Cop Shoot Cop
Ask Questions Later

Why review "Ask Questions Later"? Why do it since another user has already done it masterfully? Simply because this is one of the best albums you will ever have the chance to listen to, and far too few are aware of it.

From the beginning of their production as Cop Shoot Cop (actually a supergroup, but that would take too long...), the band strikes a significant distinction from the rest of the industrial scene. They are at the same time close and very distant from the genre's father, Foetus, as they debut with a concentration of pure anger and distortion like "Consumer Revolt," but then they evolve toward something that on superficial analysis may appear as commercialization, but in reality, it's the same bitter medicine, gilded in the sugar of melody. While some continue to angrily scream their anger and make the zombies of a future mega-nuclear conflict dance (e.g., Ministry or Skinny Puppy) and others close in on themselves to describe their inner black hole (e.g., Reznor), Cop Shoot Cop look at everyone with the mocking, bitter smile of certain tramps, a bit crazy, a bit prophets, who go around muttering about the next apocalypse.

The album opens with "Surprise Surprise", still a classic industrial piece, halfway between punk and the typical sound of Jourgensen, full of rage towards inept, cruel, and corrupt rulers. The typical path imagined by the listener is immediately interrupted by the extraordinary melody of "Room 429", where a poignant musical construction accompanies Natz's moving prayer to its final apotheosis that borders on emotion. It's followed by the syncopated run of "Nowhere", where the almost cheeky rhythm clashes with the bitterness of the lyrics and soon after by the relentless march of "Migration", which could well fit in a post-apocalyptic scenario, like on a New York street, as a backdrop to the cynical and selfish advance of a mass of individuals. The next "Cut To The Chase" hits you like a bullet, where Natz's voice throws shreds of love amidst an inhuman hunt, all modulated on a backdrop of violins and Arabesque melodies. When the pathos has not yet been exhausted, here comes the city band of crazies with "$10 Bill", which among drums and trumpets, makes an apology for the cynicism and injustice of this society (the video is spectacular), reaching the peak of madness with the hypnotic "Seattle". The driving "Furnace" restores an apparent normalcy, closed by a stanza that feels like prophecy, which immediately materializes in the dark, desolate limbo of "Israeli Dig". "Cause and Effect" is another extraordinary lament, wrapped in a melody alternating between lyricism and distortion that serves as a precursor to the homily-poetry of "Got No Soul", where Mephistophelean sonnets put everyone and everything on the spot, with a perfect background blending trumpets and samples. The black humor overflowing with cynicism and hypocrisy of "Everybody Loves You (When You're Dead)", where an almost pop catchy rhythm accompanies the exhibition of Natz's range of sounds, and finally the visionary "All The Clocks Are Broken", which bids farewell to the listener like a summer storm, quick but leaving a mark.

Ashley, Puleo, and Filler thus produce a work of absolute musical excellence: a chimera of countless inputs, skillfully blended or intentionally contrasted, merging with Natz's distorted but multifaceted voice and meticulously crafted but at the same time absolutely genuine and unpretentious lyrics (which cost me great effort not to quote...). The future catastrophe predicted for at least a decade has occurred. Intangible and seemingly painless. No global wars nor nuclear disasters. Just cynicism and hypocrisy. A society of zombies at heart.