Je$us Loves Amerika - Advanced Burial Technology
2002 - Industry Standard Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Je$us Loves Amerika website.
Imagine a three-way, free for all wrestling cage match between Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails and The Prodigy, and you're getting close to the technologically-fuelled hate anthems that Je$us Loves Amerika are creating on this, their debut album.
Taking a fairly significant amount of inspiration from the events of September 11th and using these as a springboard for their own, apparently fairly radical political views, Advanced Burial Technology creates through industrial/techno/rock music a claustrophobic yet energetic atmosphere of fury. JLA aren't afraid of courting controversy or pissing off our cousins across the pond either, as their messed-around sample of good ol' Dubya saying 'God bless America and God bless teror' in album highlight Tolerance Versus Rage clearly shows. Genre boundaries don't seem to matter too much to them either, as illustrated by the track 'Psyanide' utilising drum sounds provided by none other than Norman 'Fatboy Slim' Cook!
This would all be well and good if, using these promising elements, JLA had managed to create a satisfying album... but sadly, while for the most part the music on offer is energetic and unique enough to please, there isn't enough variation through the album to retain this reviewer's interest. The opening title track goes on for too long in a one-dimensional manner to be impressive, and while later tracks like the aforementioned 'Tolerance Versus Rage' and the drum-n-bass grounded 'Dogma [verse 02]' lift this album above mere Filter-esque industrial-lite, as a collection of songs they simply don't cut the mustard.
Better luck next time, guys.
6/10
2002 - Industry Standard Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Je$us Loves Amerika website.
Imagine a three-way, free for all wrestling cage match between Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails and The Prodigy, and you're getting close to the technologically-fuelled hate anthems that Je$us Loves Amerika are creating on this, their debut album.
Taking a fairly significant amount of inspiration from the events of September 11th and using these as a springboard for their own, apparently fairly radical political views, Advanced Burial Technology creates through industrial/techno/rock music a claustrophobic yet energetic atmosphere of fury. JLA aren't afraid of courting controversy or pissing off our cousins across the pond either, as their messed-around sample of good ol' Dubya saying 'God bless America and God bless teror' in album highlight Tolerance Versus Rage clearly shows. Genre boundaries don't seem to matter too much to them either, as illustrated by the track 'Psyanide' utilising drum sounds provided by none other than Norman 'Fatboy Slim' Cook!
This would all be well and good if, using these promising elements, JLA had managed to create a satisfying album... but sadly, while for the most part the music on offer is energetic and unique enough to please, there isn't enough variation through the album to retain this reviewer's interest. The opening title track goes on for too long in a one-dimensional manner to be impressive, and while later tracks like the aforementioned 'Tolerance Versus Rage' and the drum-n-bass grounded 'Dogma [verse 02]' lift this album above mere Filter-esque industrial-lite, as a collection of songs they simply don't cut the mustard.
Better luck next time, guys.
6/10
