The dark beauty in the machine
Michael A. Ventarola | New Jersey | 07/27/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When this project was initially underway, Victoria Lloyd sent me some of the demo tracks and I knew immediately that this was going to be a classic among EBM/Industrial dance fans. The enigmatic Daniel Meyer worked with members of Claire Voyant on some of the songs as well as a few other notable music figures in the underground, in order to tweak some of the best performances out of the combined group. Although this is a slight change of pace of Meyer's previous works, it nonetheless creates a new benchmark for the artist to demonstrate that it is possible to skirt with various genres while still remaining loyal to fans from other work and genres. One of the long standing debates in the underground scene has been the contention that Goth music hasn't evolved or that EBM/Industrial/ Synthpop has taken over too much of the Goth fan's attention.
HMB did the seemingly impossible. They combined the morose and forlorn emotional tides of gothic music, wrapped it up with frothy electro/industrial pulse beats and skewered it through many vocal intonations. Simply put, this CD is a brilliant piece of work that crossed the genre boundaries, signifying that Goth music and industrial music can in fact have a great marriage when enough forethought is given to its construction. Daniel Meyer is to be lauded for the accomplishment of delivering a new body of work to his already well known classic works with Haujobb. Meyer brought out best sounds from the various artists who contributed to this project and simply disproved that Goth music is a static entity, unable to develop or venture beyond its tonal old school qualities from the 1980's. Victoria Lloyd has had quite a following from her work with the Claire Voyant, and simply demonstrated that she is not a singular range vocalist. Her sounds can go from smooth as silk to seductively wicked in the span of a breath. Lloyd simply seduces, soothes, caresses and entices vocally, while Meyer is the musical whipping master, driving listeners into a frenzy. Along with other Claire Voyant band mates, Chris Ross and Benn Fargen, the additional evolvement of their abilities is simply brought to an innovative height to a whole new audience through the genius of Meyer. Do seek out this recording if you like industrial dance music. Also if you are prone to Goth music with a bit more bounce to it, this should become a welcome mélange for your collection."
WickED
Michael A. Ventarola | 01/25/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I am a huge Haujobb fan, and now I am a huge h-m-b fan! This album has songs that will be classics I am sure. "Wanted" and "This Fire" are easily my favorites and the sultry vocals of that siren are beyond compare. I am happy to see it released in the US."
Beautiful, super-cool industrial beats
Mr. P. J. Taylor | 10/11/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a great album! combining cool industrial sounds with both male and female vocals across fourteen excellent tracks. Personal favourites include "everything", which is a beautiful but hard-hitting industrial epic and "this fire", one of the more poppy, but still wonderfully crafted songs. Buy it!!"
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1