WASTE- A Silent Mantra of Rage

ARTIST: WASTE

ALBUM: A Silent Mantra of Rage

LABEL: Vendetta Music

REVIEWER: Matthew J.

DATE: 5-29-10

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Much of Shane Englefield's work under the WASTE moniker has combined brutally distorted mid-tempo rhythmic noise with a black humor drawing its inspiration from Cold War-era films, a sort of industrial dance version of "Dr. Strangelove." His latest release hints at the same influences but takes things into a darker, more serious direction. Apart from the grimly humorous title of "Efficient Way of Killing Mass Amounts of Motherfuckers" and the samples from "The Sopranos" on "Gun to Your Head," this is by and large moody, oppressive stuff in sound and theme. "War Never Changes" is as bleak as its title, a series of thick distorted fuzz that coalesces into a monotonously clanking rhythm; "Assassins" laces a power noise stomp with hollow, eerie washes of sustain and sampled gunfire. Englefield's more ambient project, Vuxnut, also seems to have crept into his latest WASTE work, with many of the tracks here employing atmosphere as well as beat. "That Moment of Terror" does its title proud, its eerie ambiance and slowed down samples an aural representation of time freezing and blood running cold in the midst of panic, and "Kill Your Own" is all icy minimalism broken up by sudden thuds and creaks. If previous WASTE offerings seemed to poke fun at the Cold War era's paranoia of nuclear annihilation, Englefield's latest views World War III as a stark inevitability. <[>In addition to the standard version of the album, Vendetta Music is also offering it in a deluxe two-CD edition packed with remixes from this album as well as earlier releases, not to mention several live recordings that highlight WASTE's more club-oriented material. Like the album proper, some of the best remixes here highlight a more atmospheric sound; Germany's Mono no Aware, for example, offers a gorgeous mix of "Assassins" that builds gradually from simple bass-heavy loops into a thick, moody stew of rhythmic noise, Mono-Amine adds minor key pianos to drum 'n' bass rhythms for a disquieting take on "MFX," and up and coming project Gates of Dissent offers a haunting mix of "The Death March" that incorporates strings, bells and piano. For more straightforward club material, you could do a lot worse than Xotox's clattering, EBM-fueled version of "Gun to Your Head" or Alter der Ruine's straightforward but addictive mix of "I Don't Give a Fuck." While the deluxe edition is a must-have for long-time WASTE fans, both the remixes here and the original studio material of the album itself represent a maturation in Englefield's sound. This album shows us that there's more to WASTE than earsplitting distortion; there's also a subtle mastery of shifting mood and atmosphere that disturbs the mind before the inevitable rhythmic onslaught pulverizes the eardrums.

Visit Englefield on MySpace at www.myspace.com/wastefor track samples and other information.