Album a Day: Shiv-R - Hold My Hand

Certain countries are better at particular kinds of music than others. Typically one would associate Industrial with The United States, Canada, or Germany (though it should be noted there is some kick-ass industrial in Japan as well) so I was quite surprised when I was sent a few CDs from Australia back in 2003. At first the only releases I saw were from a small label by the name of Ground-Under Productions. I was really surprised when I heard that these bands sounded similar to several bands that were more popular in the states. A band by the name of Resurrection Eve sounded a lot like a VNV Nation or Assemblage 23 whereas another band, Stark, sounded reminiscent of Rudy Ratzinger's Wumpscut. In time I stopped hearing from GUP and I was afraid I couldn't get my Australia Dark-Electro fix. Eventually I was contacted by another label, Crash Frequency when they put our their first release, Australian Independent Electro Vol. 1. This compilation featured some familiar bands like the aforementioned Resurrection Eve and darkwave pioneers Ikon alongside some really cool bands I had never heard of like Tankt, Angelspit, Angel Theory, and The Crystalline Effect. Continuing the trend of Australian-dopplegangers, The Crystalline Effect sounded a lot like a more manic version of Collide. Cut to 2010 where the American Industrial scene is just beginning to catch-up with yours truly as Angelspit has become a club staple and now Metropolis has released the debut collaborative album, Hold My Hand, between Stark's Lee Bulig and The Crystalline Effect's Pete Crane together as Shiv-R. Though the two have aided each other for the better part of a decade, this follow-up to their 2008 EP Parasite is the first full-length collaboration between two of Australia's veteran underground musicians. Though as important as these men have been to Australia, the album was constructed with Crane in London, England and Bulig working out of Bangkok, Thailand, which certainly speaks volumes about the creative process in relation to technology in 2010 and also puts an interesting twist on the inspiration behind the work. This album is a really solid effort that displays both artists' talents while maintaining a cohesive new sound that is basically what you would expect from both of these men. The disc moves well and my only critique is that I found the tracks without vocals (mostly found in the middle of the album) slightly less interesting than those with, but even then I still thought all of the tracks had club appeal as well as just enjoyable to listen to (if you find electro-industrial fun to listen to like I do). The real stand-out track is Blood Spatter which I could easily see the Combichrist-crowd falling in love with. I also love the photographic-booklet-artwork by Matthew Burgess that should be appreciated by any fetish-enthusiast. Favorite Tracks: Buried, The End (Pt. 1), Corruption, Blood Splatter, Taste, and Open My Vein