When Marilyn Manson came on the scene in the mid nineties he was a genuine shock. While his first album was a poorly produced (sorry Trent!) attempt and the subsequent EP not much better, ‘Antichrist superstar’ struck a chord with many dispossessed youngsters because underneath the imagery lurked a genuine intelligence and a genuine menace. Rage filled and with a toughened industrial racket to support it, Antichrist was a great album and remains so. Sadly Marilyn went the way of so many rock stars, repeating a formula (how many times did that Beautiful people drum beat get used?) and eventually fading into a kind of self-imposed obscurity that he has yet to drag himself out of. That’s not to say that everything post ‘Antichrist…’ was bad – far from it, but the danger was somehow gone. But I digress; the reason for our gathering here is to review this disc from the French industrial outfit Undercover slut. Now this is not, as it may seem, a new release, but rather a re-release of an album from 2008 that originally came out on Offensive Records and is now returning under the auspices of Deadlight Entertainment.
Somewhat understandably given the people involved (John 5, Chris Baseford and Will Thompson – all of whom have been heavily involved with the American industrial rock scene) ‘Amerikkka Macht Frei ‘ is a very American sounding album with the semi-distorted guitar sound that dominated the industrial scene and vocals that alternate between a Marilyn Manson screech and Rob Zombie’s more measured drawl. Opening with the genuinely creepy ‘IntOx’ which features vocals recorded backwards and an ominous synth swirl, we are soon into familiar territory with ‘Shadow song’ which is possibly best described as Rob Zombie covering Holywood-era Marilyn Manson. ‘Anna Nicole Smith’ is the better track, a heavy trudge through the sleazier areas of the mind complete with a brutal guitar sound and ‘Antichrist…’-esque verse section. It’s terribly well executed and worthwhile, not least because there are few others indulging in this particular genre of music while thrash reigns supreme, but it is less original than it might be: samples whizz by in bridge sections and the vocals are suitably gravelly but there is always a niggling feeling of de ja vu. ‘White whore conspiracy’ is definitely more interesting with its uncomfortable, syncopated rhythms and stream-of-consciousness vocals that helps it to stand apart from the pack. ‘What kinda lamb do you think I am?’ features a gloriously unhinged melody which, again, helps the band to stand apart from the acts who have so obviously influenced them. The drums here sound more organic too, which helps to lend weight to the heavier passages which have a good groove to them.
Baiting controversy seems to be a special province of industrial metal and the charmingly titled ‘dear dead prez’ will undoubtedly press the odd button with uptight Americans, but more than that it’s a damn good tune (the best of the album so far) with a heavy guitar riff pummeling the listener form the off. ‘Black CNN’ veers the other way, almost into early Depeche Mode territory and, once again, the band succeed when breaking out from the strictures of the genre to sound different from their peers. ‘Kastration Kar Krashes’ is the closest the band come to NIN with jazzy drums backing a single discordant guitar before lurching into heavier pastures. ‘Dali Was A Junkie’ (with its chuckle inducing title) is another heavy track and you have to appreciate the effort that has gone into a production job that captures the band’s elements in perfect clarity although the lyrics are somewhat schoolboy in their desire to tell everyone to f*** off. ‘Creature Feature’ is another great track, off-kilter and unexpected but with a great (and danceable) central riff that will see dance-floors pack out to it. ‘Jesus Kills! Coroner Saves!’ slows things down with ominous bass and spoken word vocals before ‘DetOx’ closes the disc with some atmospheric noise.
Undercover Slut are not particularly original. They draw elements from a wide variety of industrial and EBM acts and stitch them together creating a patchwork of ideas that are mostly successful. That said they fill the aching void where Marilyn Manson, NIN and White Zombie used to be and there is always a desire for dance-floor-filling music such as this. The band are also animal rights activists: this is neither a good nor a bad thing (depending, of course, upon your own political persuasion) but one would hope that the band could be lyrically more adventurous than relying on countless f***s to get their point across – while industrial has never been the most subtle of genres, it would be good to see the band extend their vocabulary on the next outing. Undercover slut are frighteningly good at what they do and fans of the genre will lap this album up, and with good reason, it contains memorable hooks, depraved lyrics and some damn heavy moments which defy you to get up and move to them, but they lack (as yet) the voracious originality of acts such as NIN that would take them to the next level. A good effort and a promising band who will, with luck, go on to greater things.
