Front Line Assembly – Echogenetic

This is about as middle of the road as you could hope for. The new bring their own influences, which has become the norm for FLA these last few years. Leeb just sounds tired and who can blame him? While Puppy wisely took a few years away from things and came back re-invigorated, Front Line just kept plodding along grinding them out. Echogenetic is the result, a by the numbers exercise in all things FLA. Despite the inclusion of new sounds and styles, Leeb just can't resist (ha!)his habit of "borrowing" from other artists quite blatantly. If you've heard the William Orbit mix of Captivate by Nitzer Ebb you'll have already caught him red-handed. Never mind the VNV appropriation.

If this were any other act, people would be screaming at these kinds of moves. But as this is Front Line, they somehow are excused. And why is this, you might ask? Because this band even in spite of having stand-ins front (sic) them at festivals possess a very loyal and quite vocal fan base who like battered housewives just keep coming back. Each year their numbers dwindle as this lot become more and more prone to latching onto safely proven genres. This isn't a bunch who take chances and what they ought to be quite proud of is buried under cynicism and a disturbing need to sound like others.

For as many times as I have played through Echogenetic, only a couple of songs jump out as being even remotely dangerous. If I wanted it safe and phoned in, I'd listen to pop music (which this album strays perilously close to at points) and not an institution like this capitulating to the whims of fads. You lot can pretty much do whatever you want and people will enjoy it, the universal appeal of albums like Gashed Senses and Crossfire, Caustic Grip and Tactical Neural Implant are proof of this. There's even a new generation of kids who swear by your earliest 80s albums and recognize in their aberrant nature how much talent this group have.

Front Line used to be about confrontation, individuality and a refusal to go quietly. Sadly, none of this comes through on their newest album. No, we're just given a slew of songs designed to distract through the use of high tech tricks and futuristic arrangements. As background music this is fine, just don't listen too closely.