V/A – Revelation

Squid, who is behind this compilation, is an active dj in the industrial scene around Toronto, Canada. As a creative mind, he also writes and it is a story he wrote, a story about mental apocalypse, that inspires this compilation. No wonder this story, completed with artworks, is part of the nice 16 page booklet.

With this story in hand, Squid asked several industrial acts if they would like to create music to it and some fine bands did! Resulting in this compilation cd with 14 tracks by 13 artists. Too keep all things in his own hands Squid alsoe created his own label for this compilation: “bugscrawlingoutofpeople”, a label that might host harsh industrial acts and their work in the future.

The music on this cd varies from dark soundscapes to breakbeats to power electronics and rhytmic noise, but somehow Squid managed to bring them all together in a way that this diverse range of musical styles does not harm the feeling that it is one album.

The cd opens with a too boring soundscape by Prospero, but then really gets started with Dead Man’s Hill and keeps on going from there. Industrial the way it was meant to be: harsh, uninviting, but truly showing aggresion and causing fear, thus also combining very well with the story.

Hard to pick out special songs, though I think it is mainly Cold Flesh Colony that hit me in the face, probably combined with NöRV. But there are hardly bad tracks on this album.

What however is worse is the mastering of the album, I miss a lot of bass and some high tones. Strange indeed, and the music on this compilation deserved better. Still it is one I would advise people to pick up.

artist: V/A
label: Bugs crawling out of people
details: released: Dec 10th, 2004