 Defy Everything |Slipdisc, 1999| 
1. Rust, 2. Left, 3. Mirror, 4. Cleanse, 5. Mute, 6. Descent, 7. Sufferring, 8. Wasted, 9. Brash, 10. Minion, 11. BAAL
N17 was the type of a band well known on an underground level in the USA, whom toured with bands like Ministry, Fear Factory, Type O Negative, Marilyn Manson, Misfits, Front Line Assembly and others. The band released two albums (Defy Everything and Trust No One) for Slipdisc which was an American label preferring heavy, industrial metal bands in the 90's. However, bands signed to Slipdisc didn't speak positively of the label merely a few years later.
N17 (short name used for November 17) was lucky though to be listed amongst such a variety of heavy albums, but no matter of the controversies that had risen surrounding the label, it is a fact that Slipdisc released some of the best industrial metal albums of the 90's, including CD releases of Nihil, Final Cut, Drown, 16Volt, Voivod & Rorschach Test. In addition Neil Kernon produced the music of a few of the bands mentioned above.
This album is filled with a mixture of speed-trash-industrial metal and dominated by aggression. The opening track, "Rust" immediately revives the moods resonating from the whole "Defy Everything" album, entering your ears with the power of dynamic beats, edgy guitar riffs, bass, rough vocals and industrial samples. More industrial metal signature sounds appear as well in a few of the following tracks; like "Left" and "Mirror", but "Mute" is a casualty of hard core music echoes.
I really enjoyed the song "Brash" with chopped guitar riffs and a deeper vibe. If anybody likes the sound of the Norwegian band "Red Harvest", then they may also like the track "Minion".
Finally there's "BAAL" which, according to the track list, should last roughly sixteen minutes, but in fact it consists of 2 four minute long parts divided with interludes of silence. The first part is aggressive with vocals, but the other part is instrumentally based in trance drum beats and a guitar solo. The demonic sound of a music box connects the last and first songs on "Defy Everything".
N17 appears to me as a band where all the musicians cooperated together amazingly, but their impact on the listener is caused by the dominative, unique, rough voice of Trevor Askew. The musicians of N17 have stayed faithful and active to their hobby (or perhaps regular job!) and made fruitful contacts with other bands.
Askew sang in another industrial band called "Rusted Jesus", bass player damoN17 plays as well in a southern rock band named "Hogjaw" and guitar player Byron Filson has been busy with an industrial metal project called "Pelvic Meatloaf".
All of them perform in Arizona with such a high voltage quality of music that I would assume they came from Texas, since it is known for such similar sounding heavy music, although it has been declining a bit recently ;)
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz. Proofreading: Scott M. Owens. Must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below) [Updated: 05/04/2010]
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