The dark electro / industrial band from
the Greek island of Crete, PreEmptiveStrike 0.1, have returned with the concept EP "The Dread Files", just 9 months after their latest album "Progeny
Of The Technovore". Here we find 4 brand new songs, plus 4 remixes from
exclusively Belgian artists. It was released in September by the Japanese label
Digital World Audio as a digipak limited edition compact disc, designed by Vlad
McNeall. It was also available on its release on black and clear lathecut Vinyl
12", with only the 4 original tracks, but these very limited copies are
already sold out.
This is the first release since the
departure of longtime member George Klontzas, leaving the core duo consisting of
Jim “The Blaster” and Yiannis “Dseq” Chatzakis (who has his own project Degenerated
Sequences). Frontman Jim is on vocals and drum programming, leaving songwriting
duties falling now fully on the shoulders of Yiannis. The very name "The Dread Files" is suggestive of
both primal fears and the investigation of paranormal phenomena so often a
feature of science fiction in Western popular culture over the centuries. Musically,
the EP is more based on old-school dark electro patterns, a back to the roots
approach. Something we see on the opening track "Evolution/Retribution".
An upbeat stomping track with Jim’s characteristic harsh vocals that speaks to
mankind’s fears of alien invasion. It has a sci-fi theme with samples taken
from the 1964 British black-and-white science fiction horror film The
Children of the Damned.
The next three tracks are dedicated both
from lyrics and corresponding samples to the three major works of Italian film
director Lucio Fulci. The more atmospheric synth textured "Wormfaced
Cadavers", deals with the undead and has a sci-fi theme with samples taken
from Zombie Flesh Eaters. While on "Doctor Dread", the familiar
figure of the mad scientist, samples from House by the Cemetery are used.
On "And You Will Wake Up In Terror", where the bpm’s are even lower, nightmares
of the eerie and inexplicable are all set to a dark electronic soundscape
simultaneously smooth and punchy. Here they have incorporated samples from the
movie The Beyond.
The second part of "The Dread Files"
EP features four remarkable remixes of the initial four original tracks. The songs
where left in the hands of four different Belgium acts to synthesize a hybrid
of two completely different cultural takes on EBM. Implant, Llumen, The Juggernauts and IC 434
were all willingly enlisted to work their own dark electronic magic on "The
Dead Files" material and the results have created an exact mirror image of
the original, as seen through their own eyes.
Review
by Nick Drivas
Post a Comment