Clean, clever, dark, intelligent, impeccibly crafted.
Corey P. Hunt | Kansas City, Mo., USA | 04/15/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"You need to give this album a chance. It's brilliant. Cold but not apocolyptic, melodic but not sappy. The electronics are rendered clean and free of much distortion which paves the way for their ingenious layering. The coppery beats, beeps, and manipulated vocals are here crafted as though they're the result of a prolonged study of the EBM-Darkwave-Industrial sound, and then offered as the definative representation thereof. But it's not just that. Lyrics too may at first seem typical, using as they do the ambiguity between humanity and technology. But once again, CRB addresses this issue in a way that seems fresh, and perhaps a bit more valid than before. Real questions about the human condition in a world ever more technological are offered, and then used as ingredients to create wonderfully crafted techno to reflect the apprehention of a world where heartbeats and technobeats may be one in the same. That's what industial is supposed to be. But unfortunatly too many bands use the sound of this genre as an excuse to be loud, or leud with little justification, real or imagined. Don't let me scare you away, though, CutRateBox is extremely accessable. Start with "Misery"."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1