Customer Reviews

99%

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Think of what else was out during the time this album was cut. It still sounds better than most out there today. This band shines live. You MUST see their live show.

My purchase of this album was to replace my old copy which I originally got in the early 90's but which got worn out (!)

Meat Beat Manifesto typify the best Industrial has to offer - gritty, listenable beats and lyrics that demonstrate an intelligent, if cynical, perspective on modern culture and consumerism.

99% isn't as polished as, and the messages are a lot more sketchy than those on, the later "Satyricon" (which is truly a monumental album), however for those of us that like catchy industrial music which keeps your mind surfing on the edge of the subversive, you couldn't ask for better.

Helter Skelter/Dogstar Man is best enjoyed on an empty dancefloor at 2am in the morning in your local alternative club.

that's right, Actual Sounds & Voices is light years ahead of this album, but then, it was released an entire decade afterward for cripes sakes. lots of samples, lots of distortion, plenty of funky guitars and jazzy horns to be trademark MBM. best song is 10x The Speed of Love.

They've been around, and here's one of the brightest beginnings for this very influential band. "Psyche Out" on this release, it jams from the get-go through the end. My first Meat Beat Manifesto album was actually Satyricon (still my favorite)and here I can see the roots of that album begin to blossom.

The only slight disappointment is the sound QUALITY of the CD. I'm not sure why, but the album sounds a bit flat & distorted (like comparing mp3s to true wav files). If you have a forgiving ear that doesn't notice the difference between a song off of the radio vs a CD, then it won't matter. This is a jem worth getting! Highlights are "Now," "Psyche Out," and "Deviate." They've got some soul for a bunch of white boys.

while bordering at times to hip-hop, pop or whatever, the ridiculously harsh beats and angst-ridden growls quickly eliminate any doubts this is industrial.

A cathartic ordeal...The landscape created by 99% is similar to some NIN or older Ministry but with this creepy undercurrent that evokes the feeling that you won't quite awaken from this sweat-soaked urban nightmare. After listening to this, you'll feel like you need a shower. What Slayer's Reign in Blood did to to speed/death metal MBM's 99% is for Techno-Industrial... Their more recent stuff is also excellent, but this uniquely fearsome recording has a depth of eerie intensity their more recent stuff can't quite seem to evoke. And live they are just incredible...They don't tour much so if they come around GO

... it's noisy,sample based techno. It has more to do with Hip hop and soul than Industrial music. I never really understood why they got lumped in with that genre. I guess because it's a little more experimental and darker than something like Fat boy slim. It actually sits better along side albums like Eno and David Byrne's "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts"
Anyways, this really is an amazing album.

This is another album that I can play, and enjoy as much now as when I first bought it in 1991.
This is a timeless, upbeat classic.
This was the first album that I loaded onto my Zune, and the last that I will take off.
Buy this cd!!!

for me this is the link between mbm's industrial start and their (or, to be precise, his) evolution into the thinking person's fatboy slim. i think of it as 'violator's' older, nastier brother, and it's also my favourite album of all time
having first decided to investigate mbm on the basis (brilliance) of the 1992 singles of 'mindstream' and 'edge of no control', i unfortunately cannot remember my initial reaction upon hearing this album. what i do know is that it quickly grew into such an integral part of my lfe that i've worn out two cd copies. as stated it's teh bridge between two very distinct musical styles, equally superbly covering both bases while having quite a poppy sound too. track by track then
'now', intro starts off with an indistinct drum beat, almost hip-pop in style. loses a point for what i see as being a religious inference - 9/10
'psyche out'. wow, my fave track when i first heard the album, since realised that he's rehashing 'genocide', but of course masterfully done 10/10
'all the things you are'. for some reason this track scared the bejesus outta my brother, must ask him why one of these days 10/10
'hello teenage america'. a pias sytle piano line and industrial beats. can't go wrong with that 10/10
'10*faster than the speed of love'. brilliant, just brilliant. probably the most poppy track on the album 10/10
99%. 19 second segue
'dogstar man/ helter skelter'. essentially two moments of genius welded together. samples clockwork orange amongst other things. at the moment this along with 99% and '10*' are my fave moments of the album 10/10
'think fast'. rather a bizarre track, starts off with an ethereal voice (you have to have the volume up really loud to hear it, which for me is not an issue). along with '10*' probably the best example of (i assume) drum prgramming on the album. 10/10
'hallucination generation'. the oddest track on the album in that the first minute or so is just two sampled voices alongside a bassline before it explodes into an industrial nirvana (the state, not the band). 10/10
'deviate'. for some reason the only track it took me a while to get into. in my mind a close relative of 'radio babylon'. 10/10
i can only recommend that anyone who likes 'violator' check this album out. anyone with an interest in how industrial music should sound should check out 'storm the studio' and 'armed audio warfare'. and anyone with an interest in alternative dance music should check out mbm's post 99% albums, though if they're wise they'll check this one out too. something for everyone.

MBM's finest hour. The culmination of everything they worked towards before they all fell apart. Jack Dangers would dissolve into the San Francisco scene of back washed experimental music and reggae influences. This album was sharp, hard and it was the ultimate dance floor experience. Psyche Out, Helter Skelter and Now were dance classics!