List | S | Sister Machine Gun | 'Sins Of The Flesh' CD 1992

Track:	Name:	Time:
1.	Sins Of The Flesh	5:06
2.	Why Not	5:00
3.	Degenerate	3:35
4.	X-Rated Movie	4:11
5.	Don't Let Me down	3:33
6.	Not My God	5:12
7.	Night Returning	4:27
8.	Life	4:27
9.	Addiction	4:16
	Total	39:47

Comments:

I was told that Sister Machine Gun was a cheap rip-off Nine Inch Nails wanna-be band, and that 'Sins Of The Flesh' was a severe case of plagiarizing Pretty Hate Machine. Now, words like that (often spoken on rec.music.industrial) are usually not likely to make me interested in something, but since I think that Pretty Hate Machine is a darn good album (and it's a pity Trent strayed a bit too far from it later) and given that most talk on RMI are usually trolls anyway I decided to give Mr. Chris Randall and friends a go. So how is it?

Well, it does sound a bit like NIN at times; track 1 isn't too far away from Head Like A Hole. It's not a bad copy, but rather good and energetic. 'Degenerate' is also in the same vein, but less NIN-ish. In general, it's not as much NIN over the album as I had expected (which I suppose is a good thing), but a bit more KMFDM perhaps. Not entirely surprising, since Chris apparently knows and have worked with KMFDM before, and that Sasha Konietzko of that band has co-produced this album with Chris. The drums are generally funkier that the KMFDM I've heard, though.

Now, it's not exactly KMFDM either, but something like EBM basslines, dist guitars and a sort of 'alternative-rock'-mixed-with-synths feel to it. Some wiseguy on RMI dubbed it 'industra-pop', which I suppose could pass for a label, for lack of a better one. ('Industrial' in the US '90:s version, that is; NIN, FLA, KMFDM - not Einst’rzende Neubauten or Throbbing Gristle.)

So, musically it's a rather nice mix of genres, and rather catchy. Lyrically, I'm not too impressed. I'm not too fond of the ways he stree-eetches words to fit the rhythm of the song (there's nothing wrong with his voice, mind you). The lyrics also seem a bit silly at times (perhaps a bit of that cheap-NIN-style that people whined about?), but most of the time it's not too bad. I like the music, so I can put up with the occasional vocal annoyance. It's not a top notch album, but a pretty good one. Better than average, I'd say.

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