Improvised. Electronic. Device

I would have to say that FLA (and all its associated projects like Delerium) has been my favorite band of all time. I wanted to see them in person so much in the 1990s, that while I was in Amsterdam, I took a train to Rotterdam to see them, only I was very ill with food poisoning the whole time. But back to the album. Years ago they seemed to stop making albums and I stopped listening. The last album I bought, and loved, was Tactical Neural Implant with Bio-Mechanic probably my favorite FLA song of all time. It has all the things I love: it starts with a long beginning and becomes relentless, dark, and rhythmic yet melodious. The song I.E.D. gives me goosebumps. The album is what I felt then and I have just rediscovered. Apparently years after the album released. It's FLA as before but now with greater complexity and higher production values. Add it to your collection.

On a cold day in 1992, I walked into a Music Plus and saw a longbox among the "F"s - Tactical Neural Implant by some band called Front Line Assembly. As I was a SF & William Gibson geek (still am, proudly), I bought the album just because I dug the name and cover art.Little did I know that album would shape my musical addiction for the next two decades.Up until Epitaph, I bought everything that had Bill Leeb's name on it, and through the Reclamations, Monuments, and Explosions, I loved all of it - side-projects too. But with Epitaph, something changed. The FLA magic was no longer there for me. I developed hesitation; I still kept my eye on FLA releases, but was no longer a day-one adopter.So then, late last year, I noticed that Leeb & Co had released their latest, Improvised.Electronic.Device. It caught my eye for two reasons: it bore a title very similar to TNI, and it was being hailed as "a zenith album!" and "FLA's best since Hard Wired!" Hm, OK, interesting. Eventually, I got around to buying it, without listening to any of the tracks - I'm old-fashioned that way. This is the first full FLA album I'd bought since Implode, but I'd heard everything they'd released, one way or another.With I.E.D. (the album, not the song), it's mostly the same old FLA story. The songs incorporate many elements from past albums, rearranging old ideas into new combinations. The title track is 5/4, but it sounds unnatural, as if the band said "Let's do an FLA track, but in a different signature!" "Laws of Deception" sounds very similar to "Surface Patterns", musically and lyrically. "Afterlife", for all its good intentions, is embarrassingly earnest, and its structure recalls "Unknown Dreams." "Stupidity", featuring the inimitable Al Jourgensen, is not an FLA track, but a Ministry song, and is sorely out of place here. "Downfall" is a throwaway ambient track; really, FLA albums don't need this kind of stuff, and let's be honest, the band will never top "Mortal" anyway. It's unnecessary, and feel very much like filler.Point is, you know what you're going to get with FLA: awkward lyrics about war and loss and mutation, minimal yet gutsy guitar hooks, interesting drum patterns, swirling electronic chaos, and lately, experimentation that doesn't....quite....work mixed with elements that probably worked better in the past. For all the criticisms of Leeb's vocals, I think they're an integral part of the FLA experience. I wouldn't trade his anthemic barking for anything; that's part of what FLA is.(One more thing - where did all the awesome samples go?)Now for the (very very very) good. There are two tracks on the album that are pure and simple FLA genius: "Angriff" and "Shifting through the Lens." What's remarkable about these tracks is while they feature everything that's awesome about FLA, they sound completely new."Angriff" begins with a surprisingly delicate textured piano melody, only to shift into a lovely pulsating sequence that recalls the classic "Vigilante". This similarity is strengthened by a sudden exploding chainsaw guitar riff and Leeb's measured chanting. The vocals shift through into a wonderfully treated filter, then a trademark FLA chorus erupts, in German, no less! While a bit too Rammstein/Megaherz for my taste, it's still pretty darn awesome. The song does feature "old" FLA bits, but they're put together in an inspired way, and finished off with a flourish. It's a fantastic melding of old + new, and leeches onto your memory in a way that other recent FLA tracks fail to do."Shifting through the Lens": wow. I don't think FLA has ever done a more turbo-charged dancefloor track. In terms of driving energy, it's right up there with "Target" and "Plasticity" in my book. The off-kilter trademark bass-lines of "The Blade" and "Heatwave" have slid over to a mid-range sequence now, and the whole track latches onto it to glorious effect. My wife calls the vox distortion "Gollum using the throat-box thing", and the lyrics are ridiculously evocative: "sterilize all contact points / inhale if you want to breathe / dirty poison oxygen / delivers Shiva need." Yeah, I don't know what it means either, but you gotta admit it's exhilarating; a guilty cyber-pleasure that Leeb has been doing for his entire career. And the couplet "slide into darkness / slither down the shaft of hell" has squirmed through my recent consciousness more times than I'd care to relate. The song reminds me of the recent Adrien Brody flick Splice, and given Leeb's penchant for sci-fi films, that might not be an accident. It's an old-fashioned work of EBM hypnotism that punches all the right buttons and scratches all the right itches; I believe it's one of the four or five best songs the band has ever written.With the addition of Jeremy Inkel and Jared Slingerland, I'm getting the strong sense that this current lineup has the potential to produce something truly phenomenal. "Angriff" and "Shifting" are the fulfillment of this promise: the band didn't try too hard to make something different just for the sake of doing so, and the results are truly incredible. If this lineup can keep up that kind of controlled creativity over an entire album, they may very well be able to produce the successor to Hard Wired that everyone seems to have been pining for: a collection of tracks that sound like they fit together, rather than a selection of too-extreme experimentation and too-familiar retreads. "Angriff" and "Shifting" prove to me that FLA can pull it off; these two songs alone increased my rating to four stars.In my humble opinion, post-Implode FLA releases have been quite uneven: a great song or two in between less-inspired efforts. However, if you remove the best tracks and put them together on a playlist, it is truly formidable: "Maniacal", "Anti", "Social Enemy", "Electric Dreams", "Armageddon", "Shifting through the Lens", "Angriff". These are seven tracks that highlight the recent direction of FLA while also retaining the core of what has made the band so attractive over the last two-plus decades. While they're scattered over the last few releases, it shows me that the band's got it in them.So, while I don't consider I.E.D. to be quite the return to form that others have declared, there are (finally) signs that FLA has been struck by a spark of inspiration. Time will tell if this spark will erupt into a magnificent display of electronic mayhem, but after my extended stay in FLA limbo, I can finally say this: Mr. Leeb, with I.E.D., you've gotten my strict attention once again.

It took me a little while to get hold of this album , however I can say that as FLA is my favourite band among many including Skinny Puppy , Project Pitchfork , front 242.. , ministry, and a whole lot more... this album not only met my expectaions from FLA , but exceeded them and blew them straight out of the water... I have often said to fellow fans that Epitaph and Implode belong in the same case, as they are completley life changing, and just toe tappingly good.. I was completley blown away with Civilization, and then Artificial soldier..., however if you are an FLA fan and love these guys as much as I do , I can tell you that all preceeding FLA albums lead to this one brilliant album.. it is a mix of what I think is a complete re write of there old and new blended into this materpiece of an album.. if you are a fan... ( and evenif you dont have any other FLA album)you will not be dispointed in this purchase. just get a 6 pack of your favourite drink , throw your wife and kids out like I DID,, and enjoy this album on a good lowd volume and enjoy..I am seriously considering throwing out all other albums that I have previously purchased, that dont belong to FLA... if its not FLA ... then its either a nostalgic visit into the days of Gary Newman or skinny puppy , or I am just wasting good FLA playing time..

In my opinion, on first listen, this is the best FLA release since the turn of the century. And after a few listens, I'm even tempted to say it's their second best release, with 'Tactical Neural Implant' still being #1 (after all these years).Excellent production and excellent work. Technical, heavy, clean & crisp. Keep it up!!!! Standout cuts are "I.E.D.", "Angriff", "Release", "Shifting Through the Lens", "Pressure Wave", and "Stupidity" (although Stupidity is obviously more of a Ministry song, it's at least as good as anything Al has done in years). I'm still digesting the album's subtleties, but one thing immediately stands out and deserves special mention: the intro to the opening track, IED, as it adds layers and complexity and builds to its guitar-heavy peak, is superb. Some of their best work.The 2 Bonus Tracks on the Deluxe Edition, "Day of Violence" and "Attack the Masses", are also hi-quality tunes; especially the 8 1/2 minute "Day of Violence" and its numerous changes.As always, I am digging this one and already looking forward to the next FLA album...

As usual, FLA continues to impress despite lacking innovation in their EBM crap. I always loved this because of the bad ass vocals and sounds and the way this band handles verses and choruses. Recommended.

Another great album by FLA. I love all the tracks but my favorite is Angriff. That one needs to be listened to loud!

This album along with echogenetic are great examples of how industrial can evolve and modernize but still sound great. excellent album.

All songs on this album is epic in some ways listing to the songs i keep thinking to my self this next song cant be better then this one... few seconds later prove's me wrong. all songs in this CD starts slow and ends well! FLA put some good effort in I.E.D.

This is another excellent offering from Front Line Assembly. It's better than Artificial Soldier, the tracks are more varied. The only track I didn't like was No.9, but I just deleted it from my music lib and now I have 9 great tracks to listen to! Keep up the good work, guys - it just goes to show there is some great music in what has become an increasingly banal music scene this past few years.

If you're a fan of FLA, this album does not disappoint. I put it in my personal CD player when I'm on the move - it gets me motivated. Yes, I know, I-pod not my thing! Is interesting trying to work out what the samples are from. Brilliant album.

This must be fla's fourteenth or so album proper by now.My first was caustic grip in 1990 (god how time flies).The thing with fla is to expect it to sound like fla and it does.That's no bad thing though,they have their sound and instead of changing it too much bill leeb would just form another band to explore any other paths.So far he's had fla,delerium,synasthesia,intermix,noise unit and equinox.There is a big return to the industrial crunch of millenium but there are also some excellent dance tracks like 'shifting through the lens',also a single,one of their best ever tracks for me,and the track 'afterlife' shows a softer reflective and melancholic side,like delerium with fla style gruff vocals.It's a solid fla album and doesn't sound old or tired like some established bands and they are still coming up with lovely melodies coiled around mechanical structures and electronic pulses.If you like fla you should like this.If you like skinny puppy,ministry and nine inch nails and good industrial music you should like it as well.p.s.I love ministry but the al jourgensen produced track does sound a bit out of place here.

Der Titel und die Single-Auskopplung erwecken den Eindruck, dass FLA hier ein elektrolastiges Album vorlegen. Back to the roots oder sowas. Es ist aber eher sehr gitarrenlastig geworden. Auch reicht es meiner Meinung nach, nicht an das hervorragende letzte Album ran. Teilweise gleitet es sogar etwas ins Banale ab. Und Al Jourgensen tut seinen trägt auch eher zur klangmäßige Stupitidät bei - weshalb ich mich mit der Ministry-Langeweile schon vorher nie anfreunden konnte. Am meisten nervt an dem Album, dass alles mit Gitarrensauce zukleistert wird, aber auch das Songwriting, war schon mal deutlich besser. Kein weiters Lied kann die sehr ansprechende erste Singleauskopplung erreichen. Die wirkt auf dem Album auch irgendwie deplaziert. Ein will ich noch klarstellen: ich hab gar nix gegen brachialen Gitarrensound, aber hier geht eher was verloren. Weniger wäre mehr gewesen. Ok, soviel zur negativen Kritik. Das Album ist ja durchaus hörbar - nur zählt es nicht zu den Highlights von FLA. ich bedaure den Kauf nicht, aber ich hoffe wirklich, sie legen bald wieder was vor, was sich davon absetzt. Solange werde ich wohl mit IED wohl die Zeit einigermaßen zu überbrücken wissen.

für mich sticht es aber jetzt nicht sonderlich von den anderen Alben der letzten Jahre hervor. Dennoch 5 Sterne, weil es wie eigentlich alle FLA Alben einfach wirklich gute elektronische Musik, aber ohne großartige Überraschungen ist. :)