Construction Site |Error Music, 2010| 
01. No Looking Back, 02. Suck Inside, 03. Is It Hate, 04. Possessive Greed, 05. Is This The Way, 06. On And On, 07. A Broken Part, 08. Good Old Pride, 09. Black Dead Haze, 10. I Take A Pill, 11. Waiting To Steal The Time, 12. Who He Was Part 1, 13. Who He Was Part 2, 14. Inside Out, 15. I Was Here, 16. The Right Way, 17. New Era
Mephistosystem is a Swiss band, made famous by the song "Anybody Cares" in 2005, have released their second studio album called Construction Site.
I wonder if it was a possibility to release this album (that last over one hour) as two or even three separate albums in intervals? Certainly. However, Mephistosystem decided to cut the whole hog loose, releasing these seventeen songs on the same album, and keep in mind they are not mini-preludes, but full length tracks.
Construction Site brings electronic rock, industrial rock and even post-punk vibes on average, surrounded by a cloud of noisy guitars, emotional vocals and polished electronics.
Every song is very well arranged, but because of the high number of the songs it is evident by the fourth one on the album that an idea was modified into a template on which the music was composed. However, this is how Mephistosystem makes their sound unique.
The songs are dynamic and some of the guitar riffs ("Is This The Way") bring the music of Smashing Pumpkins to mind as well as The Fragile album by Nine Inch Nails ("Suck Inside", "Waiting To Steal The Time", "Possessive Greed"). There's no way to disguise that NIN has been a big influence for Mephistosystem, also evident on their debut album Endless Crawl.
Because of interesting structures, atmospheres and "that something special" I was attracted to "Inside Out" (aggression), "Black Dead Haze" (cold atmosphere and rock guitar solos), "The Right Way" (a bit psychedelic), "Good Old Pride" and "A Broken Part" (these songs represent the album; typical hits).
Great mastering and the general high quality of everything produced by the band leaves no illusion. It's enough to look at Mephistosystem printed promo flyers or listen to any of their official songs to be impressed by their professionalism. Every little piece of work looks refined and is placed in the right spot. This speaks for the Construction Site album as well.
Several songs from this album have been offered as free downloads since 08/31/2010, but a physical CD can be ordered only directly from the band at the time being. However, it should be available in many other options soon. This news will be announced at Fabryka Magazine when the time comes.
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, 09/30/2010. Proofreading: Scott M. Owens. Must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)
Endless Crawl |Monkey Music, 2006| 
Anywhere and Nowhere, The Number I Get, Follow Myself, Try To Be Like You, Anybody Cares, Impossible Things, Blank Face, It Seems, Serious, All For Nothing, Self Deleting, D.B.F.S., You
Mephistosystem drew my attention mostly because of the enthusiastic performed industrial rock music. The band comes from Switzerland and their name touches 'diabolic' systems of adjusting to a society no matter if it's about education, politics, work, music business or family. The matter is you come across them through all you life and that sucks. Thirteen songs are a nice set to be appreciated by those of you who like The Fragile by Nine Inch Nails. It's not that difficult to get that Mephistosystem is influenced by that band. Endless Crawl contains a variety of very well composed tracks, ideal for radio shows, parties and all that media stuff so if you are a DJ, pay attention to that record!
Interesting vocals, dynamical basslines and an absolute hit of the record is called "Anybody Cares", should convince you to get the album quick. There is no poor song on the album and personally I'm also driven by "Follow Myself", and other songs which have a dense structure with no empty spaces. Besides one. There is a song called "You" which begins with a nice intro, then over two minutes long silence comes out to develop to a part of a song I like the most. Telling the truth if Mephistosystem made the next album in a vibe of that part of "You", the band would draw even greater attention with no comparisons to NIN's music this time.
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz. Must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)
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