CoC : Scar Tissue - TMOTD : Review

Scar Tissue - _TMOTD_
(21st Circuitry Records, 1997)
by: Andrew Lewandowski (8 out of 10)

By ever so slightly expanding the established parameters of archaic industrial music, Scar Tissue has created an occasionally pummeling album. While _TMOTD_ stands in the same evolutionary position as the ten to fifteen year old material of the likes of Memorandum or SPK, the desolation of this album transcends the ferocity and emotional depth of the ambiance generated by most of Scar Tissue's forefathers. Beneath the traditionally monolithic and demonic rhythms lurk subtle dissonance, deep drones, and fragmented voice samples which reiterate the antagonism between human will and its subjugating forces of a mechanistic persuasion. Unfortunately, the percussion on the first three tracks veers into the realm of techno vapidity, and Scar Tissue doesn't establish an equilibrium between techno and ambient until a third of the way into the album. The tempo and tone of the percussion rarely alter, thus an exorbitant amount of background sounds are needed to imbue the music with its depth. After these first three tracks, Scar Tissue catapult the industrialized techno genre into an ambient realm of enigma and vitality populated only by Autechre.

(article published 17/11/1997)