Tales of Agony |Warhog Records, 2000| 
01. Hatred, 02. Brushing My Faith, 03. Rainmaker, 04. Diver's Dance, 05. Welcome, 06. Hollow, 07. Good Time, 08. Eye's (...of a Kind), 09. Unpipe, 10. Echoes, 11. Y2K (True Revelation), 12. Turtle Passage
Kx it’s my quite unexpected discovery. Sadly Kx exists no more, but its founder Marinho Nobre has taken a lot as a musician to create high-quality soundtracks, which of course doesn’t mean that Nobre cuts off from heavy music. As far as demand grows we may hear the new material of Kx sometime in the future.
The most often sold Kx record is "Tales of Agony" with its twelve songs kept in the style of industrial metal mixed with the New York hardcore. What strikes immediately is the absence of widely used melodic rhythms and arrangements, so often used by the current bands of this style of music. For a long time I’ve believed that the future of industrial music lays on 'industrial-hardcore' combining hardcore with guitar driven industrial rock and metal. This field has not yet been sufficiently explored and recognized, so the bands which had gotten into this so far. They still seem to be counted on one hand fingers, for example such American groups as Slave Unit or Vein Cage already known to Fabryka magazine readers.
I found "Tales of Agony" originally in American Rhapsody service where all the songs were available for listening. But for the Americans only. If you enter the site from f.e. Poland, the service shows that this country is not supported. The case for Brussels. I searched online more and found other players with Kx music so got really interested after the short previews. However, Marinho was willing to send me both "Tales of Agony" and "DNA" for reviews because of an offer of the
interview to be read at Fabryka.
Kx was founded in New York at the end of the 90's as a solo project of Marinho Nobre after a break up of his former group Wrekage. For the purpose of the live shows, his new band was joined by Jose 'Yoggy' Gray, Eddie Weber (he was a bass player in a hardcore band Overdose for 5 years), Billy Moreira, and John Macaluso (ex-drummer for TNT and Yngwie Malmsteen, joined Kx in 2001).
Some of the songs are pretty rough ( 'Brushing My Faith', 'Y2K',), but some vibrations fit the dance floors ( 'Rainmaker', 'Diver's Dance', 'Unpipe'), although they still retain a pugnacious nature with edgy guitars in the foreground. The song 'Y2K (Revelation True)' may be interesting to the fans of Biohazard as Evan Seinfeld, its former bassist and vocalist took part on the recording.
Multi-instrumentalist Nobre (who also took part in the recording of Sepultura’s "Nation" in 2001 as an additional sound designer) focused on creating music for movies (for instance 'Left For Dead', 'World Citizen', 'Secret Game', 'Al Qarem') during Kx hiatus, which let him earn both movie and music awards. The premiere of the latest science fiction movie "Human Race", with music scored by Nobre should be announced in autumn this year.
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz. 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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DNA | Warhog Records, 2004|
1. Crucify, 2. Invisible Pain, 3. Corporate, 4. Broken Record, 5. Still, 6. OABSM, 7. Birds of Prey, 8. Faithless God, 9. Oxymoron, 10. Sitting Ducks, 11. Hilo Sky,
12. Good Time (The Avalanche Remix) 13. Elektrohell
While the debut album "Tales of Agony" still contained short tracks based on the typical hardcore sounds, "DNA" has shown Marinho Nobre’s deeper interest in soundtracks. However it’s not about any poetic or emotional turning points but mixed construction of the songs, designed in more advanced manner.
"DNA" is full of industrial solutions still kept in the New York hardcore style resulting from the merger of electronics and guitars ('Oxymoron', 'Crucify', 'Elektrohell', 'Birds of Prey' and 'Corporate') as well as guitar riffs in 'Good Time' (come back to glory days of Van Halen), and 'Sitting Ducks' (remember Motorhead’s 'Ace of Spades'?)
There is 'Invisible Pain' with elements of both hardcore and alternative rock, and' Broken Record' - despite the CD release date, the song still stands very fresh with both heavy guitar riffs and delicate use of synthesizers, reminding even the Hammond organ.
In addition, this CD contains a whole range of musical styles, including a rock ballad in the style of Jethro Tull ( 'Hilo Sky'), smooth jazz ( 'Still') and RHCP’s funky ( 'Faithless God') with slapped bass in the foreground. However, it was not the best solution to me to the location of 'Still' following an aggressive song 'Broken Record'.
It’s a recommended album and hopefully will be more available for sale through various, legitimate music services.
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz. 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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