Filament 38
StarVox Music Zine
Filament 38 is the solo output of a man from Cleveland going simply by the name of Ash. His debut album, Fractured, released by Negative Gain Productions, offers up ten tracks of pure industrial goodness with a degree of skill truly surprising to see in a newcomer.
Filament 38 recalls a time when industrial musicians didn’t look upon the word “guitar” with the same level of disdain the futurepop explosion fostered. That said, not every track on Fractured features the maligned instrument prominently, and there’s no way of knowing which sounds are sampled or synthesized as opposed to being played on a real guitar, but the use of the sounds is welcome on this album. “Recollection” opens the CD with an all out sonic assault, distorted guitar riffs mixing with crushing percussion and crafty synth work back Ash’s digitally manipulated vocals. Admittedly, the vocal filters Filament 38 opts for on Fractured are the same distortions we’ve been hearing in industrial music since the 1980’s, but they’ve become such a convention in the genre that at this point that not hearing them on this album would have sounded odd; in the context of Fractured, they still sound fresh.
Another one of my favorites from Fractured was “Conflict,” which melds the sounds of metal guitar and sampled mechanical, assembly line type sounds seamlessly. The beat is danceable without being too fast, the sounds aggressive without being too noisy. This is the way dancefloor industrial should sound; driving, aggressive, mechanical and with lots of cool synth lines. Following “Conflict” is “Sacred,” possibly the only industrial song ever recorded to sample the voice of John Cusack. (It’s the “What came first, the music or the misery?” monologue from High Fidelity, in case you’re scratching your head on that one.) I never would have guessed it, but the sample works exceedingly well in the song.
The album ends with “Ember,” a relatively somber song that closes the experience on the right note. Still keeping up with the dance percussion beat, the song has rich, almost orchestral synthetic instrumentation in the composition. The music conveys more emotion than any vocal track Ash could offer up; wisely, he made the piece and instrumental and let the notes speak the words for him.
If I had any complaint about Fractured, it would be that it more or less sounds the same from start to finish. Now, as I’ve mentioned, I enjoyed the album immensely, and Filament 38 does the flagging genre of industrial music a great service by joining its ranks, but there is an old adage about “too much of a good thing.” Fractured is not necessarily an album you’ll want to listen to in its entirety day after day. Rather its one you’ll want to listen to every once in a while, put your favorite tracks on a mix tape for everyday use, and possibly take to the club with you every couple of weeks to get the DJ to spin a few tracks so you can stomp around. Regardless of that disclaimer, it is worth the coin you’ll spend to pick it up, and listening to it will give you the urge to dig out all your old Ministry and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult records.
03/15/04
by chris parasyte