Search - Alec Empire :: Golden Foretaste of Heaven

Alec Empire
Golden Foretaste of Heaven
Genres: Dance & Electronic, Pop

Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
1. New Man
2. If You Live or Die
3. Ice (As If She Could Steal a Piece of My Glamour)
4. 1000 Eyes
5. Down Satan Down [Dub][Version]
6. On Fire [The Hellish Vortex Sessions]
7. Robot L.O.V.E.
8. Death Trap in 3D
9. Bug on My Windshield
10. No/Why/New York

CD Details

All Artists: Alec Empire
Title: Golden Foretaste of Heaven
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Eat Your Heart Out
Original Release Date: 1/1/2008
Re-Release Date: 8/26/2008
Genres: Dance & Electronic, Pop
Styles: Electronica, Dance Pop
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 690261200129, 0690261200129, 4024572327514, 6092612001296

Synopsis

Album Description

"More thrilling torment from one Empire that will never crumble." -- NME [8/10] "So forward-thinking it suggests an afterlife composed of people not even born yet." -- Clash "If this is Empire's golden foretaste of heaven, pray you never have to taste hell." -- Out in the City "This is a terrifying album that should find a place in your record collection. In short, it's fantastically dark; file next to D.E.A.T.H." -- Electric Roulette * Brand new album from the legendary Atari Teenage Riot frontman. The energy, the political savvy, and the aggression are all still there, as are the industrial sounds, the barrage of electronic distortion, and the throbbing beats. But also thrown into the mix are a melodic quality and an awareness that the youth of today discover more about themselves and their world on the dance floor than anywhere else. Alec Empire is many things to many people: a man with an extraordinary recording history, the musical revolutionary behind avant-garde noise-punk outfit Atari Teenage Riot, an electronic music experimentalist who has made records on a Gameboy, and a consummate musician who has worked with an extraordinarily broad range of peers. He has remixed artists as diverse as blues legend R.L. Burnside, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Björk, Rob Zombie, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Slayer, Einstürzende Neubauten, and members of the new hip-hop generation like Company Flow and Prince Paul's Handsome Boy Modeling School. He has toured with Rage Against the Machine, Wu-Tang Clan, Beck, Ministry, and Nine Inch Nails.

CD Reviews

A highly enjoyable electro/rock fusion - catchy, but with su

Steward Willons | Illinois | 06/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Alec Empire's latest completely blew me away. It's unexpected, fresh, and inspired. Perhaps it's a bit of a departure from some of his noisier 'digital hardcore' albums, but it combines some of the interesting sonic elements of those projects with almost traditional song structures and plenty of Alec's distinctive vocal delivery.

Before anyone starts to worry that Alec Empire has "sold out", I can assure you that you're not going to be hearing these tunes on the radio anytime soon. They have pop elements, but it's filtered through drum machines and massive distortion. "Bug On My Windshield" makes great use of intermittent odd meter bars to keep things slightly off balance. Some tracks like "On Fire" seem almost like something NIN might write, while "Robot L.O.V.E." reminds me of Meat Beat Manifesto, although these are highly subjective observations and others may not hear a connection.

This is one of Empire's most thoroughly enjoyable releases in a long time. I love his experimental stuff, as well as his really noisy material, but where those tend to require serious listening, "The Golden Foretaste of Heaven" is something you can put on and simply enjoy.

I'm curious to see how others feel about this album because I could see some thinking it's too conventional. As for me, I'm totally impressed and I'll be listening to this one for a long time. I'd recommend this not just to Empire fans, but also to electronic music fans who like a sort of electro/rock hybrid. Hopefully this album will see a proper domestic release to spare us USA fans the outrageous import price."