Boston's
Battery Cage has gone through a number of wrenching personnel changes and abortive record deals since its formation in 1996. It has now settled down, more or less, into a quartet consisting of Tyler Newman (who also performs as the instrumental half of EBM duo
Informatik), Josh Greco, Paul Savio, and Roland Adams. Eight years (and immeasurable grief) after the band's inception, its debut album was finally released on the Metropolis label in 2004, and it was worth the wait. Boasting a mature, fully developed sound,
World Wide Wasteland may not break any new ground, but it offers a well-crafted combination of aggression, alienation and tunefulness. Some of these tracks, such as "Mirror Image Enemy," with its loping six-eight rhythm and relatively sophisticated lyrical outlook, take dark electronica into genuinely uncharted territory. The album's finest track, though, is a hip-hop-flavored remix of "Statemachine," which comes courtesy of
Stromkern. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson