The Golden Foretaste of Heaven

Alec Empire

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 26, 2008)
• Original Release Date: January 28, 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Eat Your Heart Out
• ASIN: B000YIGC8M
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #196,951 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"More thrilling torment from one Empire that will never crumble." -- NME [8/10]

"So forward-thinking it suggests an afterlife composed of people not even born yet." -- Clash

"If this is Empire's golden foretaste of heaven, pray you never have to taste hell." -- Out in the City

"This is a terrifying album that should find a place in your record collection. In short, it's fantastically dark; file next to D.E.A.T.H." -- Electric Roulette

* Brand new album from the legendary Atari Teenage Riot frontman.

The energy, the political savvy, and the aggression are all still there, as are the industrial sounds, the barrage of electronic distortion, and the throbbing beats. But also thrown into the mix are a melodic quality and an awareness that the youth of today discover more about themselves and their world on the dance floor than anywhere else.

Alec Empire is many things to many people: a man with an extraordinary recording history, the musical revolutionary behind avant-garde noise-punk outfit Atari Teenage Riot, an electronic music experimentalist who has made records on a Gameboy, and a consummate musician who has worked with an extraordinarily broad range of peers. He has remixed artists as diverse as blues legend R.L. Burnside, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Björk, Rob Zombie, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Slayer, Einstürzende Neubauten, and members of the new hip-hop generation like Company Flow and Prince Paul's Handsome Boy Modeling School. He has toured with Rage Against the Machine, Wu-Tang Clan, Beck, Ministry, and Nine Inch Nails.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A highly enjoyable electro/rock fusion - catchy, but with substance, June 22, 2008

By	Steward Willons - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Alec Empire's latest completely blew me away. It's unexpected, fresh, and inspired. Perhaps it's a bit of a departure from some of his noisier 'digital hardcore' albums, but it combines some of the interesting sonic elements of those projects with almost traditional song structures and plenty of Alec's distinctive vocal delivery.

Before anyone starts to worry that Alec Empire has "sold out", I can assure you that you're not going to be hearing these tunes on the radio anytime soon. They have pop elements, but it's filtered through drum machines and massive distortion. "Bug On My Windshield" makes great use of intermittent odd meter bars to keep things slightly off balance. Some tracks like "On Fire" seem almost like something NIN might write, while "Robot L.O.V.E." reminds me of Meat Beat Manifesto, although these are highly subjective observations and others may not hear a connection.

This is one of Empire's most thoroughly enjoyable releases in a long time. I love his experimental stuff, as well as his really noisy material, but where those tend to require serious listening, "The Golden Foretaste of Heaven" is something you can put on and simply enjoy.

I'm curious to see how others feel about this album because I could see some thinking it's too conventional. As for me, I'm totally impressed and I'll be listening to this one for a long time. I'd recommend this not just to Empire fans, but also to electronic music fans who like a sort of electro/rock hybrid. Hopefully this album will see a proper domestic release to spare us USA fans the outrageous import price.