Review: 3Teeth – 'Shutdown.exe'

3TEETH
'Shutdown.exe'
OMF RECORDS

LA's 3Teeth make their return with their eagerly anticipated sophomore album 'Shutdown.exe'. The band gained international notoriety with the release of their uncompromising self-titled début, and subsequent touring relationship with veterans Tool they brought some much needed light back to the industrial scene in the process. But with such a strong initial outing, can the band capitalise effectively with their follow up?

The band's esoteric-meets-cyberpunk imagery has kept their social media presence something to behold, especially with their budget stretching to music videos that further translate their anarchic ideals into likes and shares. But in this case the album art's 90s Playstation cyberpunk game design (which has been divisive for some) doesn't quite do the music within justice.

Touring with Tool seems to have rubbed off on the band in terms of musical ambition. One criticism of the previous album is that it stuck rigidly to its formula. And while 'Shutdown.exe' delivers plenty of the stomping, distorted industrial metal that endeared them, they have expanded things a little more with more time changes, experimental sections and, most importantly, put more in to the production.

Songs such as 'Divine Weapon', 'Pit Of Fire', 'Atrophy', 'Shutdown', 'Tower Of Disease', 'Slavegod', 'Insubstantia', and 'Away From Me' are utterly addictive with the metallic core of the songs crowned with industrial mayhem and Alexis Mincolla's more adventurous, if still somewhat self-conscious, vocal performances cutting through like a knife. The riffs are strong, the synths are savage and the songs are performed with convictions and vitriol. But its really great to hear new elements such as the esoteric chanting, tabla, and even piano coming through to add a little more scope to the band's sonic pallet.

But as said previously the production is another factor. On the band's début it did come off as though they were hiding their shortcomings with distortion which had a tendency to reduce some parts of songs to a wall of white noise and robbing them of deeper impact. Thankfully here there isn't that over-reliance. There still is distortion but it's much more managed and moulded this time, which gives Micolla more room to experiment with his vocal delivery and stop the synths and guitars swamping each other. It sounds less shoestring and more top shelf as a result.

'Shutdown.exe' is a great album, and 3Teeth have grown as songwriters and performers to fulfil the expectations that their début hinted at. It is authentic, and full of conviction. There is still plenty of room for growth to consolidate their musical identity and it would be interesting to hear how they can incorporate more experimental ideas in the future and try to beyond their mid-tempo comfort zone. But in the here and now this has to be a contender for album of the year.  

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Review: 3Teeth – 'REMIXED'

3TEETH
'REMIXED'
ARTOFFACT

Los Angeles based industrialists 3Teeth have taken the scene by storm with their incendiary self-titled début album. Taking in everything from old school industrial, rhythmic noise, harsh ebm, and dark electro filtered through an aggressive 21^st century shock and awe. Their social media campaign has united a audio and visual in an engaging and exciting way that recalled the titans of the genres mainstream-infecting years.

Of course a remix album was on the card then. One thing about the début album was that for all it's strong beats and clandestine catchy melodies, was that it was heavy going perhaps for casual listeners. Therefore the band have secured some big names to extend their club-presence further into dance territory and complete their all out assault.

The band offer up five of their strongest cuts from the début album for reworking: 'Master Of Decay', 'Pearls 2 Swine', 'Nihil', 'Consent', and 'Final'. The album is arranged in sections with each song's remixes clumped together rather than being mixed up at random, which is interesting as despite the varied nature of the remixes it preserves some linearity in the listening experiences.

The remixes for the most part instil an added dance friendly quality to the tracks with the best contributions coming from Aesthetic Perfection, ∆aimon, Caustic, Myrrh Ka Ba, Randolph & Mortimer, Blkhrts, Freakangel, and Synesthesia adding ebm, techno and hip-hop elements to the source material.

As far as remix albums go, this is a very strong one. The source tracks were already song, but the variety and quality of the contributions from the other artists are also great. Each one brings something new and interesting to the fore and adds a new dimension to the band's sound. The production is solid all the way throughout and the final presentation is slick.

A lot of people can take or leave remix albums, but if you're going to take one, this is a good place to start. The tracks within provide some great club-friendly fodder that will surely keep-up the band's dance floor presence for quite a while to come.  

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3̤̱͕͢ ̱̣͕̜̀͟͜T̹̜̗͈̠̼̀Ę̶̻E̵̢̤̩T̢̡͕̦̥̦͍̟̳̩ͅH̰̼̺͎ – '3Teeth'

3TEETH
'3Teeth'
ARTOFFACT 

"Make sure you play it loud" the band told me as I downloaded the new album from the enigmatic L.A based group '3̤̱͕͢ ̱̣͕̜̀͟͜T̹̜̗͈̠̼̀Ę̶̻E̵̢̤̩T̢̡͕̦̥̦͍̟̳̩ͅH̰̼̺͎'. What happened next I will try my best to explain.

3̤̱͕͢ ̱̣͕̜̀͟͜T̹̜̗͈̠̼̀Ę̶̻E̵̢̤̩T̢̡͕̦̥̦͍̟̳̩ͅH̰̼̺͎ have been creeping out the murky fog of America's West coast now for about a year, feeding us 
songs and remixes on Soundcloud, as well as propaganda music videos and images to reflect upon on many
social networking sites, but finally the news has arrived, the début album is now here!

Tracks you may already know include the incredible 'Nihl', the death deifying 'Pearls 2 swine' and the ear 

ripping 'Consent' but there are more tracks that will give you glorious nightmares for the rest of the year.

The best of the stuff you may have already heard is undoubtedly 'Master of Decay'. It's the fetish scenes new anthem with a beat that sounds like a whip being struck across a persons' back, a warped synth that will melt your mind and a vocal that will chill your bone.

Many others have a similar merit, 'Unveiled' plays out like an Eastern wall lullaby. It sits sad and lonely, waiting for the Hoff to come and 'set it free'. It's the closest this album has to a ballad and it doesn't disappoint. There is also 'Dissolve' with it's drug inducing play that reminds you of early Noisuf-x mixed with Skinny Puppy licking the back of your neck, and 'X-Day' which could have risen from the crypt of White Zombie with added bite.

This album can appeal to many different types of industrialist. There's 'Final Product' for the TBM stompers, 'Dust' for the 80's Rivetheads and even 'Chasm' and 'Too far gone' for those who like it Gothic and horror-score infused. Never has Industrial music been this dark and frightening since the Broken Movie!  There is no denying that these guys are waging war on all the drab M.O.R. stuff over the last few years, with acts like Godflesh, Psychic TV, TKK, Revco, Ministry, Front 242, V.A.C and many more right behind them. They are the cavalry, and be alert for their call!

"Make sure you play it loud" the band said. I did; Now I'm telling you to do the same.

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Review: 3Teeth – 'Consent' (Single)

3TEETH
'Consent'
ARTOFFACT

Cleaved from the forthcoming début album on Artoffact records, US industrialists unleash their first single 'Consent'. A one song offering, 'Consent' hits hard and fast. Walking-the-line between old school abrasive industrial and rhythmic noise. It's dirty, nasty and damn enjoyable.

The track is full of samples. Synths wail like sirens. The steady beats sound like their being struck on an oil drum while your head is inside it. While the distorted vocals his and snarl throughout. The track overflows with 'Rauschen' that harks back to the likes of early Front Line Assembly, KMFDM and Ministry channelled through a manic modern glitch filter.

The production is rough and savage. But despite all the noise and distortion it all sounds distinct and doesn't get lost in a wall of hiss and crackle. In fact it is perversely danceable.

Even though this is only a small taste of what the band will be offering up on their début album come 3^rd June, it is no less a powerful statement. 3Teeth have arrived and will not be taking prisoners.

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