The Destroyer

(Digital Hardcore 16)

The sound of Digital Hardcore Recordings is the sound computers make when they scream. DHR pushes everything into the red and beyond.

The formula seems simple Crank the gain on every sound you have until the essence of Slayer is manifested in your sampler. Usually this means Digital Hardcore Recordings, however, are little more than an ambiguous cacophony of static. Fine if you're a noise rock outfit, but DHR purports to be a dance label of sorts.

DHR founder and Atari Teenage Rioter Alec Empire understands that you have to know the rules in order to break them. Unlike label-mates such

as Shizou, EC8OR and Bomb 20, (Christophe DeBabalon being a notable exception), Empire definitely has an understanding of dance music and "Groove." His solo work ranks as some of the most experimental electronic music produced to date.

The Destroyer is a collection of mainly breakbeat and drum & basstracks recorded in 1996, with a live piece recorded in 1994. The 14 trackson the album show Empire at his hardcore best, foreshadowing the hard dance trends popularized a few years later by the likes of The Prodigy and Fatboy Slim. Cuts such as "ThePeak" and "We All Die!" display a calculated sonic fury yet to be captured by any other electronic act to date.

And absent are the sophomoric ravings and posturings of Atari Teenage Riot. The Destroyer is pure distilled angst. Empire's crunchy beats draw the listener into a frenetic groove while crashing, distorted synthstabs and bomb-dropped basslines blast away any hint of boogie. This is dance music truly fit for Slayer fans. After hearing his solo work, you get the impression that Empire might singularly be behind all that is good about DHR.

The Destroyer stands as a huge middle finger flying in the face of dance music. If you just want indiscriminate noise, save your CD money,and tune your radio to a dead channel and pump it, yo.

-- Tony P.