Fractured- Beneath The Ashes

Artist: Fractured

CD Title: Beneath The Ashes

Label:Metropolis Records

Genre: Experimental Industrial

Website: www.faithisfractured.com

Reviewer: Michael Kurt

Date: 07.05.11

Buy: https://www.metropolis-mailorder.com/digital.php?prodnum=MET+713D

Coming from the growing powerhouse Industrial country Canada, Nick Gorman brought Fractured to the scene with their debut release Only Human Remains (Dependent Records 2005), which had kind of a slow start, but grew to be a very well received album in America as well. This was right around the time that DYM (Destroy Your Modern – Noitekk/COPint) was getting pretty popular and the world of glitchy industrial came to plain view. Only Human Remains was an amazing album because it still had some dance-time club tracks with the new-style industrial feel, very synth based hard hitting glitch stuff. It was a great album for someone changing the view of the club hits.

Fractured took a bit of time off, I didn't really hear anything from them. A remix would pop up every once and awhile, but nothing too substantial. Then, in early 2011, they hit all of the social networks pretty hard and re-entered the publics view with Beneath the Ashes.

Beneath the Ashes is a very different album than what I had imagined. 2011 is apparently the year of new style changing albums (see Die Sektor Applied Structures in a Void, DYM the Swarm.) This album is no different. Beneath the Ashes is a completely new, and pretty exciting in my opinion, style for Fractured, and electronic music in general. When I first listened to it at my local record store, before buying, my first instinct was, when asked what I thought about it, was Bella Morte doing dubstep (mostly in reference to the track For What?) I happen to like dubstep, a lot, I think it's an interesting genre that has a lot of industrial behind it hidden somewhere. Fractured has been able to grasp that wobble-style-bass and use it to their advantage here, making a truly unique electronic album. It is a little soft for my personal taste, lots of singing and sad times. However! After a 3 or 4 full listens it has easily become one of my favorite albums this year.

From a musician's stand points, it is an amazing album. I sit and try to analyze what the hell he did on some of the songs, to try to replicate it, or take from it... and I've still got nothing. It is a really different blend of styles. Definitely refreshing.

Club appropriate track: “Fly Away”

Non-dubstep people track: “Beneath the Ashes”

Sad time track: “Disengage”