic Ways to Die", I
think it's a bit unsuccessful work compared to the previous ones, though
good, but in a more industrial vein.
Rating: 6.5/10
Ferran Lizana
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