Flavour Of The Weak

Every CD I really like, I don't enjoy at first, and FLAvour of the Weak is no exception (hence the 4 stars; ignore them!).Granted, the sound is at first somewhat difrent than previous FLA, but it's all for good.If there is one last very redeeming thing about this album, it's the CD art. (...), and I must say Dave McKean is just incredible.

This Frontline Assembly record is different from what they did before. The band lost Rhys Fulber as a full-time member, but Bill Leeb and Chris Peterson proved that their creativity is top-form. This record's sound is best described as apocalyptic dark techno. The band's dancefloor friendliness has increased, while the guitars are almost gone. The vocals are sparse and less aggressive than on their previous records. This is FLA's reply to an outburst of powerful electronica bands like The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, The Future Sound of London, and others. Samples from these bands are abound on the album, and those who have this and the mentioned bands' CDs will be surprised with how well the original pieces of music are incorporated into FLA's complex song structures."Flavour of the Weak" really shines in sampling. "Corruption" borrows drum loops from Underworld's "Pearl's Girl" and ChemBros' "Get up on it Like This". "Sado-Masochist" uses a lot from ChemBros' "Setting Sun", while "Comatose" has parts of at least 3 songs by The Prodigy in it. These are just a few mentioned examples, there are much more in this album.What's really great about FLA, and this album serves as a perfect example, is that their songs never produce the impression of getting nowhere. The compositions are long, well written and they actually progress and develop the theme, so the listener is always involved.My favorite track here is "Evil Playground" with "Corruption", "Sado-Masochist" and "Colombian Necktie" not far behind. There's also a hidden 3-minute composition on the CD which is after a long pause in the end of track #8. Contrary to the rest of the album, it is a harsh chaotic industrial instrumental.With this record Frontline Assembly proved that no matter the line-up changes, in the year 1997 they were still a force on the industrial/EBM scene, and they had lots of ideas to express with their music. Highly recommended!

Is this FLA? That's what I thought when I fisrt listened to this cd when it was the last FLA album. Of course I had not listened then to Noise Unit, and so I was very surprised with this cd.When you give it more listenings you discover the real FLA trademark, it's just that, the same they did with 'Millenium' when they incorporated metal guitars into their sound and maintaining their special style, they did with 'Flavour...' by incorporating more techno elements, removing the guitars, including more danceable rhythms.I think 'Flavour of the Weak' is not one of the best FLA cds, but it was a good change, a necessary turn of direction after some magnificent albums which followed a more similar style and nedded, I think, a change.Now the songs:Corruption (9.5/10): the album begins with an instrumental song, which is quite surprising. It's an amazing song reminding me of Noise Unit's 'Drill' material but without the guitars; climatic, danceable, no vocals nor voice samples. Excellent.Sado-Masochist (8/10): after the 1st surprise comes the 2nd: how will the new songs with lyrics be? the verses and lines are shorter, the voice sounds less agressive but whispering, except for the chorus in which Leeb sings with his almost natural voice. Good but not perfect.AutoErotic (8/10): another new example of FLA new sound; like a Hard Wired song but more danceable, more upbeat, less rocky, less disquieting. Strange way of singing, some say like a sort of strange rap song; well, it's a strange song but decent.Colombian Necktie (8.5/10): the single. Good electronic intro, whispering vocals, excellent chorus with robotical distortion, good techno elements, less film samples than in Hard Wired, no guitars at all.Evil Playground (8/10): another instrumental. Begins with a children choir sample, i think sampled from a Recoil song, or if not it sounds similar. The song is divided into 2 parts: the 1st, a Delerium-esque piece of relaxing electro-landscapes with some beat, sth like 'Semantic Spaces' material. The 2nd is more NoiseUnitesque, danceable and more upbeat. It gets a bit repetitive for me, though.Comatose (8.5/10): one of the best here, it's more typical FLA but renovated with the new techno influences. Very good and catchy chorus, anticipating a bit the 'Implode' material.Life=Leben (8.5/10): a percussive intro, somewhat militaristic, then a very danceable song with silly lyrics but catchy vocals. Good and interesting, even though the easy rhymes.Predator (8.5/10): strange almost instrumental song; less upbeat, strangely melodic, weirds sounds, vocals almost imperceptible and scarce. At first I didn't like this one, but it grew on me with the time.To sum up, I think 'Flavour of the Weak' is a good album even though not one of the best by FLA. The change is as spectacular as the 'Millenium' was, and I think it drinks a bit from the other side-project Noise Unit( maybe because of the contact with Haujobb, maybe not). Weaker than 'Hard Wired' and 'Implode', i think it's a decent bridge between those 2 wonderful albums.