Customer Reviews

Harsh Generation

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

 

 

As of 2007, this is the best Grendel album. I thought 'Prescription Medicine' (prior album) was just ok. This album is way more interresting in every way. The song "Hate" is amazing! Other songs like "The Judged Ones", "Remnants", and "B.A.A.L (Deliver Me)" have great Electro-Industrial beats and the vocals are clear. The production on this album is excelent, and it seems that Grendel have matured in every way. This is a strong EBM album. Verry aggressive dance music for the black herd. If I had to compare this album musically...I would say it's simulur to [:SITD:], and Combichrist.

Well, the only thing I can say is that this is the BEST release of this Dutch band so far...Buy it, you won't regret it. Sorry I can't write more, but I am listening to them and I can't stop dancing!

This is the Grendel album I've been waiting for. I've always wanted to like the albums, but they were missing something for me. I knew he/they would make something great though. Covering Zombie Nation showed musical smarts and enough of a sense of humor that I knew the potential was there. Harsh Generation delivers on it. I suspect the addition of other players makes a difference, but whatever happened, it worked. Hard, catchy, and intelligent about its themes. The album has significantly more oomph than the previous releases, and much higher production values that make the songs snap out at you. A good sense of play with the ideas, and enough poetic sense to come up with lyrics like "void malign" that avoid falling into trite hateful lyrics yet remain aggressive and/or dark. Use of vocal effects has been pulled back so that a bit of a voice emerges, plus the vocals are more on top than before, giving the songs even more identity. The album is both smartly short and varied, so overall very entertaining. Something of a horror science fiction feel to it, trance friendly harsh ebm. Starts strong and stays strong to the end. By the by, the double disc is well worth it with a great roster of remixers if you can find it.

This is, by far, one of the greatest albums I've ever heard. The songs are very catchy and most of them are very upbeat. The whole album creates a mood ideal for imagining sci-fi universes and maintains great energy throughout. I managed to get my hands on the special edition copy with remixes of all the songs and the remixes (except the Caustic remix) blew me away even harder than the Harsh Generation album! This is an all-time favorite for me, and after months of listening to it with other artists I still find myself enjoying every song on this album. It'll get old after you've listened to it for a week straight, but then it'll keep coming back like a drug addiction throughout the many months ahead. Grendel's creativity and musical genius is worth every last penny spent on this album! Truly amazing!

With the new Grendel EP on the way, I decided to revisit the last album. I expected that after two years the songs would have become if not stale, at least a little dated. I remember when Soilbleed hit the scene in '05/'06, and, quite frankly, if I never heard that song again, it would be too soon. Not that the song itself is bad, per say, but it definitely outstayed its welcome.

On the bright side, Soilbleed did propel Grendel into the stratosphere of the goth/wave scene both in Germany and overseas. 'Harsh Generation' is definitely a product of that newfound direction success brought. The songs are tight: nothing exceeds the five minute mark, and it seems as if all eight real tracks on the album vie for precedence as the 'clubkiller.' Grendel wastes no breath; rather, on this album (unlike the generally unfocused and fatty back catalogue) he fills each track to the brim with ideas. I wish I could pick out highlights, but the whole thing just works as a piece. What would be the 'side b' if vinyl still ruled is certainly a change in pace though, so the songs don't run into each other and have plenty of room to breathe.

Perhaps best of all, there is no filler. Just a 20 second intro and a quick outro, quite necessary given the dense and aggressive nature of the music. Each track can stand on its own as a single, but taken together, they present an effective and cohesive body of work. I wish I could say they about all the bands in the goth/wave scene (I'm looking at you, VNV and APOP. Enough with songs like Detroit Tickets, please).

Grendel has with 'Harsh Generation' finally found a conceptually and commercially viable sound. And what's more, after two years, unlike the Soilbleed EP, it really stands up. There are no 'melodies' to speak of, just that vicious detuned synth riffing, but that's the territory; harsh EBM has never been about getting you to sing along. But the riffing is effective and, when taken together with the bass, really makes people want to move. This is definitely dance music. The production, too, is pristine. I've heard complaints about the low mixing of the drums/percussion, but this is percussive music. It doesn't need the overdriven bass kick of Noisuf-X to deliver the rhythm. The vocal delivery, basslines and riffs all work together to make the songs rhythmically powerful.

What I'm trying to say is, 'Harsh Generation' sounds just as fresh and exciting now as it did two years ago, a feat which, in the ever-changing goth/wave scene, is hard to accomplish. Don't wait for the new material if you're a newcomer to Grendel, this right here is a great place to start.

Harsh beats, catchy dance synth riffs, ripping vocal effects, thrown together with the already great Grendel sound. This will not disappoint. There isn't anything more to say, it's worth every penny.

Grendel's previous album, "Prescription:Medicide," sounded like an overly-distorted Embryodead-era Wumpscut (if you don't believe me, go back and listen to track 1, "Construct Constriction," and then go and listen to the title track of Embryodead. Hear it now? Good). After the noteworthy "Soilbleed" EP, they have now progressed to...bland, uninteresting harsh EBM. It's not that anything about the album is particularly bad, but rather that it doesn't really stand out with any sound of its own. The synth lines are reminiscent of a dozen bands and just about every recent club-friendly release. The vocals are also the stereotypical distorted scream/sing/speak that gets tiresome by track 2. The programming is just varied enough to guarantee that a human being was involved in the creative aspect at some point, but not interesting enough to merit any serious attention. Great filler music but otherwise wholly unremarkable.