FABRYKA INDUSTRIAL ROCK & METAL ENCYCLOPEDIA - NINa for Jordan Aquirre

2006-06-17 |

Jordan Aguirre from Metal America |

e-mail interview

Jordan: What made you want to become an industrial metal reviewer?

NINa: This music has always been kicking my ass with a wall of guitar riffs and a variety of intriguing samples in the background. It carries power any other kind of music can't fill me with. There weren't many bands playing industrial metal music the proper way. There are many bands which are bored with playing "clean" metal so they try to include electronics in their songs. Sometimes, they will not achieve the expected result due to too little knowledge of using samplers and suitable software. The result - music sounding like two styles added and undeveloped properly. The genre is rather new, it came out in the beginning of the 90's and was spread by bands I'll tell you about a bit later.

Jordan: Who is your favorite group?

Well, you'd better ask me who was, because mosts of those bands died out. I have a deep respect for Skrew led by Adam Grossman. We've been in contact recently and I got an opportunity to do an interview with him. So, better keep watch for any news coming from Fabryka in June/July ;) Skrew invented its own, trademark sound. With their jagged guitar riffs and incredible dynamics, the band attracted fans originating from both metal and industrial subculture. It's a pity they quit. I think Skrew music would attract interest all over the world even after 10 years from the moment they quit. This music stands the test of time, and there will always be fans fit for it in the "heavy and aggressive" music scene. Besides Skrew, there is Pitchshifter with a variety of good albums, but I personally prefer their earlier releases, like Submit or Desensitized.

Jordan: Who are you top 5 favorite industrial metal bands?

As I said, Skrew is a band worth the number one place. Excellent works like Dusted or Shadow of Doubt have stayed in my memory to this day. I can't forget about Rorschach Test in this interview, the band produced by Neil Kernon, who was working with Skrew in the past. It's funny to know that so few people heard about the band. RT released only 2 albums and disappeared. If you are a fan of industrial metal music try to find "Unclean" and "Peace Minus One", so that you fall in love with
industrial even more :)

Another band of my interest is, as you might have suspected, Ministry. The band led by Al Jourgensen with his rebellious Cuban character and unquestionable charisma belongs to the pioneers of industrial metal music. Adam Grossman mentioned above was at some point a musician of Ministry as well.
The other band worth mentioning is 16volt. Seems like it's pretty dormant for the last 6 years. 16volt gathered lots of fans during their active years. It would be a shame for Eric Powell to finish with 16volt once for all.

There is also Project .44, a band created by a variety of musicians - e.g. Louis Svitek (ex-Ministry) and Charles Levi (excellent industrial rock bassman, bound with My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Bangalore, H3llb3nt and many others). They released 2 albums so far, both of them high quality stuff.
The fifth and the last top shit is Cyanotic with Sean Payne leading the band. His input for modern industrial metal scene is unquestionable. Sean knows a heap of heavy indurock and metal music, so he's got the foundations to build on, and you can see he's doing it well - just listen to their latest LP - Transhuman.

Jordan: Between Ministry and KMFDM who do you think would win in a fight?

That's a good, tough question. I choose Ministry because their musical progress is much more audible in comparison to KMFDM. Both bands seem to have fun playing for years and there is lots of irony in their lyrics, but KMFDM sounds softer and makes top hit songs. Ministry focuses on politics and has eyes opened wide on American society, criticising it a lot. I enjoy following Ministry's history from the very beginning up to now. There were lots of musicians working with Al, but the most memorable one is Paul Barker, who was in the band for several years. Ministry of 2006 is a totally different band without Barker. It's not a tragedy of course, because Ministry with its new musicians, as well as Barker cooperating with Grossman on a new project, are doing very well. The fact is that Ministry's sound became even sharper and lost its industrial vibe - you can hear that on Rio Grande Blood. Those who were observing Ministry's progress carefully could predict things were going in this direction, after Ministry had released Animositisomina or Houses of the Mole. In my opinion, it's still a good direction for the band.

Jordan: Out of any concerts that you have gone to what was your favorite and why?

I've seen only a few shows of my interest so far because the bands I'd love to see avoid Poland every year - e.g. Revolting Cocks and Ministry European Tour this year. I don't have enough money for traveling now, so I need to be satisfied with shows available in my country. The latest awesome event was The Young Gods show in 2005. Incredible time spent with the Swiss playing songs released on their older albums like TV Sky or Second Nature. I was surprised, because TYG's latest release is much more ambient than industrial. So, it was a nice gift they gave to the public. I took a lot of pictures of the show which are available at Fabryka Gallery.

Jordan: If you were stranded on an island with a boombox and an extra set of
batteries what two albums would you want to have with you?

Well, listening to one album over and over again no matter how perfect it would be, can make me bored easily. So, let's say I would take "Broken" by Nine Inch Nails because I value this album the most among all NIN records. The second album would be something non-industrial metal to relax with .. I think I could choose Underworld and the album "A Hundred Days Off" because their music is like a balm for my ears.

Jordan: Who was the first industrial metal band that you listened to that made you like the genre so much?

I think it was Treponem Pal, a French band that plays no more. They released 4 albums, the last one was different from the previous ones, much more industrial rock with some weird ska music influences but it's good enough with a few radical pieces. It seems like the French industrial metal scene grows in hiding, letting out excellent bands from time to time - like Dexy Corp_, for instance.

Jordan: What recent album have you listened to that you liked alot?

It was Project .44 and their album called The System Doesn't Work with killer tracks like Warpath, Never-Nothing or Free. I think it's a very promising project and I wish them lots of luck to strive in the modern land of rape and honey :)

Finally, I'd like to point out that most of those high quality bands either died out or took some longer break, so no new awesome albums are put out nowadays. Big and famous labels don't focus on releasing and distributing good industrial metal music, so you have to find proper bands yourself. I used to browse through services like IUMA, Acidplanet, Soundclick and Myspace. I found several interesting and professional musicians, like Hazmat, Dexy Corp_, Erraknid or Marazene, Hazmat and Erraknid are my newest discoveries coming from Myspace and both are good examples of professional industrial metal sound combined with raw aggression. For me it's clear that they are well educated in this style of music. The only thing they need is good marketing, promotion and distribution. If you are looking for good vibes try Mnemic, Bile, November 17 (N17), Society 1 and email me if you find other bands worth promoting at my Fabryka [Industrial Rock] webzine.

Thanks for the questions and stay with me.

Fabryka [Industrial Rock at Myspace | Fabryka official