Everything Goes Cold [reviews]
Updated by Draconina on 06/10/2008 02:09
EGC vs. General Failure |BitRiot, 2009|

01. Defrosted, 02. Abort, 03. Don't Quit Your Day Job, 04. I've Sold Your Organs On The Black Market To Finance The Purchase Of A Used Minivan, 05. Retry, 06. The Droids You're Looking For, 07. Bitch Stole My Time Machine, 08. Ignore, 09. Unleash The Kraken, 10. Monsters Of The Modern Age, 11. Ice Brigade, 12. Refrozen, 13. Fail

Everything Goes Cold it’s a band representative for the new generation of electronic-rock style of music. Their promotional and marketing strategies were worked out really well. EGC’s most recognizable graphical symbol is... an angry refrigerator (designed by Andrew Yang from stitchmind.com), appearing on most of their merch, posters, flyers, artworks etc. I have no doubts those cartoon/comic influences stand for a distance Eric Gottesman and his live band musicians keep to that project.

Being sort of ‘original’ means also releasing a debut album (2008) filled with.. remixes, which eventually led to grab attention of both listeners and bands around industrial rock and electronic music scenes. EGC toured with MLWTTK, SMP, Dismantled, 16volt, Bella Morte, Mankind is Obsolete, Babyland, Combichrist, Caustic etc. in 2008 as well as inked a record deal with young and promising branch of WaxTrax II – BitRiot a year later.

Finally, in „the year of remixes” A.D. 2009... a non remix album was released, which contained the songs known from Prepare To Be Refrigerated but in their original versions, mastered by Seibold (Hate Dept., Pigface) and accompanied by such known artists like Daniel Myer (Haujobb), Marco Visconti (Grendel, XP8), Dave Creadeau (Society Burning), J. Ned Kirby (Stromkern), Jason Bazinet (SMP), Kaine Delay (Left Spine Down), Matt Fanale (Caustic), Tyler Newman (Battery Cage) and of course EGC line-up: Eric Gottesman (Programming, Vocals, Keyboards), Kenny Pardo (Drums and percussion), James Webb (Guitar).

The album begins with a bit Moby-like chillout intro but then there are plenty of heavier stuff known from the previous album like aggressive „Abort” with a lot of sampling and screaming. „Don't Quit Your Day Job” is such a so-so track to me, possibly inspired by 8-bit scene music (Atari/Commodore patterns found) but I think the song has a genius title and at the same time it says about a brutal reality known especially to this scene musicians!

There’s a very recognizable song next, enriched with a long and intriguing title „I've Sold Your Organs On The Black Market To Finance The Purchase Of A Used Minivan” though its music is not that stunning to me and seemingly the refrains are much more interesting then the rest of the song.
„Retry” it’s an electronic yet guitar driven mixture with a big doze of aggression. Crazy sounding songs like „The Droids You're Looking For” and „Bitch Stole My Time Machine” bring a variety of moods. „Ice Brigade” undoubtedly matches music parties thanks to its pumping drum beats with very cool industrial rock guitars as well. “Fail” alike which could be called the most known song of EGC to be used widely for gigs and radio shows.

I could go on and on about the following songs for the next few pages to analyze them from different perspectives but there’s one thing sure - the album is filled with thirteen songs which create a variety of atmospheres. The songs on Vs. General Failure never stay too heavy because there are rather soft synths and samples put between the lines. If you erased all those dominative moods brought by gears and industry then there would almost pop songs come out along with their verses and refrains.

Finally, I have one complaint though. That album could have been done as a concept album easily because the songs were made in a certain way, but „Refrozen” should have been a final track to overlap the opening “Defrosted” considering their titles meaning matching as well as the atmospheres. In contrast, „Fail” closes the album and it doesn’t fit to that place to me because “Fail” should have been followed by „Refrozen”, „Ignore” or even „Retry”. Sadly „Refrozen” was built in a way that its final tunes bring the motifs from “Fail” so whatever you customize your track list, it won’t work with those 2 songs. All right.. I’m picking on them ;)

I have no idea how many years the band wants to be active still and how they planned their strategy. It may happen the band may exist for the next 2-3 years only, but their sort of 'comic', ironical attitude and attempt to create something new should be appreciated by those of you who’s looking for irony, less complicated songs, cool lyrics and ideas, what you’ll undoubtedly find in EGC music.

Vs. General Failure and Prepare To Be Refrigerated could have been easily released as a double CD too because both bring very similar tunes and as said before, there are original songs and remixes for them. It’s worth to have them both and let’s hope the musicians won’t run out of creative ideas for the next few releases.

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, 01/03/2010. Proofreading: Scott M. Owens. Must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)
Prepare To Be Refrigerated |Sonic Mainline, 2008|

1. I've Sold Your Organs on the Black Market to Finance the Purchase of a Used Minivan, 2. Abort, 3. I Will Harness the Powers of Darkness to Destroy You, 4. Fail, 5. DEFROSTING, 6. Fail (Bruise & Disco Mix by Hate Dept.), 7. I Will Harness the Powers of Darkness to Destroy You (Because You Made Me Title This Mix by Panic Lift), 8. Fail (Refrigerated Mix by SAM), 9. I've Sold Your Organs on the Black Market to Finance the Purchase of a Used Minivan (Except for the Stupid Skeletor Tattoo on Your Right Bicep... I Kept That Shit Mix by Boom of Society Burning), 10. Abort (Tinnitus is a Son of a Bitch Mix by off_ocus), 11. Fail (Everything Goes Electro Mix by Babyland), 12. I Will Harness the Powers of Darkness to Destroy You (Space-Beatbox of Destruction Mix by Embodi), 13. Fail (Life Failed Mix by Life Cried), 14. I Will Harness the Powers of Darkness to Destroy You (ROM isn't in the New Universe, Eric Mix by Caustic), 15. I've Sold Your Organs on the Black Market to Finance the Purchase of a Used Minivan (Trance-planted Mix by Epsilon Minus), 16. Fail (Never Survive Mix by Dismantled)

Eric Gottesman, who worked with Colin Slash, Psyclon Nine, Deathline Int'l or Ayria, came out with a new band Everything Goes Cold. Considering a fresh motion on the industrial rock scene during the last few years it should be said that some of the artists get back to the music style roots, enriching their tunes with new technologies. At least we live in the age of the technology, what has reflected the state of these days industrial music but some of the styles need a refreshment saving the idea of their originals. Eric decided to defrost some things from the past thus there are 5 original songs and remix versions on Prepare To Be Refrigerated CD. The only one untouched track is a very industrial, almost noise interlude? called Defrosting. All the remix versions come out next.

I'm happy to hear Hate Dept. on this CD while they announced their own album 2 or 3 years ago and seems like Seibold can’t focus on letting it come into fruition. Fail (Bruise & Disco Mix) came out really good with this revolutionary punk vibe so typical for the band. I hope this incoming album turns out great after such a long time of waiting!
Another musician who marked its presence on the 90s coldwave scene (however seems like the band due to lack of promotion didn’t get enough of an exposure then) is Boom from Society Burning. He made a remix with I guess the longest ever and very funny title: I've Sold Your Organs on the Black Market to Finance the Purchase of a Used Minivan (Except for the Stupid Skeletor Tattoo on Your Right Bicep). Right on! This version of the song contains dynamic beats, vocals with an effect of 8bit music and a variety of cool samples coming out along with heavy guitar riffs.

I could recognize such names like Babyland, Caustic and Dismantled, but it's nice to know the others. You may like a dynamic remix by Panic Lift, and not less rhythmic but a bit noisy Fail (Refrigerated Mix) by SAM, which can cause you stamping. Babyland played less aggressive but more electro what may enjoy the fans of club parties. Other than that Embodi merged a few styles of music, but the core of the song reminds me a similarity to KMFDM vibe. The con is about too synthetic drums but pro considers guitars involved.
Next there's Life Cried with Fail (Life Failed Mix) in a Cloud of coldwave synths, heavy guitars and sampled beat. Caustic kept the song in almost power-noise rhythm, though nothing but the dynamics is not enough to me. An interesting trance version of the remix with an adequate title (Trance-planted) made Epsilon Minus. My attention was stolen by the rhythm but sampled guitars added some kind of an aggression to the remix. It's a great song for a dance floor. The album ends up with Fail (Never Survive Mix) by Dismantled, less dirty then earlier however I could hear the echoes of Prodigy.

The album contains very visual traces of coldwave and industrial music of the 90s, old-school industrial sound of Numb, Out Out, Diatribe, Chemlab, MLWTTKK, Society Burning or 16volt.
There are both samples and guitars kept in an equal balance what's an advantage for EGC. A very good album production and a free promotional remix made by Out Out 'Fail (Swift & Concise Failure Mix)' also brings a high note for this release. Most of the artists featured on the album have an experience in music production so none of the songs sounds low quality.

The CD brings a merit to these days' industrial rock scene which has been living its second youth for the last few years. There are new releases and remix albums on the market – old pros vs. newbies. ECG turned to the old, efficient remixing method, where the remix had to be connected to the original version while new remix releases put out by a few other bands lack that feature probably due to less knowledge about the old methods. Abort (Tinnitus is a Son of a Bitch Mix) by off_ocus is the only one track which is not reflected by any remix on the CD.

Is the CD title suggestive? We'll see but all-to-all EGC after a hype for coldwave sounds in the 90s recommends refrigeration time now ;)

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, 06/09/2008. Proofreading: Scott M. Owens. Must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)

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