So I was listening to some FLA on the weekend, and I was wondering if any of their new stuff was good?
I have pretty much everything up to and including Implode. Been lazy since the early 00’s with my cd buying. Is any of it worth getting?
I’ll be going down to FLA for spring vacation. It’s always nice and warm by the ocean.
If you like everything up to Implode, you’ll probably find something to like in the more recent albums. The best album FLA has done this decade is Artificial Soldier.
I’ll be going down to FLA for spring vacation. It’s always nice and warm by the ocean.
Yeah, but there’s too many old people. And Canadians.
There’s too many sunburnt tourists on the road who don’t know where they are going.
I think FLA started getting real inconsistent after 1996’s Hard Wired. Flavour of the Weak was pretty bad, IMO, though Implode was a marked improvement, and probably their last good album. Epitaph, Civilization, and Artificial Soldier are, for the most part, forgettable and at times, indistinguishable from one another. There are some good sequences and sounds here and there, but Leeb gave up on catchy melodies a decade ago, and got too caught up in the electro-clash-noise sound that newer ‘industrial’ bands put out. I think it’s just a case of FLA running its course, with no new direction to go.
Artificial Soldier, btw, is a major victim of the Loudness Wars. The over-compression is pretty bad, and makes you wonder how this gets past the post-production stage without protest. Civilization might be the best of the last three albums. It opens with a pretty crappy electro-rap song in “Psychosomatic”, but features a cool atmospheric dance track called “Transmitter”, and some Delerium-like moments throughout (“Vanished”, “Dissident”), and some of the short soundbytes are reminiscent of their early-early days circa Corrosion & Disorder.
Keep in mind, I’m from the old FLA class, so I’m biased to their 88-92 period, which contains all of my favorite songs of theirs. The newer FLA material just doesn’t blow me away. I’m always interested when they release a new LP, but my expectations are very low.
1002
Front Line Assembly should be called Front Line Plagiarism.
Never been really impressed by them, was expecting big things when I first tried them out round 10 years ago but have found them dissapointing.
Ironically I plagiarised the lyrics to Vigilante years ago in school and got an A for my “effort”.
[;)] cheers Bill.
I’m a big FLA follower.
I started out with Flavour Of The Weak and enjoyed it, and amazingly, as simple as they were, I went backwards and enjoyed Corroded Disorder and State Of Mind even more. Though I can’t say the same about Nerve War and Total Terror 1 and 2. ZZZzzz…
I believe that FLA is the type of artist that gets better and better after each release. I’d say go for Hard Wired, Plasticity, and Circuitry. And there’s a hiltload of singles and the numerous side projects that’ll keep you busy.
Hope this helps!
Only album ive heard and own is Civilization. Its so-so, and I bought it on a whim and impulse. Its nothing great by any means, but its listenable I guess. So-So is a pretty good opinion for me to give them.
flavour bad really? i kniow the lyrics are super cheesey but i remember reading an ariticle at that time where leeb let loose that he was making fun of the ‘electronica’ shit that was popular at the time (leeb also justified it as an FLA record and not a front line assembly record according to leeb it does not actually say’s front line … on the record anywhere) when you approach it with that in mind it makes for a different listening experience…mega dope![cool]
listening to BLACKLAND - Unification right now…good stuff!
I thought Artificial Soldier was badass, its not fair to compare it to the likes of Hard Wired or Mindphaser. Its kinda like NIN, most people like Year Zero, a solid album, but compare it to The Spiral, and you’ll find that Year Zero gets owned.
I think the new stuff is much better than the old…more layered, complex and fun to listen to. The old stuff just seems a tad too minimalistic for my tastes.
artificial solider has some really good songs on it. i agree with 1002 that the mix is atrocious, though. also, the songs seem to not even hide the formula they used, which was: long quiet then loud intro, beats, vox+beats, bridge, chorus, repeat.
still worth picking up, imho. but i miss the stuff like “the initial command” and such.