Frontline Assembly* – Fallout

THIS is what a real EP release should be like!

Fallout has been the subject of a lot of hating along the way. My guess is that this is because people were expecting a new full fledged FLA release, which this obviously isn't. This is an alternative take on a bunch of the tracks from the Artificial Album, as well as some new tracks. And most of it is 100% quality.

As much as I want to love Artificial Soldier, I personally had a hard time swallowing some of the new sounds and the breakbeat overload on the album, and while I still respect it as a good album, Fallout definitely fits my taste better.

The first three remixes are of the typical outsourcing-meterial-for-a-club-mix sound. And while they aren't particularly interesting, they are all solid and worth listening to.
More interesting to me are the reworkings of Unleashed, Lowlife and Antisocial by actual band . They all capture the classic FLA sound really well, and especially the technoid "Antisocial" mix of Social Enemy is probably my favourite on the CD, being a fast paced dance floor track embedded in the cold sci-fi sound we have come to love.
Also, the remixes by Portion Control and Covenant add some entirely different sounds to the mix. These are among my favourites as well, and the Covenant remix alone is a reason to invest in Fallout. The new sound fits Eskil's vocals much better.

Finally some of the new tracks make out some excellent classic FLA-productions. Armageddon and Unconscious are both great tracks, and not rushed b-sides as you might think. This is the stuff that makes me anxious to hear what Front Line Assembly will whip out next! Even moreso than Artificial Soldier did.
This classic band is still living strong.

When i first heard that this was scheduled for release, i was kind of surprised that FLA were releasing another album so soon after Artificial Soldier. It wasn't until i ed it to preview it that i realized this is somewhat of an EP slash remix CD. In this case, tracks 4, 5, and 12 have never before been released, while the other 9 are various remixes off 2006's AS.
As for the quality of the record, i was highly impressed with the first 5 tracks. After this point i was somewhat bored until the 12th track. True, i have never been a fan of singles/EPs where three-quarters of it are remixes of the same couple of tracks, so this one is no anomaly. Yet the new songs are excellent, as they show that Leeb and Fulber are still at the top of their game after over 20 years. As well, the first 3 remixes are also very solid. Unfortunately this only really amounts to 50% of a good release (be it an EP or otherwise), so i doubt this is something i would end up spending money on, though i shall wait with bated breath to see what these industrial masters are able to achieve with their next full length.