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Bands

Imperative Reaction

Imperative Reaction is an American electro-industrial band, active in the gothic scene since 1996.

The band was founded in 1996 by Ted Phelps and David Andrecht, two former members of the band D.N.A (Digital Neural Assault).

After three years spent searching for their own technical style to suit the tastes of the band members, in 1999 Imperative Reaction released their first album entitled “Eulogy For The Sick Child“; the album was successful in the United States and a few months later it was also distributed in Europe thanks to the record company Zoth Ommog Records. The same year Pendragon, the label that released their first album, was bought by Metropolis Records.

In 2002 Imperative Reaction released Ruined, which contributed a lot to the media attention in the band, and in 2004 the album Redemption marked the shift of the band’s style towards a more aggressive imprint, and led Imperative Reaction to embark on numerous tours, also as an opening act for VNV Nation.

From 2000 onwards Imperative Reaction have composed remixes for many artists of the EBM scene such as Assemblage 23, XP8, God Module and Combichrist.

While the first album is more EBM sounding, with their second album Imperative Reaction have outlined their own style, characterized by 4/4 dance rhythms, by full-bodied synth bass lines and at the same melodic tempo that resemble those of Electro house, revolving around scratchy keyboard leads and Phelps’ rock voice.

A style often associated with Futurepop, it has also been described as “an Industrial metal reinterpreted by an Electro purist”.

At present, Imperative Reaction’s lineup consists of Ted Phelps (vocals), Clint Carney (keyboards), Trevor Friedrich (drums), and Adam Vex (keyboards / guitar).

I took pictures of Imperative Reaction at New City Liqwid Lounge in Downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Canada:

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Bands

Icon of Coil

Icon of Coil is a Norwegian futurepop and EBM group. The band emerged as a solo project by Andy LaPlegua of the Combichrist fame, who teamed up with Sector 9 founder (currently oo Moonitor and Zombie Girl) Sebastian Komor to perform live. With the release of Shallow Nation, the band’s first single, Komor joined the band full time. In 2000 Christian Lund joined the live line-up. In that same year the band’s debut album, Serenity Is the Devil, was released, which climbed to number one on DAC (Deutsche Alternative Charts). Soon after, Lund became a stable member of the band.

Shallow Nation, released in early 2000, sold out the first thousand copies after just 2 weeks, resulting in a deal with the Norwegian label Tatra Records. At the same time Tatra Records released the compilation Sex, Goth and Electronics, in which Icon of Coil contributed an exclusive version of their song “Repeat It“.

The audience seemed to enjoy the melodic and energetic sound of IOC, fused with Andy’s hypnotic voice and the band grew and became successful. One Nation Under Beat debuted in the Top 20 of the DAC-Chart (Deutsch Alternative Chart), spent 8 weeks reaching number 3.

After the release of the first full album Serenity Is the Devil in November 2000, which reached number 3 on the DAC-chart, the band went to Germany together with Beborn Beto. The audience responded well to IOC, earning the band a spot on the Synth / Industrial scene.

Before long, the album crossed the Atlantic and was released in North America by Metropolis Records. On March 29, 2001, the band flew to Chicago and then from one city to another, sleeping in hotels, sometimes at the homes of their promoters.

The song “Situations Like These” which would later appear on the Seren EP was performed live for the first time to an incredibly enthusiastic audience, making the tour a huge success. Then after playing Slimeligth and Astoria II (Electrofest) in London, the members had a short break before tackling the Filled Summer festival in Europe.

During the tours, the band found time to write material for their second album, The Soul is in The Software, which was released in April 2002 and remained number 1 on the DAC-Chart for several weeks. That year, IOC played at 2 festivals: The Dark Jubilee Festival in London, and later as the Sunday headliner at Synthpop Goes the World in Toronto, Canada.

The summer ended with a successful show in Leipzig, Germany, at the Wave-Gothic Treffen. Other festivals IOC performed in were CSD, Zillo Festival, Xtreaktor Festival, Eurorock, Infest and M’era Luna.

Situations Like These became a huge hit and the band was set for a second tour (this time on a Night Tour Bus) in North America with VNV Nation. The tour began in Chicago on November 16. IOC, VNV Nation and the rest of the bands continued to Canada passing through Hollywood, where they did their 15th show in front of about 900 people at the Palace. The 4 week tour ended in Edmonton, Canada, with a great show and a huge party.

In 2004, their third album, Machines Are Us, continued with repetitive, hard hits, empathetic lyrics, hymn-like melodies and clean synth sounds. Not to be displaced or forgotten, Icon of Coil released their remix album Uploaded And Remixed at the end of 2004, which included new remixes of songs from their first 2 works and 2 exclusive tracks.

I took pictures of Icon of Coil at New City Liqwid Lounge in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. Canada in 2007:

Categories
Bands

Combichrist

Combichrist is an aggrotech and industrial metal music project formed in 2003 by Andy LaPlegua, who is also the founder and singer of Icon of Coil, Panzer AG, Scandinavian Cock and Scandy.

Born as Ole Anders Olsen on September 15, 1975 in Fredrikstad in Norway, Andy LaPlegua, is currently based in Tennessee, United States.

Combichrist is one of the most representative groups of the alternative electronic music scene worldwide. Their sound has taken on different nuances throughout their career, but always with a distinctive electronic tinge.

In 2003, Combichrist released the EP Kiss the Blade. Shortly afterwards came the first full-length album The Joy of Gunz. The album contains mostly instrumental tracks consisting of aggressive beats and samples from movies, something that is not unusual in the genre. In 2004, the EP Sex, Drugs and Industrial was released.

2005 was the year that the band began to define their style of music as TBM (Techno Body Music) with the release of the song “This is TBM” on the compilation album Techno Body Music volume 1.

In 2007, What the Fuck Is Wrong with You People? was released, becoming a best-selling album on both Metropolis Records (USA) and Out of Line (Europe) labels.

During the 2009/10 tour, Combichrist accompanied Rammstein as the opening act for their concerts, which greatly increased their popularity.

In 2013, Combichrist released the album No Redemption, made specifically for the game DmC: Devil May Cry. This album contained more of an industrial metal and metalcore sound, which was something they would keep on their two albums after – We Love You (2014) and This Is Where Death Begins (2016).

While on tour following the release of the album We Love You, Andy proposed to his girlfriend Layna and she excitedly accepted.

In 2013, Combichrist released the album No Redemption, made specifically for the game DmC: Devil May Cry. This album contained more of an industrial metal and metalcore sound, which was something they would keep on their two albums after – We Love You (2014) and This Is Where Death Begins (2016).

I took pictures of Combichrist at New City Suburb in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: