Reviews by markjazz

Battle on Venus is one of the oddest stories I've read. It also seems like it was written for kids too because some of the plot is just to childish to be taken seriously by adults. It's basically a story about remote controlled toys fighting each other for over 100 years, and for no apparent reason too. This all takes place on the surface of Venus where humans can breath the air and there's water to dip into as well. Yeah, even for 1960's science fiction it sounds mental. It's a quick read and I did have some enjoyment out of it though. The other story, The Three Suns of Amara, is kind of a sci-fi love story. It actually wasn't all that bad to be honest. No cheese!

Well this is one of the better Ace Double books I've read and if I could give it a 7/10 then it would get that score. Both stories were written in the early 1940's and I have to say that The Sun Destroyers is an awesome story for the time. The characters in the book are the planets and stars and it's a very unique perspective. The other story, A Yank in Valhalla is pretty much your typical lost American in a strange distant past story. It's written well but I found the main character, Kieth, seems to accept his new surroundings way too quickly and even acts as if he's been fighting with the Norse Gods for a hundred years.

I bought this for $5 at an antique store and it was mainly because Orson Scott Card's name was on the cover. I also knew he hadn't even been published yet when this magazine was released, except last year when Ben Bova bought his short story "Ender's Game" for his magazine in 1977. Anyway, I found everything in this issue pretty boring and most of it is hardly science fiction, even Orson's story. The best one by far was the short story "The Satyr". It's a sci-fi comedy piece with a fairly sexual edge to it. I found myself laughing a few times. Great ending too.

This is an interesting release I picked up brand new for just $8, and it's worth it. I would have paid full price for this easily. I bought it mainly because it had a Mingus track I never heard before. All these tracks are great and they represent the third stream genre perfectly. This compilation was originally called "Music for Brass" when it was released in 1957. If I was a fan of classical music I think I would like this too because most of this is conducted by Gunther Schuller. It has a classical feel to it, which is part of what third stream is. Hell, it was a term coined by Gunther Schuller so it makes sense he did a compilation like this. In short, get this if you like third stream or classical music. It also comes with a thick 24 page insert.

This was one of the first compilations I truly loved and it introduced me to the following bands: Forma Tadre, Velvet Acid Christ, Haujobb, Suicide Commando and Covenant. These mentioned bands I would grow to love because of hearing the tracks they did on this compilation. The whole Tyranny Off the Beat Volumes were pretty great and this CD alone had a run time of over 79 minutes, which I hardly see even now-a-days. If you can find this compilation grab it!

What's a industrial collection without this massive 4CD boxset of some of the greatest industrial artists that help gave Cleopatra some of its acclaim. However, some of the track choices are a bit dull. FLA's track 'Slaughter House' I found one of the most disappointing as well as the Delerium, Stiff Miners and Die Krupps pick. They are far better tracks from that time they could have pick for a 4CD boxset. This is the compilation that introduced me to a number of bands though. Download for starters. After hearing 'Mothersonne' remix I went out and bought their entire discography. Same with Klute, Die Form and Digital Poodle. Although some of the track picks suck I will remind everyone that when this came out it sold for a mere $20 Canadian. Pretty cheap and well worth it.

Track Ratings:
1-Bullet 4
2-Forgotten Tears 4
3-Drive 2.5
4-Phoenix 4
5-Prisoners of War 4
6-World (Global Mix by Assemblage 23) 3
7-Shift (Inside the Clouds) 4
8-Prime Evil 5
9-Logic 3
10-Severed (System Syn Mix) 3
11-A Cell 3.5

Overall: 3/5

Conclusion: Not as strong as some of the previous compilations on this label, however, this compilation introduced me to Hocico. After hearing the 'Forgotten Tears' track it didn't take me long to buy the album it came from, and most of the groups albums before and after.

Track Rating
1-Der Schrei (Laboratory X Mix) 4
2-Comatose Delusion (Velvet Acid Christ Mix) 4
3-We Are One (Mirror Split Up Into Pieces) 3
4-Radiomorphism 5
5-Under Deck (Beborn Beton Mix) 4
6-Asphixia (Wasted) 3
7-Nitrogen Part 2 3.5
8-Subsonic 5
9-Oblivion 3
10-Formerself 3.5
11-Blue Lights 3
12-Read The Lines 4
13-It Scares Me 2.5

Overall: 4/5

Conclusion: This is a compilation that helped me really get into some of these artists on this label, like Die Form. The first 8 tracks on this compilation are all great but it kind of falls down hill after that. Still a good comp overall and for the price it was a good buy.

This release is proof that compilations can help a label sell artists. I wasn't a lot into industrial bands and at the time I didn't have the internet so I wasn't searching for much either. I bought this compilation because I had only heard of Front Line Assembly. Soon I became a fan of a number of artists that appeared on this compilation. I would end up buying nearly everything :wumpscut: and Velvet Acid Christ would release. My tastes have changed in the past 10 years but I still love a lot of the music on this compilation and I give this one big credit for helping me open my ears to new music.

I really have a like/ hate relationship with this label. I've never actually loved anything from it, just liked some stuff, but there's also a lot I hate. Everything released is so goddamn soulless and very rarely do I get excited about any new releases. I wanted to buy this compilation because it was a great deal and I wanted to see if it was the same ole same ole from this label. You get 112 songs for $44. There's music by some well known artists as well as some new comers, which is good. What I thought sucked though was there's some friggn' techno hardstyle tracks on here, which makes me never want to ever explore anything from this label anymore. I don't like the direction it's going at all. It seems like they're gearing towards the 16-21 year old market with songs like Fucking Invective from Noisuf-X that just repeat fuck and shit over a hard sounding beat. Very lame and very late 90's rave scene, which means it's old and boring! I did get exposed to some new artists and I guess that's the point of a compilation so in the end it's alright. I can't complain much for the price. I liked about half of what I heard so it's a 2.5/5, plus it gets a 0.5 for overall package and deal.

This boxset I got came with the promo comp 'Sounds From the Matrix 11', which actually has some tracks on here too so it was a bit pointless. A 2.5/5. Ironically I made a better compilation using 15 of the 40 bonus tracks given with the download code. I would rate that comp a 3.5/5.