Front Line Assembly - Echoes (2014)

Posted By: Designol

Date: April 3, 2015

After two milestone 2013 releases, 2014 is shaping up to be nothing short of extraordinary for the Front Line Assembly camp. FLA is kicking off the year by releasing ECHOES, the follow-up to 2013's long-awaited ECHOGENETIC & critically acclaimed instrumental soundtrack for AirMech.ECHOES is a remix collection of FLA's favorite modern artists reinterpreting the band's now classic ECHOGENETIC. Presented as both a 14-song physical album and an exclusive extended digital release, ECHOES features two new original songs, co-written by Ian Pickering of the Sneaker Pimps, along side remixes from artists such as Comaduster, Sonic Mayhem, Youth Code, Slighter, Rhys Fulber, HECQ, Henrik Backstrom (of Necro Facility), Blush Response (Joey Blush from Scar the Martyr), Liebknecht (Daniel Meyer), Haujobb, Techdiff, Tweaker, Primitive Race, Atiq and Enk, and Cyanotic.

I haven't been this blown away by a Front Line release since first stumbling upon Tactical Neural Implant in 1992. Granted, this is a remix release, but it resolves the rut into which FLA fell over the last twenty years. Every track on TNI stood apart from the others: Gun had a distinctly different sound than the Blade, which was an entirely different beast than Mindphaser. Subsequent releases saw the band's tracks begin to blur together – all sounding more or less the same, with no real innovation or interest beyond the brand. This was particularly true post-Hard Wired. I'd purchased Echogenic on release, and while it was a step in the right direction, it still suffered from the same bit of monotony. I almost didn't purchase Echoes, which would have been the first FLA release I would skipped since TNI. I'd all but given up on their ability to innovate.

But Echoes in unbelievable. The energy is insane on some of the tracks, and despite the various hands turning the knobs, it is undeniably FLA. It proves that all of the elements of epic FLA were in Echogenic – it just needed a shot of adrenaline. Killer tracks include "Deadened - Liebknecht" (Blade-level vox), "Echogenetic - Blush Response" (ear-numbing bass line that will rattle your teeth), "Exhale - Henrik Backstrom" (FLA-disco that somehow works and absolutely slays it), and even "Exo - Hijacker" (down-tempo, with pianos? yep, still amazing). I'm still trying to get my head around some of the other tracks, but there are some very solid arrangements there too.

The Deluxe version includes a few extra tracks, with Greg Reely's take on "Killing Grounds" and "Ghosts (tweaker)" well worth the extra few bucks. The two new tracks (Contagion, Next War), while not as interesting or aggressive as the remixes, are still encouraging.

It's great to have Front Line back in the fold. It's by far their most interesting release since TNI.There are sounds, ideas, and an energy here that are well worth your time should you have any interest at all in industrial or electronic music. Simply put, this is a must have.

Review by BIGJNR, Amazon.com

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Tracklist:

01. Contagion (05:19)
02. Leveled (remix by Sonic Mayhem) (07:36)
03. Ghosts (remix by Comaduster) (04:59)
04. Killing Grounds (remix by Rhys Fulber) (06:06)
05. Echogenetic (remix by Youth Code) (03:33)
06. Deadened (remix by Liebknetch) (04:48)
07. Next War (06:05)
08. Echogenetic (remix by Blush Response) (04:28)
09. Exhale (remix by Henrik Backstrom) (04:56)
10. Prototype (remix by HECQ) (07:31)
11. Leveled (remix by Slighter) (06:06)
12. Heartquake (remix by Techdiff) (04:40)
13. Blood (remix by Haujobb) (05:05)
14. Exo (We Slip Away) (05:15)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 4 from 7. December 2014

EAC extraction logfile from 27. March 2015, 15:07

Front Line Assembly / Echoes

Used drive : LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1L Adapter: 6 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 5:19.09 | 0 | 23933
2 | 5:19.09 | 7:35.47 | 23934 | 58105
3 | 12:54.56 | 4:59.25 | 58106 | 80555
4 | 17:54.06 | 6:06.31 | 80556 | 108036
5 | 24:00.37 | 3:33.13 | 108037 | 124024
6 | 27:33.50 | 4:48.25 | 124025 | 145649
7 | 32:22.00 | 6:05.31 | 145650 | 173055
8 | 38:27.31 | 4:27.65 | 173056 | 193145
9 | 42:55.21 | 4:56.16 | 193146 | 215361
10 | 47:51.37 | 7:30.46 | 215362 | 249157
11 | 55:22.08 | 6:06.13 | 249158 | 276620
12 | 61:28.21 | 4:40.20 | 276621 | 297640
13 | 66:08.41 | 5:04.41 | 297641 | 320481
14 | 71:13.07 | 5:15.04 | 320482 | 344110

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename Z:\data\hexonut\Seeding\Front Line Assembly\2014-Echoes\Echoes.wav

Peak level 98.7 %
Extraction speed 10.3 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 948D461B
Copy CRC 948D461B
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [55D83D25] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [D439F88D] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [1146AB89] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [C4AC2109] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [0D93D29A] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [46EDCA0F] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [490E0281] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [01C0B77B] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [B50987E9] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [44044620] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [9093CD08] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [9DC232A3] (AR v2)
Track 13 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [5516870B] (AR v2)
Track 14 accurately ripped (confidence 10) [406C1B00] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

==== Log checksum 874F288E8DB70699B3FBD21953597174D035769839B0B3EC8CABD9101FA281B4 ====

DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2015-04-03 14:14:29

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Front Line Assembly / Echoes
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR6 -0.11 dB -8.08 dB 5:19 01-Contagion
DR6 -0.11 dB -7.85 dB 7:36 02-Leveled (remix by Sonic Mayhem)
DR6 -0.38 dB -9.25 dB 4:59 03-Ghosts (remix by Comaduster)
DR5 -0.18 dB -7.76 dB 6:06 04-Killing Grounds (remix by Rhys Fulber)
DR6 -0.35 dB -7.06 dB 3:33 05-Echogenetic (remix by Youth Code)
DR6 -0.20 dB -9.21 dB 4:48 06-Deadened (remix by Liebknetch)
DR5 -0.11 dB -7.22 dB 6:05 07-Next War
DR6 -0.41 dB -7.22 dB 4:28 08-Echogenetic (remix by Blush Response)
DR7 -0.41 dB -8.96 dB 4:56 09-Exhale (remix by Henrik Bäckström)
DR8 -1.20 dB -10.75 dB 7:31 10-Prototype (remix by HECQ)
DR6 -0.20 dB -8.56 dB 6:06 11-Leveled (remix by Slighter)
DR6 -0.21 dB -8.87 dB 4:40 12-Heartquake (remix by Techdiff)
DR8 -0.41 dB -9.60 dB 5:05 13-Blood (remix by Haujobb)
DR7 -0.11 dB -8.73 dB 5:15 14-Exo (We Slip Away)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 14
Official DR value: DR6

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 989 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

All thanks to original releaser - hexonut

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