Customer Reviews

Tactical Neural Implant

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Shame on Third Mind Records or whoever owns the rights to this for not making it readily available in the States...

This is the only EBM album you will ever need... everything else is simply derivative. FLA fans pretty much agree that this is the gem of the FLA backcatalogue. Moreover, I really believe that this is one of those records than any serious music fan should own... regardless if you are interested in EBM or FLA. Not having this record is kind of like not having albums like Sergent Peppers, Mezzanine, The Wall, The Doors, White Rabbit, or Run DMC... you know, those kinds of records that define genres or break them down.

Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber may be more well-known for Delerium and Conjure One and maybe some of the new FLA stuff, but digging back into their history and you will stumble across this record. I invariably hated it on the first few listens... it seemed boring and monotonous. The problem is that when you listen more carefully, you will discover, as I have, the subtlety and brilliance underneath.

Leebs mechanized vocals (think battlestar galactica) are vocoded into the songs, rather than sung over the songs... making for a perfect blend of man and machine which so defines EBM. Steady mid-tempo beats tend to "lick" out of your speakers (you'll know when you hear it) rather than pound out. The basslines are a bit quirkier and less direct (except for Gun) than other, more aggressive FLA releases. The melodies tend to more of a retro-sci-fi kind of sound that will bring to mind some sort of soundtrack to Dune or Blade Runner.

Perhaps the record is a bit old for electronic music, running on 10 years now. But perhaps TNI is more relevant now after we have seen where electronic music has gone and continues to go, and how no one before or since has been able to recreate this kind of sound.

Tactical Neural Implant is necessary to understand the so-called EBM-industrial branch of music; After the quite good and promising 'Caustic Grip', in 1992 came one of the most important electronic cds of all times, in my opinion. If you know FLA, then you understand what are their strong points: excellent electronic basslines, distorted and deep voice, samples everywhere helping to conform a barrier of sound very muscular and dense. 'Tactical Neural Implant' is maybe, together with their penultimate effort 'Implode', the most ellegant example of FLA music. Here everything was more polished and accurate than in previous albums; the agressiveness is not absent, but the dirty sound of 'Caustic Grip' here disappears a bit. The choruses are catchier than ever, following the collection of impressive choruses begun in 'Caustic Grip'. No song here is bad or mediocre.
My review of the songs:
Final Impact (7/10): a strong beginning, with a monotonous voice but incredible bassline, somewhat anticipating later songs like 'Neologic Spasm'.

The Blade (8/10): a more minimalistic song, repetitive, with hip-hop beats and guitars, extremely robotically distorted voice, one of the favourite of the fans which I find much too repetitive but good.

Mindphaser (9/10): layers and layers of samples, impressive chorus, agressive voice, everything sounds more melodic here. One of the FLA highlights ever.

Remorse (10/10): this is one of the most melodic FLA songs ever. The voice is distorted but not in an agressive way, the chorus is very catchy and addictive; the song is not a prodigy of sound, but a prodigy of melody.

Bio-Mechanic (10/10): I love this one. Slower than the rest, addictive chorus with robotical voice, a lot of samples, less catchy perhaps at first listening. The live version in 'Live Wired' is amazing.

Outcast (8/10): again more techno influence, something like hip-hop rhythms, agressive voice, quotes of Skinny Puppy's 'Worlock', guitars, good chorus. A good song which seems even mediocre compared with the rest.

Gun (9/10): after an impressive intro which comes to an electronic climax, here comes the only song whose chorus is not cacthy but a very good song anyway. FLA at its most danceable.

Lifeline (9/10): As in Caustic Grip's 'Threshold', Leeb sings almost with his natural voice a ballad (well, a FLA-style, at least). FLA reminding us of Depeche Mode? well, this comes closer, and it's a perefct way to end an almost perfect album.

If you want to listen to Leeb and Fulber at their best, listen to this. TNI is not as raw as 'Caustic Grip', not as hard and metal as 'Millenium', not as overloaded with samples as 'Hard Wired', and it's the best FLA album only comparable, in my preference, with 'Implode'.

Tactical Neural Implant(TNI) is a great album for its time. They manage to make a cohesive and engulfing synth/keyboard noises that are held together by hammering drums which have a somewhat dancy rhythm too, but the music is so complex and never repetitive enough to be considered dance music. Leeb's vocals are at one of their weaker points, but that fits albums style perfectly, as it is much more mechanical and less organic than any of their other albums, and his voice comes across as a grating vent-like rasp(some of the sounds he makes are almost as if someone poked a hole in his lung while he was singing and the air just rushed out in a wheeze). But when he has to he soars into lighter parts that make him one of the most enchanting vocalists I have ever heard(though he does get better at it on Hard Wired and Epitaph).

Overall one of their stronger efforts, though you can tell that they are somewhat held back by the technology available to them.(drum machine COUGH COUGH)

Vancouver's Holy Trinity -- Skinny Puppy, NoMeansNo and FLA -- share a common interest in social themes. SP is, of course, famous for its treatment of vivisection, addiction and "smothered hope" (a punk sensibility for sure). NoMeansNo, while very punky, started discussing child abuse long before Jon Davis, while also experimenting with noise.

FLA, especially on Tactical Neural Implant, hammered away at issues of race, crime fear and the death penalty. This was a great historical outburst which has been eclipsed by the millennial shift. I mention all of this because I believe these three bands are best viewed in light of each other.

This cd would be hard to classify as dance music, but it's truly dancable. But check out the words of Mindphaser for the commentary on the 80's:
...Mesmerized by a decade of faith, flowers and remorse, fading vision lost in time, tragedy of course...

I don't think it's fair to say that FLA went soft in the late 90's. There are no extra points given in life for being cutting edge. It's just that space and time are moving around you. What is true there and then may not be true here and now.

This is late-stage Cold War renaissance music. The Vancouver bands seem to have been quite close to it for reasons we'll probably never know.

Tactical Neural Implant and Caustic Grip are absolutely fine cds. You need to revisit them often to appreciate the good and bad of the late 20th Century. Eight songs. All of them great. Some quite beautiful (like Remorse). Canada's gift to the world.

If you are a FLA fan and you still don't own this gem, you should repair right away!! I live in Italy and never had the chance to find this album in the shops. When I could afford a credit card though, this was my first online purchase (from Germany) and I'm currently so happy with it! It's my fave FLA album ever, it contains certain hits which made the history of EBM, it's very tough and got the right amount of electronics and industrial in it (not heavy like Millennium, nor electro like Flavour of the weak). It's amazing.

You will not be sorry. This is pure brilliance. Quintessential it is. The building of a song -- the foreplay leading to the climax -- FLA does this flawlessly -- each component, each layer, perfect and deliberate. These are beautifully crafted pieces. Other adjectives apply: magnificent, mesmerizing, exhilirating, intensely moving and fully satisfying -- satisfying but making us want MORE MORE MORE!!

...and I can't understand why it's been standing there. I should dedicate a CD-player to it instead. The best industrial album ever, and one of the best albums of all time. Truly awesome in every respect (perhaps not lyrics, but they complement the music perfectly).

you really can't compare it to anything else. FLA is industrial...but...not. FLA has always been more subdued than, say, skinny puppy or ministry. more atmospheric. this is music you play while driving at NIGHT. its very sleek, and enjoyable from start to finish, but you have to listen for the little melodic, rhythmic, production complexities. its definitely a landmark album for industrial music, it announces the arrival of electro-industrial (just as NIN's Broken and Ministry's Psalm 69 did for industrial metal, the same year might I add). Personally i like Reclamation just as an overall snapshot of their career or Implode as an example of how far they've come, but after you pick up those amazing CDs this should definitely be the next to get.

This is such an good industrial album, that I was sitting and listening to it and all the adjectives that I wanted to use seemed not good enough. However, if I have to put one then it has to be these, brilliant, astounding, stupendous and awesome. This is probably one of the best industrial albums of all time. The first track is good and then it just gets better and better. In fact the first track is not as good as the other ones and could have been replaced with another track. The book-let is ok but the lyrics are missing, but still it is an important release since it showed that inudtrial bands are tallented muisicians and can sing. Minphaser, Life Line, Guna are some of the best made industrial tracks ever with the intricate layers of sounds, bets and samples. The keyboard sounds are constantly amazing and this is an album not to be missed if one likes industrial music.

I own a great deal of FLA discography, but only had a cassette copy of this album for a while. Actually, this was the first FLA album turned on to me by my friend in Seattle. When I finally found a used copy of this CD (not easy to find or cheap), it was easy to understand why this album is not only FLA's best, but why it is one of the best Industrial Dance albums ever. Each song has a hard driving hypnotic beat, I could not stop myself from moving to it. "Outcast" uses a sample of Hannibal Lector from "Silence of the Lambs" very effectively, and is probably my favourite FLA song. One thing TNI possesses that other FLA and Industrial albums lack is the simplicity. An uncomplicated beat and miminal noises create a sharper focus to the material. My only complaint is that the entire CD clocks in at about 45 minutes. I have listened to this album perhaps 100 times, because those 45 minutes go by awfully fast.