Anyone fancy a bit of a scrap? Digicore may come from the dignified cathedral city of York rather than New York but their electronic aggro fuelled music stands up shouting “where’s your tool,” with the spirit of rebellion running right through it. This is pretty full on stuff and it mixes up various electronic components along with the ethics of anarchist punk and even metallic aggression, never really standing still for a second. The group have names such as Matt Bastard and S-73 adding to their mechanical mystique and have apparently played hundreds of gigs around the country and I bet they had about the heaviest set of the recent DV8 festival in their home town if this disc is anything to go by.
I am not instantly convinced as we start with a somewhat clichéd Matrix sample and clean singing from vocalist Danny Carnage, which suggested this could be a bit commercial, however things suddenly explode in full on gabba pounding beats and industrial strength is fully installed on ‘Without Freedom.’ A spot of clean singing works as a precursor to rabid snarling and massive percussion blasts and the song veers between control and mayhem fluidly. The catchy ‘fight, fight against the wall, without freedom we will fall’ lyrics drive it ever forward and this is much more in the vein of ATR than the silly playground temper tantrum of RATM thankfully. Futuristic keyboards swirl quietly in the background of ‘Obey’ it could be an Orwellian 1984 sort of warning here but that is well in the past and we are living it now! The chorus is catchy and there are some moody slower parts with whispered spoken warnings keeping things ever changing. I do like the programming, you never know quite where it is going to take you, Cyberpunks Unite goes into EBM and trance territories and at other points there is drum and bass moves and what I even refer to as a bit of ‘Ibiza rave’ on ‘Where Were You.’
The songs all have rousing choruses and memorable hooks about them and they kind of make you want to stand up and fight or at the very least break something, preferably of a corporate nature. ‘No Rest (For The Rebels)’ is a song you can bang any part of your body to although it might mutate into something straight out of Tetsuo as it speeds away into crazed digital violence. The album is finished off with a couple of remixes and I particularly like the choppy, ‘ChopChop’ mix of ‘We Will Fall’ which solidifies its position as one of its best tracks. Speaking of remixes looking at the bands website it looks like they are up for the challenge of mixing your own stuff. Submit your tunes and submit to theirs, viva la revolution!
http://www.digicoremusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/digicoremusic
