As genre progenitors pushing beat-driven industrial, corrosive metal, and electronic body music in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Front Line Assembly helped formulate this hybrid style before acts like nine inch nails carried it into the mainstream. Initially, FLA dealt with the dark synth atmospherics heard on their official debut, 1987’s The Initial Command. The addition of EBM dance beats followed, heard on releases such as 1989’s Gashed Senses & Crossfire and 1992’s Tactical Neural Implant. As the genre incorporated more metal influences, so did the band, who injected jagged guitar riffs and aggressive sampling on 1994’s Millennium. After returning focus to electronic, techno-oriented beats, FLA entered the 21st century with a trio of releases that landed the group on the Billboard charts for the first time with 2006’s Artificial Soldier. They repeated the feat in 2010 with Improvised. Electronic. Device. before turning their attention to video game soundtracks on AirMech (2012) and WarMech (2018). They remained active with studio efforts like 2021’s Mechanical Soul.

Through various lineup shifts over the decades, the act’s core duo is comprised of Bill Leeb (vocals, synthesizers) and Rhys Fulber (synthesizers, samplers). After working in the mid-’80s under the pseudonym Wilhelm Schroeder with Skinny Puppy , the Austrian-born Leeb formed the industrial/techno-based Front Line Assembly in 1986 with Fulber — who initially joined on as a studio assistant — and synth player Michael Balch. After a handful of compilation appearances and cassette-only releases, Front Line Assembly issued its first three full-length efforts — The Initial Command, State of Mind, and Corrosion — on a monthly basis between December 1987 and February 1988. Later in 1988, Corrosion, a subsequent mini-album titled Disorder, and a number of exclusive bonus tracks were compiled and released as Convergence.

In 1989, the group returned with the album Gashed Senses & Crossfire, which contained the dance-flavored singles “Digital Tension Dementia” and “No Limit.” A European tour in support of the record yielded a live album — simply titled Live — that was released and deleted on the same day in a limited edition of 4,000 pressings. After Balch departed Front Line Assembly in 1990, Fulber stepped in as a full partner; the streamlined duo soon released the electro-styled album Caustic Grip, while 1992’s Tactical Neural Implant found the group’s music moving in a harder-edged disco direction.

By 1994, their sound had evolved yet again, with the album Millennium displaying a newfound reliance on guitars; both the title track and “This Faith” scored as club hits. Fulber departed the lineup by 1997, while his replacement Chris Peterson debuted with 1998’s Monument. Implode appeared one year later. Sticking with a heavy dose of synth pop trance and throbbing melodies, Leeb and Peterson issued Epitaph in fall 2001. Rhys Fulber returned for the 2001 album Civilization and remained for the 2006 release Artificial Soldier, which found guitarist/keyboardist Jeremy Inkel joining the band. The remix album Fallout followed in 2007.

The group returned in 2010 with Improvised. Electronic. Device. ( Metropolis ), featuring new members Jeremy Inkel and Jared Slingerland, as well as “Stupidity,” with Al Jourgensen . After years of contributing previously released tracks to video game-related soundtracks, Front Line Assembly gave full focus to an entire album with AirMech, the electronic instrumental soundtrack for the video game of the same name, which was released in 2012. The next year, they returned with the dubstep-influenced Echogenetic — the remix album Echoes a year later — which they promoted on tour with Skinny Puppy . Echogenetic marked their highest chart success to date, topping the German Alternative Albums list and entering the top 20 on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic and Heatseekers Albums charts.

In early 2018, keyboardist Inkel passed away due to asthma complications at the age of 34. The band carried on, joining Die Krupps on a spring European tour before the release of AirMech sequel WarMech. Closing out the 2010s, they issued Wake Up the Coma, which featured a cover of Falco ‘s “Rock Me Amadeus” with Jimmy Urine , as well as appearances by Nick Holmes ( Paradise Lost ) and Chris Connelly ( Revolting Cocks ). A new decade in the band’s catalog was inaugurated with 2021’s Mechanical Soul, which recruited guests Jean-Luc De Meyer ( Front 242 ) and Dino Cazares ( Fear Factory ). FLA was featured on Black Asteroid ‘s 2022 single “Methane Rain.”

Canadian duo Rich Oddie and Christina Sealey began Orphx in the early ’90s, releasing a series of experimental noise and industrial cassettes. Their first CD release was Fragmentation on American label Malignant Records in 1996, and by the end of the ’90s, their sound had shifted in a more techno-leaning direction, often referred to as “rhythmic noise.” The 10″ EP Nullity appeared on Hands Productions in 1998, followed by full-length CD Vita Mediativa in 1999. The duo began performing extensively across North America and Europe, and made several appearances at German industrial festivals Maschinenfest and Forms of Hands in the early 2000s, alongside labelmates such as Winterkälte, Ah Cama-Sotz , Mimetic , and numerous others. Several albums on Hands Productions continued, as well as 2004 full-length Circuitbreaking on Hymen Records . In 2008, Hands released Teletai, a double-CD collection of rarities and tracks previously only released on vinyl, with a disc of remixes by Surgeon , Fluxion , Sleeparchive , and many other techno and industrial artists. In 2009, Orphx signed to Adam X ‘s Sonic Groove label and began releasing a series of techno 12″s, and the duo performed at events with techno DJs such as Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock . Hymen Records began compiling tracks from these 12″s for CD releases, starting with The Sonic Groove Releases, Pt. 1 in 2014, followed by Pt. 2 in 2015. Orphx’s full-length, Pitch Black Mirror, which featured guest vocals by Marie Davidson , was released in 2016. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi

Godflesh leader Justin Broadrick uses the name JK Flesh for his solo ventures into bleak, heavy electronic music. Debuting with the 2012 full-length Posthuman, the project initially contained guitars and vocals, progressing from the sounds of Godflesh but with a heavier focus on dislocated rhythms inspired by dub, garage, and drum’n’bass. Subsequent releases were purely electronic, and ranged from the slow, grinding industrial techno of 2016’s Rise Above to the gloomy minimal techno of the same year’s Suicide Estate.

Birmingham, England-born Justin Broadrick has taken part in numerous groundbreaking, influential projects. To name but a few, he was an early member of grindcore originators Napalm Death in 1985, he co-founded industrial metal juggernaut Godflesh during the late ’80s, and he produced industrial hip-hop with Kevin Martin ( the Bug ) as part of Techno Animal , Ice , and the Curse of the Golden Vampire . He has also released several drum’n’bass records under names such as Tech Level 2 and Youpho. Broadrick credited himself as JK Flesh as early as Techno Animal ‘s 1991 debut, Ghosts, and recorded several JK Flesh tracks during the late ’90s that were later released on the 2009 album From Hell under the moniker Krackhead. However, he didn’t develop JK Flesh into a separate project until 2012, when Posthuman was released by 3BY3 . While still as bleak and punishing as anything else he’d done, and still featuring some of the guttural vocals and downtuned guitars common to his work in Godflesh , the album was more focused on electronic beats and rhythms. Worship Is the Cleansing of the Imagination, a split LP with Prurient , followed on Hydra Head Records at the end of the year.

In 2015, JK Flesh released a lengthy digital EP titled Nothing Is Free. Guitars were absent, and the tracks focused on sparse but heavy rhythms and growling bass tones. The title track was released as a 12″ single by Downwards , and included a remix by Surgeon . Rise Above, JK Flesh’s second album, appeared on Speedy J ‘s Electric Deluxe label in 2016, and marked the project’s shift toward a slowed-down, sludgy techno sound. Suicide Estate, first issued as a cassette EP by Hospital Productions before being expanded into a full-length, included faster tempos and wasn’t quite as noisy. A second Downwards EP, 2017’s Exit Stance, was slightly more club-ready. PI04, backed with a Silent Servant remix, appeared on the Greek label Pi Electronics in early 2018, and was followed by Wasplike EP on Inner Surface Music. The dub techno-influenced LP New Horizon was issued by Electric Deluxe later in the year. In 2019, JK Flesh released a split-CD with Japanese dubstep producer Goth-Trad titled Knights of the Black Table, as well as the Hospital -issued Orphx collaboration Light Bringer. The same label also released his 2020 solo effort Depersonalization.

Violence and melancholy, sweetness and brutality — SIERRA blends various styles and moods to create her own unique brand, inspired by synthwave, EBM and darkwave. She released her first EP entitled “STRANGE VALLEY” in 2017. With their dark and vivid undertone, the six tracks describe a journey beyond an uncanny desert.

In May 2019, she released “GONE”, her second EP. That same month, she gave her first live performance at STUNFEST, a gaming convention who had previously hosted well-known artists such as Perturbator and Carpenter Brut.

In February 2020, she was the opening act of Carbon Killer’s European tour across 7 countries.
In December 2020, she released her third EP: “ALL ABOUT LOVE”. In November 2021, she released her fourth EP “INNER SPEECH” composed with Matteo Tura. In January 2022 she released her fifth EP “See Me Now”.

SIERRA has been chosen by Carpenter Brut as support act for his forthcoming international “Leather Terror Tour”.

Ash Code music is a collage of darkwave, noise and electronic music with a solid drum machine. Dark ballads and obsessive beats, deep and melancholic synths, noise and distortions, arpeggiators and delays. Lights and shades. Dances of Death. Visions and theatricality. Coded ash.

Lana Del Rabies is solo dark electronic music expression of multimedia artist Sam An.
The project is cross-genre dark electronic music that explores a scope of soundscapes and thematic concepts, including power dynamics between individuals, the physical environment and spirit world, ancient mythological allegory, and grief. Genre influences include goth music, noise, metal, and experimental electronics.

With origins as an experimental project that re-contextualized the more sinister and somber aspects of modern pop music made by women (like that of Lana Del Rey), Lana Del Rabies’ music embodies discordant spaces between the occult and the political, personal trauma and collective outage, noise and melody, and brutality and benediction. Her first two records were released by the Los Angeles label Deathbomb Arc.

Description of Lana Del Rabies by Deathbomb Arc:

“Producer and vocalist Lana Del Rabies combines beats, noise, synths, and a passion for horror soundtracks into a futuristic brand of goth that still loves the technologically curious days of early death rock… Addressing the ever growing PTSD of American society, LDR is a dreamlike voice, at once conquering while still lost in the haze.”

“On her 2nd album, ‘Shadow World’, deep horizons of intensity and beauty manifest in ways anyone that has seen her perform live knows she is the master of.”

Xris SMack! has been a part of the International Music community as a DJ / VJ, Producer of Music and Events, Musician +more for over 20 years. Spinning festivals & events from NYC to Montreal, London, Florida, Vancouver, Germany +more.