 The Torture Technique |WaxTrax! Records, 1994|
1. Salvation, 2. Sacrifice, 3. Negative, 4. Krackhead, 5. Wired, 6. Cocaine Jesus, 7. Brother Bomb, 8. Nothing, 9. Torture Technique, 10. Iron Sun, 11. Heaven
After the near-horrid debut effort by Sister Machine Gun, their sophomore album, The Torture Technique (TTT) is released. If you managed to pickup Sins of the Flesh (or read my review on it), you'd notice that the album wasn't very heavy and seemed repetitive. Well, thankfully, TTT is a much different album. One interesting note is that Levi Levi (My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Die Warzau), Jim Marcus (Skrew, Die Warzau), Van Christie (Final Cut, Die Warzau), and James Woolley (Nine Inch Nails, Die Warzau) all help out Chris Randall (the brain of Sister Machine Gun) on the album. Technically, this can be considered a Die Warzau spinoff album!
In general, the songs are a lot heavier. The album can even be considered industrial metal. The opening track, "Salvation," proves that point. The guitar riff that explodes in the song is a real in-your-fucking-face punch. Randall's voice fits TTT a lot better than Sins of the Flesh. Towards the end of the song, a frenzy of industrial noise and electronic beeps introduces the next song, "Sacrifice." "Sacrifice" seems to have a problem in terms of mastering: The volume on the instruments seems out of place.
Another odd thing I have to mention is in the song "Nothing." From 02:40 to 04:30, the same damn thing is repeated. The same line, the same instruments, the same EVERYTHING. Yeah, it'd sound alright if it didn't last almost 2 minutes. That song almost drove me insane. No, really, it literally did. I was driving my car while listening to the song and I thought the CD was on repeat or something.
"Wired" — the album's lead single — is similar to "Salvation." An exploding guitar riff, Randall's now-suited vocal style, and a hard-sounding drum creates the song. "Cocaine Jesus" is also worth mentioning. The song has a real low and almost progressive rock-like influence on it. It's extremely trippy.
As previously mentioned (and I'll say it again in case you can't be arsed to read up): Towards the end of a song, a frenzy of industrial noise and electronic beeps introduces the next song. I said that for "Salvation." Well, that exists for EVERY song on the album. In times such as "Salvation" to "Sacrifice," and "Krackhead" to "Wired," it sounds good. But any other time, it seems like the noises were rushed, and it just doesn't sound too good.
Overall, TTT is a huge improvement for Sister Machine Gun. Some minor flaws exist, but the rest of the album definitely overshadows the flaws. (Xenerki)
The Torture Technique |TVT/Wax Trax!, 1994| 
Salvation, Sacrifice, Negative, Krackhead, Cocaine Jesus, Wired, Brother Bomb, Nothing, Torture Technique, Iron Sun, Heaven
It's rather not original album because the sound is based on the ventures which can be found also at Pig, Sheep on Drugs and a bit on Gravity Kills, Machines of Loving Grace or Stabbing Westward albums. There were a few songs stucked in my memory tho, to mention for instance Cocaine Jesus kept in subtle and even erotic mood. I liked Wired as well, reminds me early Ministry music. The Iron Sun song matches 'industrial rock' term totally. Unfortunatelly this album shows also the fact how easy it was to found a band and make industrial rock music in the middle of the 90's. It was possible to use simple equipment and simple samples in creation of songs which could be put in a shelf labelled 'industrial rock'.
( Katarzyna NINa Górnisiewicz. Must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)
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