As we approach International EBM Day, nothing could be more appropriate than to review some records of the genre that have appeared in recent months and which we had not been able to listen to until now. We start with this EP by The Juggernauts, a band we recently interviewed and in which we find Borg, legendary dj and EBM activist, and Kevin Strauwen from True Zebra, another artist we follow at El Garaje. As our readers know, we will be able to see these tracks live in Madrid very soon, as The Juggernauts will be bringing an EBM note to Saturday 29th of DarkMad. Fear has been released on Cd, the vinyl version will be available from May and you can also listen and download it from their bandcamp.
On Fear we find four original tracks and two remixes, one by Borg himself and the other by True Zebra. The EP, a follow-up to The Juggernauts Are Coming, their first full-length from 2016, follows the same coordinates as this one, old school EBM with a modern sound. We start with the chimes that plunge us into “The Fear V2K18 (12″ Mix)”, a powerful EBM track featuring Borg’s deep, angry vocals, piercing, screeching synths and a pounding beat. This is the track that has two remixes: Borg adds more vocal samples and industrial sounds making it really feel like another song while True Zebra orients his work a bit more towards the dancefloor.
“End of time” is a pretty straightforward track, with a global warming sampler, sharp lyrics and a fun beat. With a catchy synth melody it’s one of those tracks that sticks with you after listening to it in a session. The next new track is “Shrinking Brains”, which begins with the speech Trump gave at his announcement as president, a really scary audio coming from the man who was starting out as president of the most powerful nation in the world. It’s another good sample of solidly based EBM that builds in intensity and contains great synth lines. “Snitch Bitch” breaks the tone of the EP a bit, being a less direct and darker track, a song that focuses more on creating an eerie atmosphere than making you dance.
In Fear, we find four new tracks to enjoy what Electronic Body Music is nowadays and that we will surely listen to in some of the parties that take place this Friday. I finish reminding you that the next transmission of the band in Spain will be on April 29th at DarkMad, don’t miss it!!!!!
