Disco de Front Line Assembly: “Everything Must Perish [EP]”

"Everything Must Perish" is a marvelous dance song. First off, I am not a fan of Frontline Assembly. But I am a big fan of most other Leeb/Fulber/Peterson projects (especially Delerium). I sampled the single in a used music store (yes, the cd was already being sold as used), and I loved it. It was much more upbeat and catchier than previous Frontline Assembly stuff, and the vocals were actually well-sung vocals; not distorted try-to-be-evil growls. And the bonus track "Providence": incredible! It does sound like it would belong more on a Delerium album, but the beats are a little more intense and the sound is just a little darker. I got the impression from the single that FLA had changed (and improved) their sound with the new album. I happened to stumble upon "Epitaph" today at Best Buy (three days before it's supposed to be released), so I bought it, excited for more of this new sound. Unfortunately, all tracks besides "Everything Must Perish" are more of the same old stuff. The vocals are just growls and the overall sound is the typical ridiculously dark stuff. Being a huge fan of Delerium, the darkness now seems quite fake coming from Leeb and the gang. Or maybe the lightness of Delerium is fake, but I am biased as a Delerium fan. To give the rest of "Epitaph" some credit, though, the music is pretty cool. I really do like all of Leeb and company's music (at least the stuff from Delerium's "Semantic Spaces" on); FLA is just brought down by the vocals in my opinion. So anyway, the single is definitely worth getting for both "Everything Must Perish" and "Providence." Both are the best songs FLA have ever come up with. But if you're not a fan of FLA's old dark stuff that sounds like good background music while reading the Necrinomicon, skip "Epitaph."

"Everything Must Perish" is a marvelous dance song. First off, I am not a fan of Frontline Assembly. But I am a big fan of most other Leeb/Fulber/Peterson projects (especially Delerium). I sampled the single in a used music store (yes, the cd was already being sold as used), and I loved it. It was much more upbeat and catchier than previous Frontline Assembly stuff, and the vocals were actually well-sung vocals; not distorted try-to-be-evil growls. And the bonus track "Providence": incredible! It does sound like it would belong more on a Delerium album, but the beats are a little more intense and the sound is just a little darker. I got the impression from the single that FLA had changed (and improved) their sound with the new album. I happened to stumble upon "Epitaph" today at (local store), so I bought it, excited for more of this new sound. Unfortunately, all tracks besides "Everything Must Perish" are more of the same old stuff. The vocals are just growls and the overall sound is the typical ridiculously dark stuff. Being a huge fan of Delerium, the darkness now seems quite fake coming from Leeb and the gang. Or maybe the lightness of Delerium is fake, but I am biased as a Delerium fan. To give the rest of "Epitaph" some credit, though, the music is pretty cool. I really do like all of Leeb and company's music (at least the stuff from Delerium's "Semantic Spaces" on); FLA is just brought down by the vocals in my opinion. So anyway, the single is definitely worth getting for both "Everything Must Perish" and "Providence." Both are the best songs FLA have ever come up with. But if you're not a fan of FLA's old dark stuff that sounds like good background music while reading the Necrinomicon, skip "Epitaph."

As cited by other writers, the song "Providence" is an extraordinary gem which seems out of place as a FLA B-side for two reasons. Number one, it's much too good to be a B-side. Number two, it sounds much more like Delerium than FLA. (due, in no small part, to the voice) It is rather a shame it was released as a B-side - I think it would have fit perfectly on Poem. Instead, it will live in obscurity as an unnoticed FLA B-side. Reasoning aside, "Providence" is an excellent B-side and this single is worth buying if only for this one song.

Nothing new, even sounds more like Implode.

But very listeneable, great electronic music,

I'm very happy with this release.

Not too many groups that make presently such sort of music.

I agree that according to the contents that might be

the very last work of FLA.

While I enjoy the song "Everything Must Perish" (a natural progression from "Implode" - nothing too terribly different), I absolutely love the B-side track, "Providence". I'd describe it as a Delerium song with a stronger beat. It has soaring, haunting female vocals (courtesy of Jennifer McLaren) layered on top of the deep bass beats that FLA is so good at. It clocks in at over 9 minutes, but I love every minute of it. I'd really like to see Delerium go in more of this direction. I liked "Poem", but it was a bit of a letdown after "Karma". If you like "Implode", get it for "Everything Must Perish". If you like Delerium, get it for "Providence". If you like both, well then you can't lose.