Techno Animal - Ghosts

This album was the first taste I had of Techno Animal, and indeed was the only thing I heard from them for a good 10 years at least. Although I'm a fan of all of their very varied repertoire, I still think it's their best release; one which combines the sounds of God and Godflesh, the bands which members Kevin Martin and Justin Broadrick respectively fronted at that time, with sampling techniques that sounded quite unlike anything I'd heard previously. This whole album is dark, menacing and fierce. Martin's saxophone squeals like a pig being led to slaughter, Broadrick's guitars drone and feed back, industrial machine beats rumble and grind, and voices variously scream, moan and hiss with vitriol.

There are subtler moments too, but the mood never lets up. Perhaps the harshest of all the tracks is the appropriately titled "Freak Fucker". This consists of no beat or music as such, just a vocal sample repeating over and over in German: "das ist das ende, das ist das ende, das ist das ende das ende das ende...." (this is the end). I don't know where it's sampled from, but it's hard not to envisage old footage of Hitler gesticulating wildly at the podium during one of his speeches. This horrific soundscape echoes away, and is further ravaged by more sampled voices - this time it's hysterical laughter - manipulated through special effects to create an atmosphere that's almost unbearable. I've played this track in DJ sets before if I happen to be playing the final set of a techno night, as the very last track - more than once I've had people pleading for me to take it off the deck. I can certainly sympathise, it's not something I'd want to hear if I was in their state of mind. Perhaps that's why I enjoy playing it to them.