Customer Reviews

Flavour of the Weak

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This Frontline Assembly record is different from what they did before. The band lost Rhys Fulber as a full-time member, but Bill Leeb and Chris Peterson proved that their creativity is top-form. This record's sound is best described as apocalyptic dark techno. The band's dancefloor friendliness has increased, while the guitars are almost gone. The vocals are sparse and less aggressive than on their previous records. This is FLA's reply to an outburst of powerful electronica bands like The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, The Future Sound of London, and others. Samples from these bands are abound on the album, and those who have this and the mentioned bands' CDs will be surprised with how well the original pieces of music are incorporated into FLA's complex song structures.

"Flavour of the Weak" really shines in sampling. "Corruption" borrows drum loops from Underworld's "Pearl's Girl" and ChemBros' "Get up on it Like This". "Sado-Masochist" uses a lot from ChemBros' "Setting Sun", while "Comatose" has parts of at least 3 songs by The Prodigy in it. These are just a few mentioned examples, there are much more in this album.

What's really great about FLA, and this album serves as a perfect example, is that their songs never produce the impression of getting nowhere. The compositions are long, well written and they actually progress and develop the theme, so the listener is always involved.

My favorite track here is "Evil Playground" with "Corruption", "Sado-Masochist" and "Colombian Necktie" not far behind. There's also a hidden 3-minute composition on the CD which is after a long pause in the end of track #8. Contrary to the rest of the album, it is a harsh chaotic industrial instrumental.

With this record Frontline Assembly proved that no matter the line-up changes, in the year 1997 they were still a force on the industrial/EBM scene, and they had lots of ideas to express with their music. Highly recommended!

1997 was the year that FLA took trance on head first, and did it in such a way that they masterfully over did the likes of the Chemical Brothers with the usage of acid loops, sampling, and break beats, and other harsh electronic rhythms. The group still clung to it's industrial side, but explored new boundaries that which it never had done up until the introduction of Chris Peterson, the programmer who would replace Rhys Fulber for the next 3 albums up until 2001's Epitaph.

FLAvour still hangs onto the pop formulated song writing throughout the album, utilizing the usual "verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, bridge, verse 3, chorus, chorus, outro", but manages to build around this in a full-fledged electronic fashion that is borderline chaotic. If one thing that could describe this album, it is the idea that the musicians have lost all control and have let the instruments have their way with them, rather than the musicians having their way with the instruments. Bill Leebs growling vocals match perfectly with the electronic madness that emanates throughout this album.

The listener will be blown away instantly when they pop the disk into their player, being taken on an electro shock ride down the tubes of one of the most fast paced and epic electronic intros that Front Line Assembly has ever created: Corruption. The ride does not stop there, as it then plows into the extremely catchy and dark trance laden Sado-Masochist; which turns out to be one of the oddest anti-drug songs one could ever find. Acid then takes over, dominating the listener with a hammering repetition chorus and dark dreary sound that can only be found on Auto Erotic. The album's centerpiece then takes place on Columbian Necktie, a song about hangings that perhaps was more than just coincidentally placed after a song about getting off with a noose. Necktie takes the listener on another fast-paced ride; much like Corruption and Sado-Masochist, but it this time instead utilizes an addictive chorus that has become a motto of Front Line Assembly. Evil Playground follows, which is another long instrumental much like Corruption, but it instead rivets around in the realm of Goa Trance and grinding industrial sampling. Comatose is the most traditional FLA song on the album, as many have stated in the past (and is the `other' signature song on this disk.) Life=Leben comes after Comatose, and begins to return the listenre to the realm of insanity, with its wild bass driven synthesizers and distortion effects on Bill Leeb's voice. It is still a little formulated, and is more traditional than "Sado" or "Necktie", but it definitely captures the dark out of control feel that is "The FLAvour". The album then closes on Predator, which features the some of the most bizarre usage of Leeb's vocals as well as some wild trance style music.

Being brief in a review for this album almost does not do it justice, but then again, to go into far too much detail will spoil the surprise that the listener will have in store for them. FLAvour is highly recommended to just about any listener looking for mindless electronic music that is as innovative as it is insane.

After a half-decade of decent into the techno-metal genre (mainly fueled by the late, great Rhys Fulber), FLA have finally returned to the roots that all of us old-school fans remember...phase effects, string sounds, and heavy underdubs to bring it all home. The FLA on this album smacks more of the pre-guitar Corrosion, Disorder, Caustic Grip, and Tactical Neural Implant (their best!!!) albums. If FLA continues this trend, maybe other artists that they inspired originally will follow their lead (again) and stop sucking as much as they do.

Front Line Assembly has been banging away at the industrial drum for some time now, and with minimal recognition from the masses. I doubt this stellar release will garner the Canadian outfit any further attention for their contribution to the genre, not to mention their longevity. "Flavour" is an excellent record, though. Dense with overt influences from the "electronica" explosion, Bill Leeb along with new partner Chris Peterson replacing Rhys Fulber, demonstrate why FLA has continued to serve platter after platter of high-strength industrial delicacy. Their ability to incorporate such noticeable techniques and still retain the core FLA structure is a trait to be admired. More important, it is better than any Chemical Bros./Crystal Method record you can buy. FLA has always managed to produce well-structured noise, samples and dancefloor beats in their songs, and the armageddon feel to the music is natural, not like the forced broodiness of such! novices as Gravity Kills, Stabbing Westward, or even Marylin Manson. The instrumental "Corruption" starts off the disc and immediately lets the listener know what kind of stew they're in for. Classic lazy synth build-up leads to an overwhelmingly dancy beat, accompanied by etheral keyboards that don't bludgeon with melodrama. FLA aren't innovators, but they know what they're good at: expert piracy. Relax, and enjoy a seasoned band that can make electronic music sound fresh, even as they rip off the mainstream.

The album kicks off with a Noise Unit-like number, "Corruption", and then moves into the freaky stuff: "Sado-Masochist", "Autoerotic", "Columbian Necktie" and "Comatose". Drum & Bass? FLA? The new line-up dares to be different and passes the credibility test with brilliant, flying colours. Rich textures, lively, colourful, yet inversely disturbing. Finally they're learning that understatement gets you further than blatant noise and gloom. The change is as radical as when Millennium was released, when they made that groundbreaking decision to employ death metal guitar riffs. That turned out to be their best album ever, as far as I'm concerned. Totally original and unique.

after leaning towards more of a metal approach to industrial music, FLA have shown that they can still make great electro music...although it may be entirely different from their other works. Much more experimental and complex than standard EBM and more ethereal, the new album should be a great to just sit and listen to but lack dance floor capacity. nonetheless, a solid album. Standout trackz= columbian necktie, life-leben

this is my favorite FLA album to date. i should have gotten this first and not have listened to those other nay-sayers (they must be all those pesky old-skool industrial fans). i like the way they use the electronica sound more heavily than before. it sort of reminds me of "implode" except it has a faster pace and less domination of atmospherics. i'd have to say that the first track is probably my favorite

Well, after the masterpiece Hard Wired and Rhys Fulber leaving the band, Bill Leeb seemed to realized that he could never make anything quite as good as the last album. So with the recruiting of Chris Peterson he assembles a maelstrom of blips and bloops that just seems to flow from one form to the next with drum beats flying along in the background. While insanely layered and, compared to other techno, could hardly be considered repetitive, FLAvour of the Weak lacks many things. It does not have many vocals, which makes the beats just flow from one to the other without any real cohesion. The vocals it does have are basically an extremely weaker form of those found on Implode or Epitaph and overall it is not nearly as emotive as the other FLA albums. Hard Wired, Millenium and Tactical Neural Implant had a distinctly dark feel, and Epitaph and Implode had a contrast of hope and a darker side of music, FLAvour of the Weak just has none of this musical projection.

I'm sure fans of techno may appreciate this, but overall it is a big let in the otherwise seamless discography of FLA in the last 13 years.

Is this FLA? That's what I thought when I fisrt listened to this cd when it was the last FLA album. Of course I had not listened then to Noise Unit, and so I was very surprised with this cd.
When you give it more listenings you discover the real FLA trademark, it's just that, the same they did with 'Millenium' when they incorporated metal guitars into their sound and maintaining their special style, they did with 'Flavour...' by incorporating more techno elements, removing the guitars, including more danceable rhythms.
I think 'Flavour of the Weak' is not one of the best FLA cds, but it was a good change, a necessary turn of direction after some magnificent albums which followed a more similar style and nedded, I think, a change.

Now the songs:

Corruption (9.5/10): the album begins with an instrumental song, which is quite surprising. It's an amazing song reminding me of Noise Unit's 'Drill' material but without the guitars; climatic, danceable, no vocals nor voice samples. Excellent.

Sado-Masochist (8/10): after the 1st surprise comes the 2nd: how will the new songs with lyrics be? the verses and lines are shorter, the voice sounds less agressive but whispering, except for the chorus in which Leeb sings with his almost natural voice. Good but not perfect.

AutoErotic (8/10): another new example of FLA new sound; like a Hard Wired song but more danceable, more upbeat, less rocky, less disquieting. Strange way of singing, some say like a sort of strange rap song; well, it's a strange song but decent.

Colombian Necktie (8.5/10): the single. Good electronic intro, whispering vocals, excellent chorus with robotical distortion, good techno elements, less film samples than in Hard Wired, no guitars at all.

Evil Playground (8/10): another instrumental. Begins with a children choir sample, i think sampled from a Recoil song, or if not it sounds similar. The song is divided into 2 parts: the 1st, a Delerium-esque piece of relaxing electro-landscapes with some beat, sth like 'Semantic Spaces' material. The 2nd is more NoiseUnitesque, danceable and more upbeat. It gets a bit repetitive for me, though.

Comatose (8.5/10): one of the best here, it's more typical FLA but renovated with the new techno influences. Very good and catchy chorus, anticipating a bit the 'Implode' material.

Life=Leben (8.5/10): a percussive intro, somewhat militaristic, then a very danceable song with silly lyrics but catchy vocals. Good and interesting, even though the easy rhymes.

Predator (8.5/10): strange almost instrumental song; less upbeat, strangely melodic, weirds sounds, vocals almost imperceptible and scarce. At first I didn't like this one, but it grew on me with the time.

To sum up, I think 'Flavour of the Weak' is a good album even though not one of the best by FLA. The change is as spectacular as the 'Millenium' was, and I think it drinks a bit from the other side-project Noise Unit( maybe because of the contact with Haujobb, maybe not). Weaker than 'Hard Wired' and 'Implode', i think it's a decent bridge between those 2 wonderful albums.

FOTW is the spunkiest album Bill has ever done... the addition of Chris Petersen to the line-up was a great move, for Chris is a well established programmer.... cant wait for the new one: Implode!