Ebm Stagnating?

[Pulse State]

So I noticed something the other day.

For those of you familiar with [:SITD:], ever notice that almost everything they write sounds similar? You get the lead-in strings, the overused Vanguard sounds, then the Suicide Commando-esque drums kick in at 120-132 BPM, then Carsten Jacek's "singing" (using that term very liberally), breakdown, chorus, then maybe a bridge, chorus again, and then the song ends. I realised this with their two newest offerings, "Area 51 (2k6)" off of the Accession Records vol. 3 compilation, and "Suffering in Solitude (Extended Mix)" from the DAC Extended Electronics compilation. I think [:SITD:] is really stagnating, and has been since they came out with Coded Message: 12 last year. They are still good with that sound, but you can only take so much of it...

Same with Suicide Commando. Is it just me, or does most of his new Bind Torture Kill album sound the same? And let's not forget the great lyrics, like "Soul stripper soul ripper, I bind her legs excruciate her", or the very original "Fuck you bitch". Haha.

And I'm not even going to get into the Modcom remix (Modcom is just Ronan by himself playing with old analogue synths) of VNV Nation's "Chrome". Let's just say, he took one of the coolest VNV songs to date and turned it into what pretty much amounts to a mediocre and poorly structured VNV remix.

Thoughts on any of this?

[HipsterDufus]

I just "discovered" EBM early last year through A23 and VNV Nation. I was absolutely spellbound. However, the more I've gotten into EBM, the more I've discovered how it sounds the same. This can be great for a club, but it gets very boring on repeated listens other times.

Of course, if an EBM band were to experiment, I wonder if they'd still be called EBM any longer. EBM seems like such a restrictive genre by its danceable nature that it's going to be hard to break through any of the standards and still be considered EBM. I will say that Stromkern seems to hold up to repeated listenings quite well and that a lot of what he's done has been quite creative. As for the rest of the genre, I'm getting fairly bored with it.

And what the hell is the deal with Ronan padding his albums with instrumental techno-trash anyway? I think that I only ever listen to 2-3 songs off of any of his albums. That makes for one full album from any other artist.

[Pulse State]

I just "discovered" EBM early last year through A23 and VNV Nation. I was absolutely spellbound. However, the more I've gotten into EBM, the more I've discovered how it sounds the same. This can be great for a club, but it gets very boring on repeated listens other times.

Of course, if an EBM band were to experiment, I wonder if they'd still be called EBM any longer. EBM seems like such a restrictive genre by its danceable nature that it's going to be hard to break through any of the standards and still be considered EBM. I will say that Stromkern seems to hold up to repeated listenings quite well and that a lot of what he's done has been quite creative. As for the rest of the genre, I'm getting fairly bored with it.

And what the hell is the deal with Ronan padding his albums with instrumental techno-trash anyway? I think that I only ever listen to 2-3 songs off of any of his albums. That makes for one full album from any other artist.

Stromkern is really good, as is Seabound (Edge of Dawn, too, same singer). In Strict Confidence, very progressive from album to album, but can they really be considered EBM anymore?

Then you have very much lesser known bands like Liquid Divine, Mind.in.a.Box, and XP8, who I think do quite a bit to vary their sound from song to song. That's probably why they're lesser known.

Instead, people keep on dancing to the most repetitive and boring shit ever. Maybe throw in some lyrics that sound like they were written whilst the artist was sitting on the toilet. Perhaps make the vocals all distorted and call it "terror EBM" or "hellektro". Ugh!

[Pulse State]

Oh, yeah... Assemblage 23 is a perfect example of this. He is very good at what he does, but the last efforts from him have started sounding the same. Check out his Nerve Filter side-project, though, if you'd like to figure out where all the experimentation that has been gone from A23, went to.

[phee]

So I noticed something the other day.

For those of you familiar with [:SITD:], ever notice that almost everything they write sounds similar? You get the lead-in strings, the overused Vanguard sounds, then the Suicide Commando-esque drums kick in at 120-132 BPM, then Carsten Jacek's "singing" (using that term very liberally), breakdown, chorus, then maybe a bridge, chorus again, and then the song ends. I realised this with their two newest offerings, "Area 51 (2k6)" off of the Accession Records vol. 3 compilation, and "Suffering in Solitude (Extended Mix)" from the DAC Extended Electronics compilation. I think [:SITD:] is really stagnating, and has been since they came out with Coded Message: 12 last year. They are still good with that sound, but you can only take so much of it...

Same with Suicide Commando. Is it just me, or does most of his new Bind Torture Kill album sound the same? And let's not forget the great lyrics, like "Soul stripper soul ripper, I bind her legs excruciate her", or the very original "Fuck you bitch". Haha.

And I'm not even going to get into the Modcom remix (Modcom is just Ronan by himself playing with old analogue synths) of VNV Nation's "Chrome". Let's just say, he took one of the coolest VNV songs to date and turned it into what pretty much amounts to a mediocre and poorly structured VNV remix.

Thoughts on any of this?

I agree with this 100%

I like EBM... I think it rawks... but it needs some type of creative kickstart.... thankyou for posting this

[Blackmail]

depends on the band, most of VNV's stuff from the last 2 albums do not sound alike. Apop records sound nothing alike anymore. Welcome to Earth - You and Me Against the World - 7: could have been recorded by three different bands.

SITD sucks, as does most EBM but the good stuff is very good. I think everything that Icon of Coil sounds alike and the lyrics are awful.

[Pulse State]

depends on the band, most of VNV's stuff from the last 2 albums do not sound alike. Apop records sound nothing alike anymore. Welcome to Earth - You and Me Against the World - 7: could have been recorded by three different bands.

SITD sucks, as does most EBM but the good stuff is very good. I think everything that Icon of Coil sounds alike and the lyrics are awful.

Yeah, APB has been steadily growing worse, though. Maybe I just want everything to sound like it did in 1999-2001

And [:SITD:] doesn't suck, per se, but they really need to introduce more variety into their music. Sounding like a cross between VNV and Suicide Commando only goes so far if that's the only thing they are doing now.

[Blackmail]

Yeah, APB has been steadily growing worse, though. Maybe I just want everything to sound like it did in 1999-2001

And [:SITD:] doesn't suck, per se, but they really need to introduce more variety into their music. Sounding like a cross between VNV and Suicide Commando only goes so far if that's the only thing they are doing now.

I think Apop gets better.

I think SITD sucks, mostly because I don't like the vocals. The music is fine but the distorted psuedo industrial vocals irk me.

I think your friends Cesium137 do a good job of varying their sound.

[phee]

One EBM band that I think stays pretty fresh is Rotersand