Damage Manual
Damage Manual
The Damage Manual (Special Edition limited to 4000 copies)
Invisible Records 2005
Produced by Martin Atkins and Steven Siebold
Personnel:
Chris Connelly - Vocals, e-bow, guitar
Martin Atkins - Drums and low end teaks and blips
Steven Siebold - guitar and bass
The Damage Manual started a few years back as a collection of cranky old punks and industrial hazards who needed some playtime away from their day jobs: Chris Connelly (Revolting Cocks), Geordie (Killing Joke), Jah Wobble (Invaders of the Heart, Public Image Limited), and Martin Atkins (Pigface). They made an EP and an album of exceptional quality that transcended the potential baggage of so many heavyweights in one recording studio. Then as many projects of their ilk go, someone (or in this case, someones) leave -- Geordie to the latest KJ tour and studio album, Jah Wobble for who the hell knows.
Considering my deep admiriation for both those fellows, and how much they were a part of the sound, one would wonder what DM would degenerate into without them. It is not that Connelly and Atkins are slouches - quite the contrary - but it was that heady mix of 4 quite volatile elements that gave the DM its surprisingly caustic and propellant vibe.
They ended up opting to replace them with a studio hound, Steven Siebold (Information Society, Hate Dept) who fills the shoes adequately, although lacking the X-factor of his predecessors. He apes Geordies crispness but doesn't capture the same serrated audiogore that only he can muster (although he comes damn close on I Am War Again). And bass-wise, things run a bit more on the side of conventional.
So now that I have run down the less impressive aspect of this affair, I can still say this is one hell of an album. The album goes for a less artsy, more conventional feel, but it does so with the same go for the jugular attitude, and the dry, menacing sound is captured in the studio with a clean, dry mix that suits the material. What Siebold lacks in the recording booth, he makes up for behind the mixing desk, and Atkins has always known how to make albums sound balanced and cleanly mixed, while never removing any actual grit and corrosion that needs to be there.
Speaking of Atkins, his drumming is simple and direct, but not boring. He pounds the crap out of the skins and pushes things along like it bloody well matters. Connelly continues to pose as the underground rock answer to David Bowie. His voice bears such striking similarities to Bowie at times you wonder if it isn't Bowie (try listening to Limited Edition without immediately thinking Station to Station-era Bowie, I dare you) but for the fact that his brogue is still quite apparent. His singing is sincere and bordering on pretentious with his sometime offkilter lyrics (i.e. Mad Dialects and South Pole Fighters come to mind), but never boorish.
There are a bunch of choice tracks on this: Revenge Fiction, No Act of Grace, I Am War Again and the sole remnant of the previous DM period on this album, the closer Expand remixed by Can (or I will assume Holger Czukay by himself).
If anything this album is probably a better intro to DM to a generation of kids who worship at the altars of all the weenie punk/industrial/emo bands that wouldn't exist but for the groundwork laid out by this groups pedigree. Take a listen.
You might like this if you like:
NIN - With Teeth
David Bowie - Outside
Killing Joke - Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions
Garbage - Bleed Like Me
The Damage Manual (Special Edition limited to 4000 copies)
Invisible Records 2005
Produced by Martin Atkins and Steven Siebold
Personnel:
Chris Connelly - Vocals, e-bow, guitar
Martin Atkins - Drums and low end teaks and blips
Steven Siebold - guitar and bass
The Damage Manual started a few years back as a collection of cranky old punks and industrial hazards who needed some playtime away from their day jobs: Chris Connelly (Revolting Cocks), Geordie (Killing Joke), Jah Wobble (Invaders of the Heart, Public Image Limited), and Martin Atkins (Pigface). They made an EP and an album of exceptional quality that transcended the potential baggage of so many heavyweights in one recording studio. Then as many projects of their ilk go, someone (or in this case, someones) leave -- Geordie to the latest KJ tour and studio album, Jah Wobble for who the hell knows.
Considering my deep admiriation for both those fellows, and how much they were a part of the sound, one would wonder what DM would degenerate into without them. It is not that Connelly and Atkins are slouches - quite the contrary - but it was that heady mix of 4 quite volatile elements that gave the DM its surprisingly caustic and propellant vibe.
They ended up opting to replace them with a studio hound, Steven Siebold (Information Society, Hate Dept) who fills the shoes adequately, although lacking the X-factor of his predecessors. He apes Geordies crispness but doesn't capture the same serrated audiogore that only he can muster (although he comes damn close on I Am War Again). And bass-wise, things run a bit more on the side of conventional.
So now that I have run down the less impressive aspect of this affair, I can still say this is one hell of an album. The album goes for a less artsy, more conventional feel, but it does so with the same go for the jugular attitude, and the dry, menacing sound is captured in the studio with a clean, dry mix that suits the material. What Siebold lacks in the recording booth, he makes up for behind the mixing desk, and Atkins has always known how to make albums sound balanced and cleanly mixed, while never removing any actual grit and corrosion that needs to be there.
Speaking of Atkins, his drumming is simple and direct, but not boring. He pounds the crap out of the skins and pushes things along like it bloody well matters. Connelly continues to pose as the underground rock answer to David Bowie. His voice bears such striking similarities to Bowie at times you wonder if it isn't Bowie (try listening to Limited Edition without immediately thinking Station to Station-era Bowie, I dare you) but for the fact that his brogue is still quite apparent. His singing is sincere and bordering on pretentious with his sometime offkilter lyrics (i.e. Mad Dialects and South Pole Fighters come to mind), but never boorish.
There are a bunch of choice tracks on this: Revenge Fiction, No Act of Grace, I Am War Again and the sole remnant of the previous DM period on this album, the closer Expand remixed by Can (or I will assume Holger Czukay by himself).
If anything this album is probably a better intro to DM to a generation of kids who worship at the altars of all the weenie punk/industrial/emo bands that wouldn't exist but for the groundwork laid out by this groups pedigree. Take a listen.
You might like this if you like:
NIN - With Teeth
David Bowie - Outside
Killing Joke - Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions
Garbage - Bleed Like Me
posted by theloniusfunk at 2:37 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home