Mortiis : "Ghosts of Europa"

 Havard has been taking notes from Ulver in regards to the more synth wave direction he is heading in. Not what you expect from someone dressed up like a goblin. Its not like anyone is still bitter about the fact he is no longer making black metal as that ship sailed decades ago. The transition to this makes sense even with the vocoder autotuning the vocals. It was not that long ago he was making darkwave, and doing a pretty decent job of it, I felt like the goth scene was a good fit for him. So the electronic thing is not the problem , what is a marginal issue is it's not that dark, though thick on the atmosphere.

Maybe he wants to start making soundtracks for A24 movies , as that is the vibe we are getting from "Return to the Old Fields" The song takes more form in the final minutes but drifts more often than not. "The Faith That Fades Away"  has a sparse ritualistic beat , and the layers of vocals are pretty cool, it does finds things moving in a somewhat more brooding direction which I approve of but could use more of a bass line to give it a backbone. If it was not for the vocal arrangements it would fall on the side of being more focused on a sound than songwriting. 

There is more of a solid groove to "Violent Silence". The vocals are more androgynous than what you expect from this project, making me think of the Pet Shop Boys. I like the future pop leanings that flow through the song. "Transcending Morpheus" is atmospheric in almost a more Dead Can Dance direction. There is a little dynamic ebb and flow but not enough to hook you in .Not even the robotic vocals can make it more potent. Four and a half minutes in there is more of a groove, but it can't gain momentum by then    

It's odd that a song called "Tundra Heart of Hell" would sound like old Depeche Mode.  There is more of a 90s new age feel to "Tribes of Dystopia" but the vocals anchors it. The last song works well enough , it's a little darker vocally. He puts more guts into his delivery to create more dynamics. I will give this album a 9, once I warmed up to and got use to the change it grew on me. It comes out June 26th thanks to Prophecy Productions. 

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Pig : "Swine & Punishment"

I am going to go ahead a treat this re-mix album as if it a album of new material as for all practical purposes the re-invention of these song makes it as such.The album opens up with the  darker moments of "Viva Evil" that reminds me a little of My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult.  The bump and grind that KMFDM normally invokes is summoned on " Found in Filth" . Vocally it sits at more of a Iggy Pop place in the verses. "the Diamond Sinners' is a  Tim Skold contribution that has a bit of a gospel slink to it. While the bulk of this album has more of a KMFDM feel to it this song feels more like Marilyn Manson to me. "the Fly upon the Pin" focuses too much on the atmosphere to the point that it comes across more like an dramatically ambient .

The second take on "Viva Evil"is more upbeat. The guitar is more minimal and the song bounces along it's rubbery groove. The gospel element to 'the Diamond Sinners"remains intact though with a odd edm vibe. Then the dance vibe gets off the chain with the Mortiis remix of "viva Evil" which is not as dark as I expected from him, but I guess this is the direction that roll has been headed .  The second pass at "the Fly Upon the Pin" finds the song moved in a darker direction that feels more like a song. I expected there to be a little more groove to the London After Midnight remix of "the Diamond Sinners". The vocals on the chorus sound like something from a Siouxsie song. So it's plenty dark and I am not sure what I am complaining about.

There is something more Revolting Cocks like about the next version of "Found In Filth" with various televangelists sampled. This is one of the album's best re-mixes for sure. "the Diamond Sinners" and "Viva Evil" get the most remixes. I think it would have been more effective if there had only been two of each song. The the fourth version of it , even the coolest sound begin to sound like filler. To this versions defense it does sound like something from the Tron soundtrack. "Drugzilla" comes across more like a rock song in the context of this album though the more dub glitched elements toward the end of the song work well. The tweaker remix of the final installment of "Diamond Sinners" is less than thrilling though it might have had more impact if this wasn't the 5th version. The last swing at "Viva Evil" might be one of the album's best as it reminds me more of his work with KMFDM. The album closes with "Violence" which is more graceful than most of the songs here. The low Rammstein like vocals don't wow me ,but work for what this is. I do like the line "this is the future that you planned" which sums up my thoughts on anything I hear in the news. With albums like these it can be hit or miss though this hits more than it misses I think pulling from a wider range of songs would have played in this album's best interest, but for what it is I'll give it a 7.5

Mortiis : " The Great Deceiver "

Things have changed a lot for Havard since he played bass for Emperor. This has more in common with Ihsahn's last solo album than Emperor. It's no mystery that he stepped away from black metal to create dark ambient music, but not he is making the kind of commercial industrial music that came out in the wake of Nine Inch Nails' huge success in the 90s.It would not be fair to Trent Reznor or Uncle Al to say the opener sounds like them as it sounds more like the bands that wanted to sounds like them. So this means we are talking 3rd string industrial. Mortiis has made interesting music so I am not ready to write him off. "The Ugly Truth" is the song sounds like "Mr. Self Destruct". There is a bit of an improvement on " Doppelganger" to some of the low budget Crow sequels. In other words it's pop for cyber-dread wearing kids that missed this on the first time around. I could see him doing very well at Dragon -Con, gods know this slays Cruxshadows.

On "Hard to Believe" he sounds like "Brutal Planet" era Alice Cooper.  This is actually the first song that offers up dynamics that I find compelling. The album begins to improve as there is some slight experimentation with "Road to Ruin".  Even when he proclaims nothing is going to stop him on his road to ruin and nothing is going to stop him on his way to hell, it's better than some of the lyrics we got earlier on. The beat takes on a more trip hop feel on "Bleed Like You". It sounds like if would be really heavy if this was an A Perfect Circle song getting a re-mix. Here is he wants to hurt his self so he can bleed like you. This will be a cutters anthem.

Things pick up into a more EBM pace for "Scalding the Burnt". This is not the album's most sound compositional effort as some of the transitions seem a little awkward to me. There is more of a White Zombie groove to "The Shining Lamp of God". The vocals are less aggressive than Rob and production wise this album sounds like it was recorded totally using a computer as sonically it's not as dense as if you were to compare it too an album by Ministry. I had to play "Sins of Mine" three times before I finally managed to pay attention it. So needless to say it's not a songs that grabs you. I can appreciate the shift in dynamics to something more melodic. Mortiis doesn't have the best singing voice, in the conventional sense I suppose it has gotten better over the years, but it doesn't carry this song like it needs to. "Feed the Greed" percolates in it's electronic bubbling before kicking in. It has more of a KMFDM vibe to my ears. They really need to find out what Tim Skold is up to.

The album could not have ended with a more fitting title than " Too Little too Late". It's pretty run of the mill industrial rock. On paper it would seem that I am the target audience for this sort of thing. A former member of Emperor who is not making goth tinged industrial. Sure in the case of Tombs it's done in a manner that takes the diary out of the cheese. Here you are getting all the lactose for better or for worse.I'll give it a 6.5.