Latexxx Teens - Adrenochrome Redux

It's been 3 years since the "teens" debut full-length release "Death Club Entertainment", and they've since taken time to put together the new EP "Adrenochrome" and "Adrenochrome Redux" on DWA with bonus remixes, a cover song, and also 2 re-recorded tracks from their first EP: 'Moloko' and 'Ultraviolence'.

We start off with the first track "Nemesi" which really shows that the band have no intention of giving a slow approach to kicking off the new release, and has a real anthemic vibe to it with its 'gang' shout chorus of "HEY! HEY!"

Courtesy of LXT frontman Lex Kaos with these constant shouts and hard lyrics, you get the feeling he's trying to rally the people together for a revolution, and he pulls this off perfectly in making sure this release has a nice strong vocal opening .

We then follow on to the track "Destroy Everything (for a Better Tomorrow)" which is probably the fastest, heaviest and shortest song on the record.
It really does get its message across in the 2 minutes of its duration with its constant chugging palm muted guitars, punk style drum beats, and 'full in the face' punk bass riffs.
This song vocally is another song that is non-stop shouting and chanting and really does accompany the aggressiveness of the music perfectly.

This aggressiveness carries on even into the next track "Eternity" which is a more mid tempo song compared to the previous track but is still a relatively heavy affair with a simple message of "nothing lasts forever" and makes us see that the band aren't always focused on destruction and aggression (in a lyrical sense).

Now moving on to probably the most melodic of all the original tracks on this release - "Black Heart". This song is another mid tempo track, which has a simple chord progression, a solid drum beat, and mostly sung lyrics with very light sounding verses layered with synths - not the usual grinding palm muted guitars of the previous songs which really do help the melodic sense of the song shine through the mix.

And finally the Title track "Adrenochrome"which really helps close the first part of the album with it's 5 original tracks and is very similar to the first 3 tracks of this release - heavy guitars, "punchy" metal, and punk beats, giving the band the chance to start and end with a "bang".

Once the original tracks are over there is a cover of "Temple of Love". Originally by "The Sisters of Mercy" and featuring Chris Harms on vocals from the band "Lord of the Lost" the song starts with female vocal samples and synths and from there builds up into the heavy guitars and hard hitting drums that the act have previously offered.
However there are some downpoints to this cover the mix is a lot different to the previous songs and may leave people wondering what happened and also the lack of Lex Kaos on vocals on the track may make people think that the guy had disappeared due to not even making backing vocal appearences.

As mentioned before, the DWA version features remixes as well first up is The March Violets remix of "Black Heart", Featuring female vocalist Rosie Garland this remix could be a song in it's own as it is almost re-written - the guitars and live drums have been removed but the synth melodies are still present which confirm that it is a remix. The vocals have also been pretty much removed and been replaced by the female vocalist giving the song an almost pop sense, however the vocals do remain in the chorus as a more secondary contribution.

The next remix up is by Freakangel - a more EBM based remix and has new guitar parts in it courtesy of the bands guitarist. This remix seems to be a bit "same" sounding as many other of their remixes in the way the guitar is articulated and may lead some listeners to skipping it - that?s not to say that it is a bad remix at all.

The next remix up is probably my personal favourite by DYM which is a remix of "Destroy Everything" - this song is a total adrenaline rush and keeps a fast pulsing beat at about 175-180 BPM. It has the typical things to expect from a DYM remix : spliced and glitched audio on the guitars and vocals but still manages to sound like a fresh interpretation.

Last but not least are the remixes of "Eternity" and "Adrenochrome" done by Siva Six and Terrolokaust respectively. They give the same dancefloor EBM vibe as that of the Freakangel remix but still give a sense of the original songs being there in some form, whether it's spliced guitar parts or parts being rearranged on different sounds or instruments. They help to make a good ending to the remix part of this release and show that even the heaviest of industrial metal songs can be arranged into a more dancefloor orientated track.

Last but not least 2 re-recordings from the "Moloko" and "Ultraviolence" EP are included in the form of "Viral Sublimination" and "(S)aint (R)evolution". These re-recordings aren't very different from the originals - the main difference being the inclusion of live drums which add a total dynamic to the songs and more raw sound to the mix , allowing for tempo changes to be included. These remixes are pivotal in helping encourage people to buy the DWA version of this release as these re-recordings

To conclude this review I'm going to give this release an 8/10 it is a great strong release for the band and really does show a sense of progression with the addition of live drums , but also has slightly bad points - the cover song and also the remix aspect of this EP. Nevertheless ,a good strong indication of what's to come from Latexxx Teens next. Apr 22 2012