Customer Reviews

State of Mind

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

 

 

Given that this was Front Line Assembly's second album (not counting the "Total Terror" demos), it feels strange to call it their best, especially considering that there have been at least seven albums since. But "State of Mind" has a raw, primitive quality to it that you can't find in industrial albums released nowadays. Bill Leeb knew how to make use of space back in the late '80s and didn't feel the need to throw all the effects in the studio at the listener. It's a dark album without being self-consciously so, and Leeb's gripping, original use of voice samples adds a touch of gritty drama you certainly won't find in the (strangely more popular) KMFDM canon. Yes, there are other great industrial albums, but this is certainly in the top five.

Poor recording aside, this is one of my all-time favorite discs, it needs to be remastered. "Eastern Voices" is one of my favorites and would be a great song on any disc but my favorite and one of my all-time favorite gems is "Sustain Upright". "Sustain Upright" is one of the most eerily addictive songs I have ever heard and cannot get enough, despite owning this disc for nearly 20 years. State of Mind is very reminiscent of Future Sound of London and can't help but wonder if this disc was a big influence for FSOL. I heartily recommend this disc for any music fan but don't give up on the first couple of listens. Give it several listens to build the synapses and you will be rewarded. If you don't buy then you should definitely download "Sustain Upright".

If you like this one there's no question you'll love Gashed Senses & Crossfire too. FLA has had so many styles and influences over the years that you can literally like 2 or 3 of their cd's and loathe the rest of them. Well this is one of the 3 for me that I consider true FLA. I listed GS&F above and the other one is The Initial Command. Enjoy

This was the first FLA album I ever got, back when it was brand new. It has continued to not only be my favorite Front Line Assembly album, it also is an album which I continue to listen to on a regular basis even well over a decade later.
If you are looking for really intense dance tracks, this album is not for you. Even though a lot of it is very beat driven, for the most part it is an eerie album that evokes a very dark mood. I absolutely love this album, and if you are into any kind of music of this genre and don't own this album you need to get a copy of it.

This album is interesting because I see many of the elements that Leeb would later develop in his uncountable side-projects and in FLA; Some of these songs sound as pre-gashed senses and crossfire attempts: 'First Reprisal', 'Resistance' others are instrumental and remind me of some Delerium songs: 'Eastern Voices', 'Testimony'; even 'Resistance' anticipates in mood and chorus some songs from the 'Hard Wired' epoch.(no, its chorus is almost identical to 'Mindphaser') However, the album is rather poorly recorded, and cannot compete with the albums that Skinny Puppy were recording at the time; the electronics sound a bit muffled even if the sounds are interesting: it seems more a problem of recording, anyway. Leeb's voice sounds raw; the album is naturally divided into two parts belonging to different recording sessions; the second part, recorded in 1988, sounds a bit better, especially Leeb's voice: compare his voice in 'Resistance', for example. I cannot say this is the best FLA album, but it's maybe more miscellaneous, even if it has less variety of sounds, than other albums such as 'Hard Wired', for example.

Don't get me wrong i like this FLA album.... but if you listen to the later stuff it's much mere better. One of the things i don't like about this album is must of the songs do not sing in it! im guessing only 3 or 4 songs do have vocials. Im so glad i got this CD in my FLA collecton! this CD is hard to come by these days.

Like all FLA albums before and after, State of Mind attempts to emulate the zeitgeist through prevalent use of voice samples often providing a whole new interpretive dimension to the songs. Here it's the usual: religious and sociopolitical fanatics spouting off their extremist views amidst Bill Leeb's overwhelmingly industrial approach to melodic composition. With that taken into consideration, it's virtually impossible to overlook the consummately cheap production work applied here which often borders on compromising State of Mind's listenability. With the opening track "First Reprisal", the listener is given a perfectly accurate portrait of what's to come - robust industrial beats set alongside vocals processed in varying degrees from one track to another. The general sense of discomfort found on the album is most aggressively enforced in "Malignant Fracture", featuring what seems to be a deliberate attempt at disorienting the listener to a point of annoyance with two separate drumloops set intolerably out of step with one another for the duration of the track. Surfacing as the diamond in the rough is the ambient side closer "Testimony" which bears a brief, albeit somber respite far removed from the poorly equalized clanks and crashes permeating just about every other track. What shows up instead is a subdued, percussion-free zone with unobtrusive sound effects reverberating throughout. Similarly, "Eastern Voices" holds its own ambient properties although the mood turns a bit darker with dramatic string synths complementing assorted snippets of dialog concerning efforts of middle eastern geurilla forces. All things considered, State of Mind is without a doubt reserved only for the FLA nuts and industrial purists out there hell bent on augmenting their collections but most fans will agree that it hardly makes for essential listening.

State of mind is an example of the earliest recordings by FLA and yes it does sound quite primitive compared to the later releases such as TNI and Implode. Then one has to remember that Leeb was working with primitive synths, samplers, and one should therefore not demand that it will sound like later recordings at all. The vocals are not as good and that is why I give it 4 instead of 5 stars and it is hard to hear what he is singing. I bought the old dossier release with the dolls head in the toaster and the rest of this release looks quite cheap with no book-let and no information to talk about The picture the members looks cheap and as if it ws photographed by a friend of Leebs and not a proffesional photographer. However, one has to admire Leeb that is able to create this kind of music on a very limited budget.

This is FLA's second album and just like early Delerium, early FLA was much better than the FLA now. This is possibly due to the style of instruments back in the early 1990's but the primitive industrial beats sound good and are not disruptive to listen to like later FLA albums were. I was impressed with the quality of music on show here, the songs flowed smoothely and did not carry on for 7-10 minutes like most FLA songs do these days. The synths mixed well with the industrial aspects of the song and moments of dark gothica fusion melded well with the overall dynamics of the songs. There is also a 'Delerium' influence within a few of these songs most noticably in 'Eastern Voices', 'Landslide' & 'Consequence'.

This CD will be played regularly by me as it is a 1 hour escape into the pleasures and fundaments of musical nirvana.