Mechanical Soul
Studio album by
Front Line Assembly
ReleasedJanuary 15, 2021 (2021-01-15)[1]
Studio
GenreElectro-industrial[2]
Length57:42
LabelMetropolis
ProducerBill Leeb, Rhys Fulber
Front Line Assembly chronology
Wake Up the Coma
(2019) 		Mechanical Soul
(2021) 		Permanent Data 1986–1989
(2022)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AltvengerFavorable[3]
Backseat Mafia7/10[4]
Classic Rock8/10[5]
The Electricity ClubFavorable[6]
The Midlands RocksFavorable[7]
Reflections of Darkness9/10[8]
ReGenMixed[9]
Release7/10[10]
The Spill Magazine8/10[2]
Sputnikmusic[11]

Mechanical Soul is the seventeenth full-length studio album by Vancouver industrial band Front Line Assembly. It was released on January 15, 2021 on CD, vinyl and digitally through Metropolis.[1] It features Jean-Luc de Meyer from Belgian EBM group Front 242 and Dino Cazares from American industrial metal band Fear Factory. It contains a remix of the track "Hatevol" from the predecessor album Wake Up the Coma.

Background

Rhys Fulber had the song "Glass and Leather", with its theme inspired by JG Ballard,[12] originally intended for his solo work.[13] After singer Bill Leeb recorded vocals for the song in Fulber's studio in Los Angeles, they decided to turn it into a Front Line Assembly song. It was the only finished title when the two started writing for the album. Although Fulber had moved back to Canada, due to the COVID-19 pandemic they worked mostly separately on the album, exchanging ideas remotely. Fulber cited the songs "Unknown" and "Purge" as examples for the influence of the pandemic on the album and commented on the circumstances, saying, "This is totally a pandemic record."[13]

The song "Stifle" features guitars by Dino Cazares from American industrial metal band Fear Factory. The collaboration came about through Fulber's close ties with Fear Factory, as he said to ReGen Magazine: "After Bill did the vocal for 'Stifle', he thought the feel of the song would benefit from some heavy guitar accents, so I just said, 'I will ask Dino.' One call, done deal."[14] Also, the song was proposed to be on the soundtrack for the video game Cyberpunk 2077, for which Rhys Fulber had composed several tracks, but ultimately was rejected.[15]

The track "Barbarians" with vocals by Jean-Luc de Meyer from Belgian EBM group Front 242 is a rework of the song "Future Fail" from Front Line Assembly's 2006 album Artificial Soldier. According to Fulber, vocalist Bill Leeb felt that the old song "wasn't really highlighting Jean-Luc's vocals" and suggested "to come up with a different take". Leeb wanted "something [...] slower and more epic".[15]

The remix of "Hatevol" under the moniker of producer Bryan Black's Techno project Black Asteroid was originally intended for a prior release, said Fulber: "We asked Bryan to do a remix earlier and we were going to release a single with the remix and a new song, but decided to just wait for the next album and add it on there. As the album came together, the remix wasn't as stylistically different as before, so we thought it would be a nice contrast."[14]

Release

On December 9, 2020, Metropolis made the track "Unknown" available to the public via SoundCloud.[16]

Touring

In fall 2021, Front Line Assembly announced that they would be presenting Mechanical Soul on tour in the United States and in Europe in 2022. Tim Skold was added to the live line-up for both tour legs. On the American leg in May and June they were supported by Swedish EBM musician Rein[17] while on the European leg in August they joined German band Die Krupps on "The Machinists Re-United Tour" with support by German EBM artist Tension Control.[18]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Purge"5:23
2."Glass and Leather"6:03
3."Unknown"5:06
4."New World"5:07
5."Rubber Tube Gag"4:44
6."Stifle"4:15
7."Alone"5:31
8."Barbarians"4:39
9."Komm, stirbt mit mir"5:38
10."Time Lapse"3:33
11."Hatevol" (Black Asteroid Mix)7:44

Personnel

Front Line Assembly[edit]

Additional musicians[edit]

Technical personnel[edit]

References

  1. ^ a b Carlsson, Johan (October 21, 2020). "New FLA album with guests from F242 and Fear Factory". Release Magazine. Gothenburg: Release Musik & Media. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Whitman, Trista. "Spill Album Review: Front Line Assembly – Mechanical Soul". The Spill Magazine. Toronto. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  3. ^ Buljeta, Marija (January 14, 2021). "Front Line Assembly "Mechanical Soul" – album review". Altvenger. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  4. ^ Jackson, Benjii (January 14, 2021). "Album Review – Front Line Assembly – Mechanical Soul". Backseat Mafia. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  5. ^ Arnopp, Jason (February 2021). "Front Line Assembly: Mechanical Soul". Classic Rock. No. 284. London: Future. p. 87. ISSN 1464-7834. OCLC 810314214. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  6. ^ Boddy, Paul (January 15, 2021). "Front Line Assembly Mechanical Soul". The Electricity Club. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  7. ^ Cordwell, Gary (January 14, 2021). "Front Line Assembly – Mechanical Soul". The Midlands Rocks. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  8. ^ van Vegas, Eli (December 29, 2020). "CD Review: Front Line Assembly – Mechanical Soul". Reflections of Darkness. Münster. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  9. ^ Yücel, Ilker (January 20, 2021). "ReView: Front Line Assembly – Mechanical Soul". ReGen Magazine. Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  10. ^ Carlsson, Johan (January 15, 2021). "Front Line Assembly: Mechanical Soul". Release Magazine. Gothenburg: Release Musik & Media. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  11. ^ Stanciu, Raul (January 16, 2021). "Review: Front Line Assembly – Mechanical Soul". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  12. ^ Fulber, Rhys (January 29, 2021). "Rhys Fulber of Front Line Assembly interviewed about "Mechanical Soul"". Chaos Control (Interview). Interviewed by Bob Gourley. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
  13. ^ a b Fulber, Rhys (January 15, 2021). "Sci-Fi Lore Turned Reality: An Interview with Rhys Fulber of Front Line Assembly". post-punk.com (Interview). Interviewed by Andi Harriman. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
  14. ^ a b Fulber, Rhys (January 20, 2021). "InterView: Front Line Assembly – Soul of the Machine". ReGen Magazine (Interview). Interviewed by Ilker Yücel. Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  15. ^ a b Fulber, Rhys (January 15, 2021). "Sci-Fi Lore Turned Reality: An Interview with Rhys Fulber of Front Line Assembly". Post-Punk.com (Interview). Interviewed by Andi Harriman. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  16. ^ Carlsson, Johan (December 9, 2020). "Listen to the first track from the upcoming FLA album". Release Magazine. Gothenburg: Release Musik & Media. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  17. ^ Carlsson, Johan (November 1, 2021). "Rein will join Front Line Assembly on their 2022 US spring tour". Release Magazine. Gothenburg: Release Musik & Media. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  18. ^ Xfire (October 5, 2021). "Frontline Assembly & Die Krupps "The Machinists Re-United" Tour Coming in 2022". Gaming Nerds. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
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