Severe Illusion - Deliberate Prefrontal Leucotomy

Swedish EBM enthusiasts Severe Illusion return after two years since their comeback release on Complete Control Productions. Released earlier in January in vinyl, CD, and digital download formats, you have your choice as how to exactly obtain a copy of this album. I should probably also point out that this release is quite good.

Starting with Louder Than Words, a scratchy EBM tune is brought to life with slightly distorted vocals. The light synth accompanying the song in the background works in a little magic to help along the song. The trend continues in Postsynaptic Receptor Disruption, changing it up slightly to include some noise like effects.

Discontinuation Syndrome knocks off the whole idea of EBM and shoots straight for a noise song. At first, minimal with a sample that echoes and repeats, it's not till around the one minute ten second mark that the noise really kicks in. A bass drop is heard in rhythmic fashion throughout, but it really sits nicely.

Hole comes out with a more clear cut EBM tune, faster paced and sounding like it belongs in a retro video game. The vocals take a bit of a change, not really sounding all too harsh, but just bland with a slight effect to them. Compassion to Delete slows down the pace a bit, while Tardative Dyskinesia makes more of a rhythmic noise song. Scratchy static returns, with really echoed vocals.

Cro Magnon comes in second to last utilizing eerie synths, and Strategy of Aprehention is the final song on the album which has a mechanical sound to it, like metal slamming on metal at points. Nice.

I enjoyed myself getting through it, and while I don't have a ton of praise for it, i still came out thinking this was a good album overall. Though, I do complain about its length; only serving a bit over a half hour of music as a full length is a bit of a let down. Also, the first two tracks sounded way too close to one another for comfort, and had me worried before the album changed pace. But, other than that, I say this was a decent release; check it out for a short lived, albeit well done listen. Aug 01 2014