List | F | Front 242 | '06:21:03:11 Up Evil' CD 1993

Track:	Name:	Time:
1.	Crapage	4:57
2.	Waste	4:12
3.	Skin	3:35
4.	Motion	3:50
5.	Religion	4:05
6.	Stratoscape	4:36
7.	Hymn	3:26
8.	Fuel	4:45
9.	Melt	3:30
10.	Flag	5:08
11.	Mutilate	4:10
12.	(S)Crapage	6:11
13.	Religion Pussy Whipped Mix	6:06
	Total	58:31

Comments:

This is entirely different from the previous album Tyranny For You; in fact it's different from any of the older 242 material. The sound is often very spacey, but with fast beats, pulsating basslines and a rough edge. The synth sounds are softer than the harsh ones on 'Tyranny For You', yet somehow more dynamic and powerful. Sampled dist guitars pop up here and there; not at all annoying, but rather amplifying the aggro sense of the over-all 'feel'. The vocals are often disted, which is also new to 242. There are little noises and bleeps everywhere, and it's all very well crafted noise indeed. This is truly an excellent album. I have still to hear anything that comes close to it.

The most obvoius "hits" are 'Crapage' and 'Religion', being quite aggressive and powerful, and unmistakenly catchy after a few listens. For some odd reason I can't seem to remember the names of the other tracks; I suppose it's because they're all one-syllable words with no apparent connection to the song. I do however remember which comes after which soundwise, and they're all great. I'm just a little annoyed by the backing vocals on 'Flag' (I had to check the name on the sleeve for reference), since they're a bit whiney and somewhat misplaced, but apart from that I love every single sound on the album. That's very rare.

Another song that sticks out a bit is 'Mutilate', which is to my knowledge the first 242 'ballad'; it's slow, dark, evil and depressing - simply great.

A thing about the sleeve makes me wonder: the words "Buried In Concrete" are written inside, but isn't that a line from Rhythm Of Time, a song from the previous album...?

You may wonder about the numbers in the album title; just replace the four separated values by normal letters, each letter being of that order in the alphabet that responds to the value. It's not that hard, really; it should make a very familiar four letter word. Why all the fuss? Well, I can't say I know that, but it sort of makes sense if do the same with the title to the second album they released this year. The full titles sort of say the same thing, at least to me. See it as a joke, a spell or a political statement, whichever you prefer. As usual, I guess that's what they intended anyway: to figure it out for yourself.

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