CoC : Orphyx - Fragmentation : Review

Orphyx - _Fragmentation_
(Malignant Records, 1996)
by: Andrew Lewandowski (5.5 out of 10)

Upon reaching a fork in the road of industrial music, Orphyx has decided to follow the non-option by meandering in between both pathways. Yet the industrial gods have set a trap within this non-path; thus Orphyx, who apparently wandered directly into this discreet hazard, is now left dangling between two polar universes: the hyper-realistic discordant clangs, rebellious shrieks, and annihilated drones of Brighter Death Now (circa _The Slaughterhouse_) and the "minimalist" (Lull, Inanna, etc.) attempt to lacerate reality via poisoned air and shocking twists. In other words, this is a menagerie of incongruities. Orphyx evade coherence by juxtaposing the breakneck percussion of "Tanha" (the worst song on the album: the percussion moves at such a quick pace that the beats congeal into a singular mass of puerile popping sounds); the pulsating, rumbling light noise of "Pathogenesis"; and the surprisingly dynamic minimal ambiance of "Words Once Spoken", before a cataclysmic blast of noise, akin to a sedated Masonna, inverts the previous foray into pure ambiance. Orphyx strive toward coagulating such antagonistic particles through the twelve tracks of _Fragmentation_, which creates a fragmented vision and negates the possibility of sustaining any emotional content throughout an entire track. The album is neither here nor there, violent nor passive, dark nor light.

(article published 17/11/1997)