Combichrist
Everybody Hates You

THE REVIEW

Combichrist is one of the many side projects by the Scandinavian Andy LaPlegua, already the voice of the Norwegians Icon Of Coil, who has been taking over dance floors around the world with his 'aggressive-techno' since the early 2000s. Andy began the Combichrist adventure with the mediocre and harsh 'The Joy Of Gunz' and continued with the limited edition EP 'Kiss The Blade' and 'Sex Drogen Und Industrial', which were very powerful and danceable. He figured out the most obvious and suitable path to take with his new project: more danceable, more rhythmic, more dark, more Combichrist. Thus, for the ever-present German Out Of Line and the American Metropolis Records, a label of the greats of American Ebm, the second full-length of the 'Nordic band' named after an old hardcore fanzine by LaPlegua from the early '90s, "Everybody Hates You," was released in the spring of 2005.

Two discs. 120 minutes of compulsive hammering and liquid immersions. Sex and sweat mixed with burnt rubber in the air, filling the dance floors of half of Europe.

The idea: It is the one that had already crept into LaPlegua's crazy mind since the successful 'Sex Drogen Und Industrial'. Metallic bases, dark basslines, insistent rhythms, explosive lashes in the most typical old-school Ebm style, dissolved in a strong dose of eclectic electronic elements. From the sickest yet 'glamorous and refined' of 'God Bless', 'This Shit Will Fuck You Up', and 'Happy Fucking Birthday' to the robotic of 'Like To Thank My Buddies', from the obsessive and danceable of 'Enjoy The Abuse' and 'Today I Woke To The Rain Of Blood' to the dark-ambient sampled experimentations of the entire second disc. The 2nd CD appears, therefore, as a kind of aquatic submersion after the razor-sharp outbursts of the madness and dance of the first hour.

The formula: Grinding bass, crumbling distortions, indigestible lyrics for an electro-industrial sound that is among the most successful and engaging on the dance floor. 'Blut Royale' and 'This Is My Rifle' speak for themselves among all: almost as captivating as the great tracks of KMFDM, the first is the first, tribal and dark the second. Instead, ''Lying Sack Of Shit'' chats, exploding in the ears, with its sacrilegious nature and is as terrifying and hard in its 'lyrics' as well in its apocalyptic Ebm sound and the dizzyingly sexual 'This Shit Will Fuck You Up'. Pure physical pleasure.

The downside is the excessive length of the album, which, burdened by the overly experimental, repetitive, and minimal second CD ('Wreckage'; 'Rubber Toy'; 'Below'), loses compactness and roughness in a TBM (Techno Body Music) product that already reeks of parties, dark presences, and debauchery. Enjoy the party. It's just getting started.