Something Infected- Perfect Dark

ARTIST: Something Infected

ALBUM: Perfect Dark

LABEL: Self-released

REVIEWER: Matthew J.

DATE: 9-30-09

The second demo from Swedish act Something Infected is club-friendly but mostly unremarkable EBM with a hint of synthpop. Driven by trance leads and a pulsing kick that's almost too fast for dancing, "The Dark" is melodic but somewhat forgettable, and "Perfect Drug," not to be confused for the similarly titled Nine Inch Nails song, has some nice Depeche Mode-influenced vocal hooks but makes the mistake of sampling the influential but overused cyberpunk film Blade Runner. By far the best track here is "Embraced," a moodier but still high-BPM offering built around pitch-perfect vocal lines that are simultaneously energizing and darkly romantic. "Terminate" takes the opposite approach with robotic voice processing and themes of humanity's extermination by machines; it's fun enough, but Front Line Assembly did it better more than a decade ago. Something Infected are technically proficient, and any of the four tracks on this EP would play fine in the clubs; hopefully time will give them a few more interesting ideas to explore now that they've mastered the basic EBM formula.

Check out Something Infected on MySpace at www.myspace.com/somethinginfected for song samples and the latest news.