CoC : Velvet Acid Christ - Twisted Thought Generator : Review

Velvet Acid Christ - _Twisted Thought Generator_
(Metropolis, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay (9 out of 10)

My first exposure to Velvet Acid Christ was through a Suicide Commando remix of "State of Emergency". If you haven't tried to mentally grasp hold of it, I'd sure give it a shot! What a ride. Now, all too suddenly, I find the group offering forth their newest album. I do enjoy the sampling VAC uses so very competently; often humorous, sometimes disturbing, but always topical and relevant. "Asphixia (Wasted)", song five, uses David Duchovny's ("X-Files") voice. This adds a certain amount of creepiness. I'll give 'em that. One thing that people could -never- accuse this band of is sounding like a high-school kid with a laptop Casio keyboard. Influenced by many a person, VAC, at its core, is comprised of two individuals, Bryan and Chris. Heavy is this band's nature. Calling upon influences from Napalm Death and Godflesh, Bryan and Chris calculate inspiration from Skinny Puppy and The Cure, as well. Obviously technology-based, VAC rises above the norm to a particular height of ability. Darkness and eeriness dance unfettered throughout _Twisted Thought Generator_. This is blamed mostly on the drug use the band advocated early on (_Fun With Drugs_ and _Church of Acid_), but not so much any more, I understand. Ambiguity still invades the music, but possibly more out of habit than substance abuse. Track six, "Never Worship (Bruised Knees Mix)", beckons a sampling from Al Pacino taken from the Warner Brothers movie "The Devil's Advocate". This German-sounding American outfit is no champion of the Evil One, however. Naw. I think they are in it more for themselves. "Here, as far as could be heard, there was no weeping except of sighs which caused the eternal air to tremble; these resulted from grief without torture, felt by the crowds, which were many and large, of infants and of women and of men... Great sorrow seized my heart... because I knew that people of great worth were suspended in that limbo." (Dante, "The Divine Comedy: Inferno".)

(article published 10/1/2001)