Reviews by markjazz

Anyone who wants a prefect example of how to mix sound and video than this is a must. It helps to be a fan of EBM too, but aside from that point I was awe-struck when I first saw and heard this. The two video clips are both from the same footage shot at the Le Mans race when Bentley won the overall race with their newest model. V1 and V2 however are different in the fact that the clips go with different music and some of the shots are tweaked differently as well. I love best how the screen 'jumps' with the drum beats too. The interviews are a tad boring because it just shows their voices in audio movement, although I see why they did it.

The CD itself is great too and the music was done by the leaders of Front 242. Some of the tracks that appear on the CD sound sharper than in the DVD and some are arranged differently too. They should re-release it without the DVD for others who don't really care about Le Mans. Overall though, get it if you like Front 242 and / or racing.

Info on this DVD:
There is a hidden video of Pro-test in disc two after you watch the whole video "Eurotrauma: Skinny Puppy live in Europe 1986".

Chapter selections contain clips from the CD "Puppy Gristle".

Although I don't like Skinny Puppy's last two albums I have to admit that this was a very well done live show, like they've done for so many more years. One of those "wish I was there" moments every time I watch it and being Canadian myself I'm glad they kept two Canadian concerts in the DVD itself.

Skinny Puppy has always had amazing b-sides and in most cases they're actually better than the Single track. This compilation gives off a pretty damn good example of some of the groups best b-sides, and most of them throughout their career are represented on this disc. Both the dubs of Mirror Saw and Nature's Revenge are just as good as the normal versions, and that goes for the same with the Shore Line Poison (Remix), which kinda sounds the same as the original except it's edited threw a few filters it seems and the ending is cut off a bit, which I like. Probably my favourite live version of any track all time would be the Harsh Stone White track. cEvin Key is perfect on the drums and they sound like he was using his oil drum set up that he had on Ain't It Dead Yet?. It kind of gives the track an extra kick every time he hits that drum. Love it! There's a couple tracks on here that I don't care for and this keeps me from giving it a 5/5. I'm sure no one gives two shits about Amputate and the Tin Omen 1 version doesn't offer anything new and doesn't sound as good as the original anyway. Overall though, this is one fine B-side compilation and the proof is the fact that when I bought this at the time I owned all the singles anyway, so why did I buy it? Well, it prevented me from making my own CD-r version and this track list is pretty much what I would have picked for it...ha.

I was hoping this would be Skinny Puppy's last album, but alas, I was wrong. This album was great though and when it was released I was exstatic, being 16 years old at the time.
The opening track "Jahya" is an excellent instrumental with an uber heavy guitar riff. "Death", "Hardset Head", and "Blue Serge" are great electro-metal tracks. I think "Candle" is the strongest track on the album and was suppose to be released as a single. The different styles of guitar gave SP a new approach, and it worked for them on this album. "Process" and "Morter" are the 2 tracks I find to be fairly weak, even though I'm a fan of Philth. "Cult" is a lovely track with its soft melodies and smooth lyrics. (Can't believe I wrote that for a SP track, but it is good). The closing track "Cellar Heat" is part 3 of a series they had done with tracks "Haunted" and "Melt", both were found only on compilations.
If this had been their last album as a band I would have been happy, but not everyone gets their wish.

I'm going to comment on the videos and not the music as I pretty much love every track on here, audio wise. The first two tracks, Dig It and Stairs and Flowers are pretty simple, production wise, and are both in black & white. They don't offer a whole lot in terms of interesting things going on and such but they do give you a kind of sense as to what the meaning of the songs are about. The next two are Far Too Frail and Smothered Hope and again are cheaply done. It contains live footage at some old concert and both videos contain the same footage, except the one on Smothered Hope is slowed down some. There's a few images spliced in and out but over all they're not that great. Then we have Deep Down Trauma Hounds, which is just taken off the live VHS concert Ain't It Dead Yet. It is my favorite live track they did for that concert but if you already own the other DVD/VHS your just watching a re-run pretty much. The next two are my favorite and actually look like some budget was put into them. Testure starts off showing a clip from the movie Plauge Dogs, which is a sad movie on it's own, but adding it to this music video was great as it simply makes you feel for all the animal torture that has, and still is going on. The video movement with the song is well done too. Spasmolytic represents the band at it's best. It's very well done, has some gore, and even cEvin Key appears as some crazy ass mailman on a bike, which makes me LOL everytime I see it. They also would use some pieces of the sets for their Too Dark Park tour as well. The last music video, Killing Game, is pretty boring and just shows Ohgr trying to escape some bubble whilst getting beaten at times. Overall this video collection was pretty cool when it came out but for the hardcore SP fan it's very dull and contains just a couple good videos.

This is one killer album from this band and a lot of people would have been happy if this was their last album too. Aside from that though I remember hearing there was a limited number of these discs that had a very large mistake. The last few minutes of the ending of Download appeared at the very start of the CD and thus each following track was messed up contain a part of the other track. I kinda wish I had that version, just cause.

Track wise though the only track I don't like on here is Killing Game. Yeah, most people think it's a gem but I honestly don't think it even fits with the rest of the tracks, which are pretty hard pounding and contain a lot of distored vocals, samples and movie quotes. Who would have thought SP would sample the movie Uncle Buck? Ha, but it works so who cares. I always wish there was a single for the track Love in Vein but it was not meant to be for some reason.

I have to give a lot of credit to this album too because the track Download was what got me into noise when I first heard it back in 1997. I fucking loved it and I played it all the time back then. Overall, this is probably my 2nd or 3rd favourite SP album and it's best played with the volume WAY up!

This is probably one of favorite singles ever to be released and the best that Skinny Puppy ever did, simply because of the variety of tracks they give you.
The Spasmolytic (Remix) is amazing. You get a completely different version here, unlike the Worlock and Tin Omen 'remixes'. A true industrial track and even adding some lyrics from Rash Reflection at the end is brilliant. The Shore Line Poison Remix is basically a harsher version of the original. Nothing special added but I like this version better. Harsh Stone White (Live In Denver) is one of the best live takes they've recorded. cEvin Key on the drums sounds amazing and the track pulls off a better feel than the original studio version. The Walking On Ice track is a great epic. Three songs mixed into one and the track on Brap Vol.4 'All Eyes' is the 2nd track you hear on this 12-minute journey.

This is easily my favorite Skinny Puppy album and for a number of reasons. There is no filler tracks on here, outside of Reclamation if you want to be picky. All the songs contain some of the bands best lyrics. I love all the remixes they did for the singles. Both singles that came out of this album are their best ones, which were Spasmolytic and Tormentor. Finally, the artwork was my favorite as well. I do wish that the fold out poster didn't have lyrics on it, otherwise it'd be hanging up on my wall right now.

I won't go into a track by track detail but I'll just break down what I like best about each one. For Convulsion, the simple heavy guitar fits the track perfect with the rest of it's distorted sounds. Tormentor has some of the most unique sounding drums I've ever heard. Spasmolytic is a true SP classic and is about as "punk" sounding as they ever got. Probably one of their best songs ever too. Nature's Revenge is one of their best slow moving tracks and is very creepy as well. Shore Lined Posion is a true industrial track with its odd samples and distorted drums. Tons of fun! Grave Wisdom is an interesting track and the 400 Blows remix is a bit better than this version. There is apparently a sound clip from an episode of Seinfeld but I've yet to figure out which episode it's from. T.F.W.O. is just a mess of a track but I still love it for it's originality and the ending is a nice set up for the next track. Morpheus Laughing took me a while to get into but now I just love it. The almost techno like beats mixed with Ohgr's harsh vocals are awesome. The last track, Reclamation, doesn't get much play from me but the live versions they've done of it are so well done.

After Rabies came out a lot of fans were upset but this one turned them right back as each track on here could have its own single I believe and as far as the bands tours go I would say this would have been my favorite one to see as well, to bad I was 10 years old at the time.

This album was my introduction to this group. I was 16 and driving on the Highway when my friend popped in a tape and right from track one I was hooked. We must of played it 10 times during that trip and afterwards I borrowed it. This was the start to my love for industrial music and all these years later I still love this album just as much as I did back then. There's isn't one track on here I don't love, although I don't care too much for State Aid but I still listen to it without needing to skip it. I loved this album so much in highschool that we were asked to a report infront of the class about a song that had political or social meaning and I picked VX Gas Attack. Everyone was looking at me oddly as the track played and I blew away the teachers mind with my report about what the track was about. I scored 110% on the report because I handed it in early too. I'll never forget that.

The thing about this album I like so much is what it did for me as a lover of music. It opened up my mind and ears to a whole new genre and it showed me that one can be different without having to be a social outcast as well. I found others that liked this group in my school and made a couple close friends because of it. There's also a ton of movie samples on this album and that also had me researching where these movie samples came from and thus helping me find some pretty awesome movies that I love to this day as well. Such as Evil Dead II, The Plague Dogs and Le locataire [The Tenant]. I remember the first time hearing the track Testure, and reading the lyrics at the same time, I nearly had tears streaming down my face. The B-side tracks are awesome too. If you blast the track Funguss you'll have a whole new appreciation for it. The bass and noise in it rules! God what a fucking great album. After buying this album I pretty much bought every album this group made, and the singles for them. Proof that one album can have a huge influence over a young mind.

This was my second album I picked up from this group and little did I know it was actually their first "real" album. It's soooo dated but it still kicks ass. To me, it is thee quintessential early 80's industrial album. I love it to this day! I'm not 100% fan of all the tracks on here, such as Incision and Manwhole, but I never skip them. It's a short album so it's easy for me to just play it and relax. It took me years to finally play this one in my car and holy crap it was awesome. It took me back in time somehow and the bass was pretty damn good too. This album contains one of my favourite tracks from these guys, that being Glass Houses. I think it's my all time favourite from them overall and it has one of their best lyrics ever as well; "What I am is what I am." I couldn't relate to a more perfect line than this and I'm sure many people feel the same way, even if they don't like this type of music at all. Overall it's not a perfect 10/10 album but it's damn near close and it gets a shit load of playing time from me still.