Tag Archives: you knew it all along

IkEcht Gothic Reviews (2005)

Review Source: IkEcht Gothic Reviews
Artist: THINGS OUTSIDE THE SKIN
Title: You Knew It All Along
Label: Facility Records

Things Outside The Skin is an aggro-tech industrial band (at least that is what they call themselves) from Brooklyn, NY. You knew it all along is the third full-length release from the gentlemen. As I’m not aquainted with the old material, I can’t compare to that. Though the band itself says there is only a distinct dash of hip hop influence, I can’t help the first band that comes to my mind when listening to this record is Body Count (the metal-project of Ice-T). Though Body Count had a much fatter (and better) sound. Not much other bands/acts pop up in my head while listening to this record really. Where it was promissed to be agro-tech industrial, this is more hiphop mixed with some punk and a bit of electronics. Some scary effects are used, but don’t have the effect of scaring me, it’s much closer to making me laugh.

The lyrics are mostly political oriented, asking to burn down the White House and Bush with it. They are one of the stronger points of TOTS, one of the very few I must say. This is one of the very few acts that is able to make me long for the original recording of “Spice Up Your Life”, as their version is so much worse.
Just one more negative remark to make before I stop complaining about this cd: it just goes on and on and on and on… though the cd builds up from the worst to the best (those are the remixes) it just is way too long with 22 tracks and over 70 minutes.

(original Dutch text)

Aggro-Tech industrial band is hoe Things Outside The Skin zichzelf noemt. En jawel dat aggro lijkt te slaan op agrarisch. “You knew it all along” is hun derde release op Facility Records, daar ik de eerste twee niet ken kan ik hier niet mee vergelijken. Maar goed dit trio uit Brooklyn stuurde me dus dit schijfje toe. Waarom ooit, zo vraag ik me af als ik er naar luister. Daar waar ze zelf zeggen dat ze een ververwijderd vleugje hiphop hebben meegekregen is het schijfje meer een ode aan hiphop in mijn oren. Dan wel met een duidelijke gitaarbasis ook vaak. Zo af en toe doet het geheel me wat denken aan Body Count, dat project van rapper Ice-T. Maar wel met het onderscheid dat Body Count veel beter is.

Qua tekst heeft het schijfje een beetje punk-lading enerzijds politieke nummers, waarbij in het nummer “American Way” bijvoorbeeld wordt bepleit om het witte huis plat te branden en Bush ook maar meteen. Anderzijds pure pretnummers, waarin vele malen koeien figureren, dat zal dan wel het aggro-gedeelte van de muziek zijn ga ik van uit. Al heeft ook het nummer “Cow Tippin'” nog een politieke lading omtrent het genetisch modificeren van dieren om ze maar meer op te laten brengen.

Na ongeveer 8 nummers, als ik de cd al goed zat ben krijg ik voor het eerst iets te horen waarvan ik denk dat ze het daarom industrial noemen. Wat beats komen voorbij drijven in een nummer dan duidelijk meer electro-invloeden heeft dan de voorgaande nummers. Helaas is de uitvoering even slecht als het voorgaande.
Direct hierna is in het nummer “Horror Culture III: The Victim” de ergste horror wel de meer dan valse zang. En zo gaat het maar door. En door… en door.. 22 tracks (!!) lang, een ware martelgang.

Alleen aan te raden voor hen die echt een pesthekel aan iemand hebben en toch een verjaardagskado’tje moeten geven (helemaal geschikt als die persoon van hip hop houdt, wellicht kan die er dan nog wat mee).

Geplaatst door ikecht :: 13:08 :: Nog geen reacties :: Reageer

Houston Music Review (2005)

Review Source: Houston Music Review
Artist: THINGS OUTSIDE THE SKIN
Release: You Knew It All Along
Label: Facility Records

Brooklyn, NY’s industrial rockers Things Outside the Skin’s third full-length release contains a cavalcade of big synthetic beats, swirling effects, and a slew of vitriolic vocalizations. Making creepy music seems effortless for this trio of electronic gurus, as a plethora of scintillating sounds grab your ear’s attention as the pseudo rap of tracks like “The Most Appealing Thing” assaults you from the front. Mixing it up like Mike Patton meeting the Transplants on the homage to Phil Hartman “Another Dead Comedian” while taking the rave from the warehouse to your speakers on “Town & Country”, YOU KNEW IT ALL ALONG goes 22-tracks deep (incuding remixes and edits), leading you on a twisted ride through the minds of master musical manipulators that know their way around a synthesizer as well as they realize the power of a well-crafted song. If you dig left of center Goth rock, this group will not disappoint.

-review by Mike SOS

** review re-printed in www.earcandymag.com, www.americoremagazine.com, and in www.thedelimagazine.com.

Hard Wired (2005)

Review Source: Hard Wired
Artist: THINGS OUTSIDE THE SKIN
Release: You Knew It All Along
Label: Facility Records
Style: Industrial Punk
Rating: 5/10

Wow, over an hour’s music on one CD – 22 tracks!! Oh, hang on, eleven of them are re-mixes of existing tracks, leaving us with just 11 original tracks.

Okay, so what do we have here then?

Well, kicking off the male fronted Industrial rock-come-punk tunes is the track ‘American way’, taking a pop at American ethics when it comes to slightly threatening countries. I can go along with this, and it’s a good track that eases the listener into the TOTS sound – rocking industrial sound with ever so slightly distorted vocals. Things look (sound?) good…

Track 2, ‘Mettle IV’ seems to carry on this sound, but things start to blend into the obscure by the time we hit ‘Spice up your life’ – a tripped out version of the Spice Girls original we guess. Lots of weed should help you through this one, as it leaves it’s Industrial uniform at the door as it crashes into a hazy wash of smoke and flickering lights. Odd!

‘The most appealing thing’ sees TOTS switch to rap-core, with metal overtones. A complete departure from the opening track, I had to check I was still listening to the TOTS album.

From here on in, things get weird – tracks like ‘Going Under’ and ‘Cow tippin’’ definitely have a tongue in cheek air to them, but seem to leave all music credentials initial presented behind. This is student punk rock performed by a band that are more competent than that. Elements of Clawfinger can be found here in terms of the vocal style, but any sincerity is firmly lacking.

‘So Emotional Tao’ is just plain weird – thankfully only a minute long, but a complete waste of space in my opinion.

If there’s one good thing that can be said for TOTS, the styles on offer here are highly broad and varied – no one track seems to sound like any other on the album. A skill the band seem to have down to a fine art. But in doing this they seem to have shot out the other side in terms of a broad musical scope. The tracks on this album have no direction to them – take the track ‘Horror Culture III’, this is possibly the kind of music you’d expect to hear on a police TV show as the credits start to roll. In other words, bland.

‘Cancer song’ seems to follow the same format – music accompanied by a monologue recording. Nothing inspiring at all.

By now we’ve hit the remixes, and again it seems as if TOTS just want to weird us out with their music. Out of the tracks mixed up (‘Another dead comedian’, ‘Spice up your life’, ‘Mettle IV’, ‘God in a box’, ‘Wormface’, ‘Cow tippin’’, ‘So Emotional Tao’), nothing leaps out you and demands you get up and mosh your heart out on the dance floor. In fact hitting the skip button is the order of the day here.

For the Conservative among us, there are three radio edits, ‘American way’, ‘Another dead comedian’ and ‘Cow tippin’’ – again, nothing to inspire you here.

So, out of 22 tracks, nothing here sets the scene alight. A shame really as TOTS are musically competent enough to do better. I’m afraid this album is all quantity and no quality. A great shame.

-review by Keith Elcombe

Grave Concerns E-Zine (2006)

Review Source: Grave Concerns E-Zine
Artist: THINGS OUTSIDE THE SKIN
Release: You Knew It All Along
Label: Facility Records

Man this is some crazy dope aggro-industrial music. THINGS OUTSIDE THE SKIN are highly musical and diverse. From industrial to dark-techno to hip-hop to horror and sci-fi themes. An aggressive format with driving and forceful sounds that are very interesting. The band is also into politics, speaking their minds on things that annoy them and how stupid President Bush and corporations can be by starting a war for nothing in the song “American Way”. Some of their songs have a meanings with a sense of humour that have a strong points on some subjects, like “Cow Tippin”, which talks about experiments on cows, which is the food-chain topper in fast food restaurants. A song about the late great Hollywood actor/comedian Phil Hartman who was killed by his third wife in the song “Another Dead Comedian” is also interesting. It’s a tripped out headspin bass kicking track.

They even cover the Spice Girls “Spice Up Your Life”. I even like the remix version better called “Slice Up Your Wife Mix” by Hypoid because it’s very more danceable and on a darker industrial edge.

T.O.T.S. third release “You Knew It All Along” justified what it’s all about in being creative while making industrial music and twisting it in different ways… making it fun, silly and groovy. Fans of Skinny Puppy, Devo, and hip-hop/rap will enjoy this disc.

-review by Donovan Tate

Grave Concerns E-Zine (2005)

Review Source: Grave Concerns E-Zine
Artist: THINGS OUTSIDE THE SKIN
Release: You Knew It All Along
Label: Facility Records

You Knew It All Along, Things Outside the Skin’s third album on Facility Records, is essentially a relatively short 11-song album ballooned out to 70 minutes with 8 remixes (a few being remixed tracks from previous albums), 3 radio edits, and a *cough* 1-minute bonus track. Hints of Skinny Puppy, Ministry, NIN, old My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, and Rob Zombie among others permeate the band’s stylistically diverse sound, blending strong industrial percussion, noise, and more coherent synth and guitar work with vocals that range from the rap industrial variety to the more traditional distorted industrial brand. Lyrically, it’s certainly far from understated, from the anti-Bush/anti-war theme of “American Way” to the vegetarian anthem “Cow Tippin'” to “Another Dead Comedian”, peculiarly choosing the murder of Phil Hartman as its subject matter. In other words, those with thin skin or strong rightwing leanings most likely need not apply.

Two of the tracks here are covers: an unexpectedly straight-faced, plodding, moody take on the Spice Girls’ “Spice Up Your Life” and an electronic-percussion-heavy industrial interpretation of Devo’s “Going Under”. The opening anti-Bush “American Way” is one of the strongest tracks here, steady, NIN-esque industrial percussion and underlying electronic loops providing the backing for a bass-driven semi-rapped, semi-snarled, relatively blunt delivery. “Mettle IV: Programmed Apathy” is fairly short, barely exceeding 2 minutes, a well assembled, angst-ridden cacophony of industrial guitar riffing, distorted vocals, horror film synths, and thumping percussion.

“The Most Appealing Thing” is a slower track, crazed spoken ranting filtered through distortion atop a sinister electronic foundation, while “Cow Tippin'” is a nicely rhythmic, bass driven offering with hip-hop undertones. “So Emotional Tao” is a one-minute foray into faster industrial electronica territory, while “Another Dead Comedian” is something of a catchy industrial swing track with a lovely mellow interlude featuring female vocals and a chaotic finale. The instrumental “Town & Country” builds to a dance industrial frenzy, while the following “Horror Culture III: The Victim” certainly stands out form the crowd if just for its notably atmospheric delivery, blending lush synths and wobbly vocals atop layered electronic percussion. “Cancer Song”, the last of the disc’s original tracks before delving into remix territory, is a fairly solid 3-minute instrumental overlaid with spoken word samples about cancer treatment.

Of the disc’s numerous remixes, “Spice Up Your Life: Slice Up Your Wife Mix” and “Cow Tippin’: Cold and Cowculated Mix” are certainly the most interestingly titled, the former turning the original cover a shade darker and the latter a steady up-tempo dance remix. The others range from the noisier “Another Dead Comedian: CliffMonk-A Remix” to the slightly eerie “God in a Box: hERESY Mix”. Overall, the remixes are rather good and remarkably sonically consistent with the rest of the album, creating a cohesive listening experience rather than feeling tacked on (save for the repeated radio edits, which are likely to appeal only to DJs, completists, and those offended by the originals’ unedited lyrics).

As a whole, You Knew It All Along is an interesting hybrid release, sort of half original album and half remix album. Its use of rapped vocals and often less-than-eloquent lyrical phrasing may be a turn-off to some. However, despite being a bit rough around the edges, it’s a fairly sonically interesting and stylistically diverse industrial album with unique production and a few interesting covers.

review by Joshua Heinrich