Fatal Casualties - Paria

Fatal Casualties was born in Stockholm, Sweden 1986. Their active years were 1987-1991, with live performances and some demos, and a reunion in 2010. The debut EP 'Paria', was released August 1st 2012, consisting of 6 tracks. Fatal Casualties musical genre is given as a mix of industrial, electronic and EBM.

Our opener is "Aim", and my thoughts head immediately to the early days of industrial music and Throbbing Gristle. It contains a lot of harsh noise and the vocals are sporadic. Amongst all the experimental whistles and noise there are some good synth lines, giving out an almost dance beat at times. But the accompanying vocals are distorted to the point of being mutilated.

"Drifting" is again an industrial/experimental track, with EBM type vocals which however do eventually revert to their mutilated state of the former track, and is somewhat reminiscent of European EBM in general. In places it still produces reminders of the early industrial work, and although both tracks so far are polished and well produced this form of crossover is not something I would want to listen too for long. It does have some good synth lines which remind me of late 90s dance tracks.

In "En nervkostym" we are met by noise, a single drum beat and sporadic vocals, something that sounds very experimental in nature. Yes, an experiment in human torture. The origins of experimental music lay in music where the outcome in unforseeable, but with this track it is definitely not the case. However, it does push the boundaries of recognisable music genres and music in general.

"Glas" has a similar start to the previous track, and again is very experimental in nature. If you look hard enough into these tracks you can find remnants of the EBM and Industrial genre but for me that is about it. It picks up something of a beat at times and even a melody, as is very indeterminate and unpredictable, but in general does nothing for me.

Just when complacency was about to set it, along comes "Slippery". For once the whole track as an entity seems to have purpose. Featuring some good industrial synths and drums, and the vocals seem to fit with their surroundings. This has a really atmospheric and horror type soundscape and appears to be much more structured.

We complete out EP with "Toys". A xylophone introduces us to the track, with increasing background noise and more incoherent vocals. Its a spooky little ditty ready for a soundtrack with a likely scenario of toys coming to life and hacking people to death. But as a listening experience has little to offer.

Conclusion:
It certainly is abrasive and aggressive, and the one thing it has on its side is the indeterminacy and unpredictability of the music. This comment applies strangely to all tracks except for my highlight which is "Slippery", which fits more within a specific genre. As a listening experience it is far from my taste which I like to think is varied, but if you have the time you may find something you like and it is available to preview on Spotify. Sep 05 2012