– Furnace

can a band's first record be a transition record?

the disc as a whole is indeed the logical continuation of the path that skinny puppy was heading down to the point that, excluding the change of vocalists, it's perhaps not entirely clear that a change of project had taken place quite yet. for many years, the singer for skinny puppy had been trying, with label , to swing the band into a style more aligned with acts like ministry and nine inch nails in order to sell more records. the other two of the act wished to push on by continuing to define the act as the opposite of pop music, and if pop had changed to something closer to skinny puppy then that would mean that skinny puppy should change to continue to maintain its oppositeness. this led to some conflict and the eventual decision to allow skinny puppy to be moulded into a marketable product while opening up a new project - - to continue the boundary-pushing work of skinny puppy. that's not what ended up happening, but that's not really important within the context of this review.

it follows that this is the actual follow-up to last rights and that the eyes of stanley pain is the last puppy disc.

the disc starts off with an ambient introduction that sounds like it should be largely attributed to spybey. this bleeds into somewhat of a freeform jam, or "brap" as it is referred to in these circles, that mixes an eastern sounding aesthetic with a slowed down idm backdrop. the sound is primarily characterized by its puppy-ish lack of structure; samples float in and out at seemingly microsecond intervals to the point that the track barely even has a time signature. yet, it's not an aggressive sound as may be expected from that description; it's actually the contemplative, eastern feel that dominates over the chaotic, electronic sound. the juxtaposition, however, is the real treat here and throughout the record. what you're enjoying is neither the imagery of quiet, crystal lakes hidden somewhere in tibet, nor is it the dark, gothic electronic soundscaping. you're enjoying the contrast, which i'm going to go so far as to describe as "long walks along the beaches of hades".

the third track is the first example of the classic, well-known " sound", which would be further extrapolated upon on the next record. it's a very upbeat track designed for dancing in clubs; it features some scattered rambling by genesis, a trancey break down in the middle, etc. that being said, it's still a key/goettel track so it has the expected layers of complexity...

this pattern of contemplative/experimental/ambient (CEA) followed by dancehall/aggressive/industrial (DAI) repeats throughout the bulk of the record; 4/5, 6/7 and 8/9 are similarly related. is this the transition? not entirely, the transition is from puppy through to and what i just described does not mirror that transformation. however, it does provide the disc with a climax/lull mechanism to the point that it comes off as nearly symphonic. the CEA tracks are, in general, so formless that they blend into segues between the DAI tracks, which would be the climaxes. was that the intent? it's hard to say, really. when measured in of effort, length and complexity, it's actually tempting to argue that the DAI tracks are segues between the CEA tracks, but few people will hear it that way. on the other hand, how can it be coincidental that the alternations are so absolute? of the DAI tracks, mother sonne stands out by sounding like the demented precursor to setting sun, overlaying some very nice, dark drones over a sickeningly harsh beat. of the CEA tracks, attalal is by far the most melodic and also stands out in its near-compositional construction.

...then, after fifty-some minutes of chaos and noise something amazing happens: release. all of that chaos and insanity, all of that harsh noise, everything that was hard to listen to, but that you forced yourself to listen to anyways...it all disappears underneath a conventional melody, a vocal/chant sample, a bright pad and a structured beat. an hour of dissonance gives way to ten minutes of beauty...

should it have ended there? arguably, yes. however, the record finishes up with a CEA track that is most notable for genesis' rant and ultimately seems rather out of sequence. could they have placed this within the first hour and added another DAI track to compensate? why didn't they !? the last track is a remix/reprise of the first, ending the song cycle and starting again.

the packaging is also something to take note of, although i'm not sure if the re-release has the same lenticular cover as the original. there are three images within the collage, apparently meant to represent three stages of the same geographical area: untouched rolling hills, an industrial skyline of pipes pointing into the heavens and a metropolis of glass and concrete. as you rotate the cover in front of you, you'll see these three collages merge and blur in and out of each other. tool used the same sort of packaging on aenima a few months later.

this is an esoteric, difficult record that most will have difficulty comprehending, let alone enjoying. however, it's also inarguably one of the absolute classic records of the meta-genre of electronic music. you may find it hard to digest, you may not like it right now, but at least acknowledge that your grandkids will almost certainly study it in art school.

Simply one of the best industrial CD's ever. Each track is so unique, especially when it was released, that you can't help but feel your ripping off the artists by only listening to this once per sitting.

"Stone Grey Soil" and "Attalal" are such great tracks to relax to, while "Sigesang" and "Mother Sonne" make you want to hit the dance floor with a chainsaw. I love the 4th track, Cannaya, best simply for the fact that I feel it should be in a horror movie soundtrack. The beats change 4 times during the whole song and each one sticks in your brain far after the CD is over.

(cEvin Key & Phill Western) was still Key's side project outside Skinny Puppy. Indeed, this release was produced as the Puppies were trying to come to grips with the loss of fellow Puppy Dwayne Goettel (who also worked on this project) and the general bitterness between Key and Ogre was peaking. The album itself pretty much resembles a Skinny Puppy release, there isn't much to suggest it's Key's sonic baby. However, on tracks like 'Noh Man's Land' and 'Attalal' there are mushy trippy breakbeats that trudge along mixing with other elements to produce some really groovy and dark triphop stylings. 'Omnidawn' (nothing to do with Mike Oldfield) has a hard 4/4 house beat that snakes in and out of layers of dark industrial stabs and Genesis P-Orrridge soundbytes.
The 'Seele-Hole' track may appeal to fans of SP at their more experimental, it's dark disted ages threaten to fall apart at any moment. All in all, 'Furnace' isn't a totally individual work and it's not the most cohesive release, in this listener's opinion; but it definitely shows promise that would become evident on 's 'Stanley Pain' follow-up release.