MORLOCKS
Praise The Iconoclast
Metropolis Records
Last week I said I was waiting for an act to come along that took Industrial music to the next level. The ink on that plea had hardly dried when along comes Swedish industrial/dark metal band Morlocks to answer my prayers. 'Praise The Iconoclast' is a genuinely inventive, inspired, and perfectly executed album which may very well re-animate the rotten corpse of Industrial. They have got the messaging just right, production values are sky high, guest vocalists are used to great effect, and the sound Morlocks produce on this feels genuinely exciting in a way that Industrial music hasn't for years now.
Mixing cut ups and guitar driven rhythms with symphonic pads that give it a filmic quality, along with a knack for combining sounds and merging tracks without it appearing forced, this is spot on and every track fits.
Lyrically they tackle a mix of topics, largely covering the unholy mess that the world is in. Fear, uncertainty, doubt (which is actually the title of one track), iconoclasts and dictators, war mongering politicians and those who would glorify them and their machines, corruption, lies...
"workers treated like machines, built to serve the kings and queens",
need I go on?
Take a track like the single 'Dicks In Tanks', where they feel too many bands from the scene are a just little too keen on songs about war, casting it in a positive light in a misplaced display of machismo. "We can't have that, now can we?" they say. Too right we can't. You will find no argument with the core message of 'Dicks In Tanks' from me, but the real bonus here is that this is a fantastic stomper of a song, with a great video to boot.
Mixed in with the heavier duty topics are SF influenced tracks, and even a few quieter and semi-orchestral sections (guest vocalist Karin My providing a welcome female element but without pandering to misogynistic stereotypes).
Each track flows into another so this feels like a well thought through album to be treated as a whole rather than a mere collection of songs. Couple that with excellent animated videos and a vein of humour that shows they do not take themselves too seriously and are well aware of the sometimes comedic elements of the genre, and 'Praise The Iconoclast' is the best thing to come out of Metropolis Records for a long, long time.
Essential Information
'Praise The Iconoclast' is released on Metropolis on 6th October.
