Tineidae & Sole Massif "Remnants Of War" (2024)

 

Although Remnants Of War is themed around the aftermath of AI fulled armageddon, I could not escape its dramatic cover art. Reminiscent of the cult Japanese Cyberpunk flick Tetsuo, I've absorbed this one with metallic body horror in mind. Learning now of its true intention, the cinematic vision locks into place. These desolate soundscapes paint dystopian terror as the unease of soft synths collide with ghostly mechanical buzzes and whirling sparks, echoing on through tainted winds. Worbling electronic voices churn from automated warfare wreckage, a poisoned landscape, terrain now littered with cybernetic corpses. As far as eyes see, an endless sprawl of technological annihilation claims mother nature herself as collateral damage.

Its only tuneful moments stem from brief surges of soulless arpeggio saw-wave cycling. It births intense motion out of lifeless scenery. The tension derived suggests the presence of a surviving robotic killing machine, scanning the area for life, a dangerous prospect for us observers. Otherwise its charm resides in dense atmospheric dark ambience, littered with sound effect design to paint maddening scenarios in the mind of the listener. My favorite moments are the subtle whirls and buzzes, hints of wrecked machines with robotic systems attempting to function. So too, distorted voices add mystery. Seeming like scrambled recordings they possibly hint human life is transmitting from somewhere... or are simply remnants of the war.

Rating: 6/10

Ho99o9 "Skin" (2022)

 

In my camp of awe inspiring, adrenaline pumping music, a spot is reserved for the gritty punk duo known as Ho99o9. Their crossover of Horrorcore, Hardcore Punk and rebellious persona has been enthralling in recent years. Skin, their sophomore album wedged between many mini albums and EPs, has sadly failed to reinvigorate the wild energy they usually conjure effortlessly. Opening with a brief offering of Thrash guitars, manic percussion and unhinged screams, a couple of tracks get the blood flowing with the best the record has to offer coming from Corey Taylor of Slipknot.

His timeless scream is a great fit as the one working chemistry from a few collaborations. Jasiah inducts the group into the adjacent Trap Metal scene with tropes and tones perhaps heard best by City Morgue. Those harsh hitting, volume peaking bass drum aesthetics crop up on other songs to little avail. That sentiment extends to much of what Ho99o9 aim for on Skin. Not looking to circle back on previous successes, the many chemistries they forge just fail to vibe with me sadly.

With a lack of songs sparking the right words to describe the experience, I simply fall back to a sense that the pair looked for unsettled atmospheres, moments of mania and a dystoian grittiness less dependent on Metal and Hardcore guitars. These tracks also feel like a jumble of ideas, rarely resting in one place for long and jumping into a variety of odd temperaments along the way. Whatever the vision was, it failed me in feeling cohesive. I'm left quite disappointed but hopeful they'll get back on track.

Rating: 4/10

Timothy Steven Clarke "Tribes 2" (2001)

Following up on the Starsiege soundtrack we have another title from the same universe of mechanized PC games published by Sierra around the millennium. Its the only other piece of work Timothy has had published under his name. Tribes 2 is rather similar beast, fusing Industrial noise with metallic guitar licks and a whole host of bombarding samples for a dense and weighty soundtrack.

This time around the experience is a toned down and tied together for a less abrasive, unsurprising listen, in favor of a more consistent and metallic experience. The distortion guitars are notably more present, louder and driving, sometimes offering big mechanical chunks of groove with clunky, robotic power chords or occasionally drifting into the distance, behind the other sounds to provide a layer of depth. A few quirky lead licks, soaked in flange, reminded me of Korn, a possible influence, however the direction is far more Industrial Metal with a distinct lack of a focal melody. These songs lay down sizeable industrial foundations to parry away any obvious sense of tune. Armed up with fast percussive loops and endless samples and whirling synths, dense blocks of sound pave the way for, distorted, manipulated cultural singing samples to rise to the top, becoming the focal point of a cybernetic noise storm.

The record consists of seven tracks, which appear to be themed around levels or arenas in the game, all roughly four and a half minutes. It is obviously designed with the game in mind and so the records and songs themselves start and stop with not much story or progression, probably as they were designed to be looped during game play. An exception to "Badlands" however, the guitar takes on a form of its own as the song builds tension, devolving into a riff fest that expands into somewhat of a solo, quite a nice touch. Either way it fits right into that quirky era where Industrial Metal's popularity crossed over into game soundtracks. I'd like to hear more of this if I can find some.

 Favorite Tracks: Desert, Ice, Starwolf

Rating: 5/10

Timothy Steven Clarke "Starsiege OST" (1999)

In a similar vein to Frank Klepacki's Command & Conquer soundtracks, Starsige is another video game soundtrack of weird and wonderful Industrial music colliding with Techno, Breakbeat, Cyber Punk, Metal and all with shades of Ambience steering the musical intensity. This is the sort of music you could grow to love after hearing it over and over in the background of your favorite childhood games. The difference is I never played Starsiege, It was recommended to me based on my adoration of the C&C soundtracks. I'd always yearned to hear more music in the Industrial Metal styling of Frank Klepacki and this is the closest Ive come yet. Unlike the back road to bands like Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, here is a record that comes after the likes of Tiberian Dawn & Red Alert that pulls influences from Frank's particular flair and contribution to the genre.

All I know of Timothy is his work on this soundtrack and its squeal. His distinction is in the detailed layering of sounds that stack up in these compositions, throwing all sorts of guitars, synthesizers, drum sequences and samples into overwhelming blocks of deep, textural sound that charge at you with big theatrical directions. That's just some of the tracks though, others dispel the lively energy, creeping into mysterious territory with eerie, unearthly synths brooding dense atmospheres over janky disjointed beats. Thick and blunt with its delivery, many of the synths and oddities are paraded upfront with no measure for subtlety. The resulting songs can often be very alike to some of Frank's own but Timothy gets the chemistry right, emulating a rather wild and fringe sound that will turn off many. The vocal presence, where it turns up, is surprisingly dark, offering alien warped voices and distorted shouts in the vein of Aggro-Tech.

The soundtrack is split onto two discs, the first is rather disapointing, with just six tracks it feels like the projects b-sides, with exception to "SS2" and its thudding, pounding break of the Amen Loop, bordering on Hardstyle. The album gets going on the second disc with the anthemic, blood pumping "You Got". From there on the pace and variety is just fine, constantly mixing up the approach, fluctuating the intensity and maintaining the same mysterious, alien, cybernetic atmosphere. Its a journey, a trip and has totally scratched the itch, one to go on the playlist with some of my other favorite video game soundtracks. Great discovery!

Favorite Tracks: You Got, Newtech, SS4, Purge, Watching, SS1,

Rating: 6/10