FRONT 242 - p.u.l.s.e.

This is very hard thing to do: review a monumantal band after such long hiatus.
Every song requires double scrutiny and careful examination. Work of FRONT 242 demands it.

Being virtually the Founding Fathers of EBM scene in the eighties, then being mixed and remixed in the nineties, and now a return… that’s to sum up their career. Well, it is not that simple…

But the object of this review is “PULSE”, FRONT 242 from this century. No delaying, straight to the topic:
This is NOT an old FRONT 242. “Pulse” DOES NOT sound even like techno remixes of their previous tracks.
This is simply electronic music. No sub-genres.
So, for people who still take their daily dose of Skinny Puppy, old Ministry or DAF – this will not be a band for you anymore. Clearly discarding their image and sound of EBM band, quartet went to explore new grunds.They got tired? Old ? Bored?

No answers provided, “PULSE” opens with 5-track ‘Seq666 > P.U.L.S.E’. There you go, right in the head: composition closer to… I don’t know…Orbital perhaps, than their familiar/old sound. Flashback hits with the next one - ‘Together’, and you’re thinking everything’s cool…it’s all like it should be… well, a mistake. Forget the EBM sound – it’s gone. Technoid and ambientoid hybrids take place. And within them, parts and pieces of every other electronic sub-genre. In this motley group, couple of tracks do stand out as being finished, polished, perfected: ‘10+11>Song’ is one: I’d really like to see FRONT 242 move in that direction; ‘14+15 >Matrix’ is a step back, but good – energetic, active. ‘Beyond the scale of comprehension’ also catches attention with it’s interesting structure. The rest of the tracks fill the void with emptiness. Couldn’t catch the thread, although I can hear it’s there. Unfocused? Yes, you might add that attribute as well… Or I simply cannot rid myself of old image of FRONT 242. More inert/conservative/hardline fans will accept this new sound as a complete shock. Disbelief, rejection? Possible. Likely. After twenty years, it might have been a time for a change?

This album puts FRONT 242 away from EBM and halfway to the future. We are used to connect them to innovative and groundbreaking sounds. “Pulse” does not contain continent-discovering music. Some other people already took all the glory. It is possible that, some years from now, we discuss this part of FRONT 242 opus as historic one. But that is highly unlikely. But one thing is certain: Neuroticfish said that EBM is dead. “PULSE” confirms it.