Lab Report "Excision" INV 082 1997 (62:42)
In the Beginning (9:22)
Suction (5:28)
Techtonic Plate Shift (3:51)
Another Psychosis (4:12)
Fig. Q75 (6:27)
Shoot and/or Defenestrate (4:35)
Christ Playing with Tops (5:02)
The Beginning Reinterpreted (14:17)
Geeks Choose to Work in the Carnival (9:38)
Lab Report is Matthew Schultz and Derek Frederickson.
First off, the artwork is excellent! This is one of those cds that I've kind of half-assed wanted and was on my huge, always growing "to buy" list. When I saw it on the shelf though, the artwork and packaging tilted the scales for me and I bought it on an unlistened whim. Several pics of Matt's sculptures, designed by Twisted Media: a heart of some kind with hooks stuck in it, holding it suspended in the middle of a frame (see above). Ditto for the backcover, excepts it's some other chunk of flesh with hooks attaching it to two crossed sticks. This stuff looks like it's straight out of Hellraiser! Clive Barker would probably shit himself if he heard some of this music ...
The music is your typical Lab Report. No credits are given for instrumentation, but it sounds to me like atg (anti-tank guitar), some keyboards/samplers and miscellaneous mechanical sounds (especially on "Christ Playing with Tops"). Some songs are slow building washes of distorted sounds (a.t.g.), some have outbursts of samples (gunshots), some are soothing ambient pieces (comparable to many of Coil's ambient tracks), etc. "Fig. Q75" is easily the best Lab Report track ever! This one alone was worth the $13.99! Holy shit, this one is evil! It has an a.t.g. rhythm to it, and the most eerie washes of sound you will ever hear. "Geeks Choose to Work in the Carnival" is definitely a surprise. It sounds very similar to early Coil; bells, keyboards, ringing samples, even horns. This has to be the most conventional and structured Lab Report song ever. After this last track ends, there's about 4 to 5 minutes of a door creaking open and shut, then at the very end, a sample of a little kid saying "mommy? I want to play!"
Overall, this is a good Lab Report album. It is very, very minimalistic ... especially compared to "Unhealthy". It still manages to create a "dense" feeling though, and easily has the ability to make you shit yourself at proper volumes with the lights turned off. There's no beats to be found on this one, just the building of atg thumpings occasionally. I recommend this one for any Lab Report, Coil or Dead Voices on Air fans ...
Lab Report
Twisted Media homepage