Weatherhead is the first release from Abacus spinoff Telegrammetry, and features a group of bands taking very seriously the idea of purism in contemporary industrial music. A lot of these guys sound nowhere near contemporary, ignoring the trend toward industrial metal and heading right back into the bowels of their
Skinny Puppy,
Depeche Mode, and
Cabaret Voltaire records. Suburban Prototype's "EVP" is one long mechanistic churn; Haven Sole and Mordacious play skeletal keyboard melodies off stuttering, statical electronic percussion; and Flawed still don't want to start any blasphemous rumors. Gewalt Kubikzahl's contribution is also a highlight, partly because his name is awesome, but also because "Save Us" is appropriately warped and pounding, like sunlight steadily being pushed out of the picture forever.
Weatherhead's throwback sound can work against it -- none of these acts are doing much of anything new. But their refusal to water down industrial is also the comp's biggest strength, since the sound stays mean instead of melodramatic. Telegrammetry's off to a promising start. ~ Johnny Loftus