Front 242 – 05:22:09:12 Off

I really love some tracks on this album, like "Serial Killers Don't Kill Their Girlfriend". I strongly assume that it won't take long till this is put out on vinyl again. And hopefully then as a double LP.

This and **** Up Evil desperately need reissues. I was lucky to find Evil in a record store in Spain seven years ago, but I’m not paying these prices. This remains my favourite 242 album. It’s certainly unique and not their classic sound, but the diversity and complexity to the sonics are brilliant. GenEcide’s sound design still boggles me, some of the best textures and totally lush yet noisy all at once.

I'm just wondering how they managed over 30 minutes per side on the vinyl. Side A 30:33, Side B 31:28.
Should've made it two discs and added the other 2 songs (the CD-only ones). But I guess that was harder to talk a record label into back in 1993, especially with two albums out the same year!

Anyone knows if the DDAD recording/mixing/mastering label is just a gimmick or does it mean anything?

Brilliant, unexpected album from 242. Some hated it, of course, but its epic, cinematic soundscapes make this one of their best. The addition of female vocals and looped guitar riffs ticked off purists, but it was a burst of welcome new energy for the band.

This heavy heart
Heart that I carry
Still holds the weight of you
And when I fall
As I always do
I'm crushed by the absence of you

Wow! It is truly hard to believe that Evil Off came out in 1993, before Underworld was doing techno, when Orbital was still a kind of basic rave act, when The Orb had just barely released Ultraworld and Aubrey's Excursions. The ambient and rhythmic material on this album (and Fuck Up Evil) blows pretty much anything away of that time period. It will definitely go down as 242's most divisive album, but hopefully in a good way, now that it has aged like a fine wine after all these years.

Back in 1993, all the other industrial bands were marching forward with the same kind of predictable 4 on the floor beats, tired distorted vocals, and dumb haircuts and face paint. Front 242, however, decided to leave this well-trodden path behind for the new sounds emerging in the electronic world at the time - big beat, ambient, and to an extent, even trance. In 1993, those styles were mostly unheard of in the industrial underground. 242 did the smart thing in embracing these sounds and rhythms before it really caught on in industrial or the mainstream. As you can imagine, most of the hardcore EBM fans were pissed (I was one of them at the time!) But if 242 had NOT gone in this direction... imagine how boring, stale, and rehashed they would have become later on. It was precisely this new music on Evil Off and Fuck Up Evil that propelled 242 past the regular and into the once in a lifetime.

Listening to this CD in its entirety again after so many years, I am really floored by how accomplished, mature, and just plain bad ass it is from start to finish. Obviously the classics Animal, Modern Angel and Happiness will resonate with most, but it's really the lesser known tracks like Junkdrome and Crushed that make Evil Off the masterpiece that it is. I remember as young producer sampling the hell out of Crushed to create my own remix to enter into some 242 competition (it was immediately rejected because the sample lengths were too long!) Junkdrome, though, goes down as my favorite on the album for its devastating breaks, huge ambient washes and complex, difficult programming that simply destroys anything else in this style that was around in 1993 - IMO, of course.

If Evil Off and Fuck Up Evil got the "no" votes from you back then, I highly recommend throwing them on again, on a really good sound system, with a nice adult beverage or three, and some time to yourself to get reacquainted with the music. If they don't get the thumbs up after... well, you must just be a jaded oldschool fart ;P

Front 242, refreshed and among their best. Sadly, this was their last great spark, (exceeded only by Tyranny For You). If only they could have tapped this energy going forward instead of recreating their past as a live(sic) band.

Front 242 at their worst, including Up Evil and Pulse.

EPIC. As was on release, as is now, this and Up Evil.

animal cage is still one of the most amazing pieces of music i've ever heard. wish i could find band who made whole albums that sound like that tbh