Killing Floor - /dev/null flac album

In the time it has taken me to get around to reviewing this album I have listened to it a great number of times. I write this review after just having spat vitriol (okay, so more salive than acid) at SOCIETY BURNING's album and somehow the opening track reaffirms my taste - I hadn't been over-nasty with what I'd said. KILLING FLOOR utilise two of the devices I most hate about this genre - overuse of FX on vocals (which kinda suggests painting over something dull) and abundent usage of 'found' soundbites. But why then have I not learned to avoid listening to this? They lack clever structure, and rely on novelty devices (ie. the voice snatches) but they DELIVER! Medium fast-paced music which is far more Rock than Industrial, but their songs batter the listener with their relentless drive, and they insert more hooks into them than PINHEAD in a pissed-off mood. The mix is as muscular as ARNIE, hefty but not overweight - driving, compulsive, insistant. Their music burns on rocket fuel, an angry kick-you-in-the-head scream of noise which really sets them out from their peers. "Never Go Right" has as much umph as KMFDM's "Help Us, Save Us, Take Us Away", a killer track! "In Decline" is wordy enough to be a talkover White Rap set against a relentless medium BPM backing - it somehow comes across like VELVET UNDERGROUND's "The Gift". And hidden away at the end of the album, for those who haven't switched off halfway through the eighth track, there's a couple of remixes. And they have taken a rather strange approach to the closing track - which after the grab-you-by-the-throat "In Decline" becomes a long, long unaccompanied dialogue recorded off Police radio during a civil riot - interesting yes, but very strange to add it in it's entirety. It's all very negative with film soundbites which are chilling or downbeat. They are holding a mirror up to a society in chaos - perhaps the kind of music which would have come about if JOY DIVISION's negativity had be aimed outwards instead of inwards! A good group who deserve to make a successful career out of what they do. Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.