The Belgian label Spectre exists for ten years now and has build up an impressive catalogue. One of their most recent releases is this cd by Hypnoskull, the rhythmic industrial project which the productive Patrick Stevens started in the early 90’s.
As always the mood and sound of Hypnoskull is agressive, on the brink of war. This already starts with the messages in the booklet (‘You know you are scum’, ‘I ain’t your stupid little huggybear’). The intro track continues in this matter with unfriendly speech samples about ‘cracking your skull’.
Things move on with the nice midtempo ‘You scum!’, before really taking off in ‘Don’t die in vein’, featuring the expected noisy analogue electronica, heavy technoid beats and loads of violent speech samples. As the cd evolves, the tracks begin to become more chaotic, with more restless breaks and beats.
It’s not a cd which I will be often in the mood for to play at home, therefore the music is too violent and nervous, and the blood-spilling text samples begin to bore me after a while. But uptempo tracks like ‘The betrayal’ or the hardcore techno of ‘G.O.D.’ are certainly fitted to let off steam or to storm the dancefloor.
