Dystopian, dark, and surreal. These three little words speak volumes when describing the new album from Hanover, Germany's Neon Insect. The former video game music artist delivers an album of a future gone mad, set to some of the most innovative sounds in the Industrial music scene. The mood of the album is set right from the get-go with the opening track, what sounds like a national anthem playing over the clanging and glitching of computers and machinery, which launches right into the mid-tempo march of "Rewired". The album's lead single, "Brutalism" follows the same kind of mid-tempo cadence, but a female vocalist delivers a manic performance on par with the likes of Atari Teenage Riot, as sound clips describing the artistic movement of Brutalism antagonize in the background. "Coldborn" delivers a lamenting dirge through brooding vocals, while the blips and glitches of the previous instrumental track weave in and out of the mix. "Love Sex + Robots" ventures into sonic territory that feels more inspired by trip hop, with frequencies and ambience frequented by legends like Massive Attack or even Faithless. "There Is Beauty In Noise" brings it all back with a furious Industrial attack that will have you putting on your heaviest boots to stomp along. What Neon Insect brings with this "Liberty Flowers", along with the ability to tell a story through it's soundscapes, is a variation in the noise, going into territories that are not normally seen in a genre synonymous with being harsh and grating. The innovation displayed by Neon Insect sets the bar almost unattainably high, and should be an easy top contender for any blog or zine's Album of the Year.
Standout Tracks: "Brutalism", "Love Sex + Robots"
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