Barbarossa (Barbarossa - Cubanate)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Barbarossa - Cubanate
Date:	16/06/08 (25 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Talented electronic industrial performance.

Disadvantages: Rock roots all but absent.

The magic has gone by Cubanate's penultimate release, and with its high-speed techno rhythms and Marilyn Manson style harsh choruses, the songs are almost trying too hard to find their way onto a video game or action film soundtrack, sounding increasingly like the work of those industrial bands they inspired in the first place. The vocals and guitars are more distorted than ever, and really losing the battle against the electronic elements, but all the same this is an energetic industrial album from proficient innovators of the form.

The differences here mainly come in terms of speed, with 'Joy' being a slower rocker, 'Why Are You Here?' plodding along at a radio-friendly anthemic pace and 'Come Alive' seemingly reacting against them with a high adrenaline burst in the latter half of the album. There's no direct relation between the two 'Vortech' pieces, the first being a more rocking affair and the second purely electronic, but these latter two songs are at least more consistent with an undiluted dance style that demonstrates the group's talents.

1. Vortech I
2. Barbarossa
3. Joy
4. Why Are You Here?
5. Exultation
6. The Muscleman
7. Come Alive
8. Vortech II
9. Lord of the Flies

Summary: Cubanate's third album (1996).