[.ca] Monument

From Amazon.com:
For those who were sentient when Front Line Assembly released their now-classic discs Caustic Grip and Tactical Neural Implant, it's hard not to feel a bit nostalgic listening to Monument. A collection of rare B-sides and remixes primarily from that fertile early-'90s time period, the disc whisks us back to the Gulf War, George Bush, and the days when we could watch new episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Many of the old electro stomps--replete with martial beats, ruthless bass synth, and screamed vocals--are here, including a remixed "Overkill" (still sounding as aggressive and thrilling as ever), a sleeker "Resist," and a truly funky take on "The Blade." Whether you enjoy this disc depends a great deal on how you feel about remixes, but longtime FLA collaborator Greg Reely (who also worked on Monument's 1997 prequel, Reclamation) has done an admirable job, turning out some inventive takes on near-sacred material. --Steve Landau

Chronique amazon.fr:
L'Electronic Body Music, genre initié en Europe pas Front 242, a connu deux représentants majeurs à ses début en Amérique du Nord : Skinny Puppy et Front Line Assembly. C'est au second que l'on doit cette compilation de remix et de raretés. Enchaînement de morceaux violents, Monument ramène l'auditeur à la période phare de FLA, une époque où l'EBM signifiait encore quelque chose en termes de violence et d'engagement musical. Les remix proposés ne valent pas toujours l'original, mais la puissance est toujours au rendez-vous. En plus d'être le souvenir d'une époque révolue, cette compilation se pose comme un complément idéal à la discographie d'un des plus grands groupes du genre. --Romaric Bullier

no title:
Well, I ran across this CD a while back and think it is deserving of a review. I bought it a long time ago and gave it a good listen, but it fell behind the other releases I have from FLA. But recently I've fallen in love with it. A little while ago, I found that I'm much more intrigued by the older FLA than the newer stuff. Don't get me wrong, the newer stuff is mind-blowing too. Bill Leeb is a master at dipping his sonic paintbrush in the darkest of colors and creating masterpeice after masterpeice. From old to new, FLA succeeds at creating very dark and, at times, disturbingly creepy songs. I've been listening to this collection of B-sides and I've noticed that the remixes by Greg Reely don't really stray too much from the originals; not that there's anything wrong with that... the originals are awesome. Very sinister. Overkill is here from the nearly impossible to find Provision single. Laughing Pain is a standout as well as Big Money. There is a guitarless and kinda funky version of The Blade, The only track here that was sonically out of place was the Intermix tune - Monument. Not that it is a bad song, on the contrary. It is a brief resurfacing of Intermix that is welcome. But, all in all, this is a worthwhile purchase for hardcore FLA fans who want to have all of the remixes and B-sides to complete their collections. And for newcomers to the FLA scene, this one might not be at the top of your list, but I'd recommend it to be up there somewhere. To hell with it... Just go and buy them all...

good music, but just a not very representative compilation:
Don't get me wrong, the music in this cd is good, deserves 4 or 5 stars, but the cd as such is just a compilation, like 'Reclamation', and not extremely representative. The versions are ok but not blowing, I prefer the original ones. 'Big Money' is a great song, but I prefer the original; I'm not very fond of remixes, I confess. 'Vexation' is not in any album, but it's nothing spectacular. 'Mental Distorion' is EXACTLY the same version of the album; The other remixes are interesting, 'The Blade' is very dancey, no guitars... The B-sides: 'Mutilate' is a decent 'Caustic Grip' era song, but 'Laughing Pain' is much better. I like 'Re-Animate', I think it would have deserved to be in an album. 'Transtime' must be one of those songs Leeb and Fulber discarded when they were making 'Millenium' because of being unoriginal, and actually it is, it sound more like 'Tactical Neural Implant' than like 'Millenium', since it has no guitars... Obvious Kraftwerk sample, by the way. The Intermix song, 'Monument' is a piece of dance music, I don't love it, actually: you can dance till you get tired, but musically is not very interesting. So, if you want to listen to new FLA songs you never heard, then buy this cd. But I'd advise you to buy the albums instead, they will give you a more exact idea of what FLA music means, the songs will be in a context and in better versions.

It just got better.:
When I first started listening to this C.D. it didn't quite grasp me like say, Tactical Neural. But as I continued listening to it, everything started to become clear.

• Big Money \oRemix\c
• Vexation \oProvo Mix\c
• Mental Distortion
• Overkill \oSurge Mix\c
• Virus \oCauterized Mix\c
• Resist \oDisclosed Mix\c
• Mutilate
• Transtime
• Re-Animate
• Laughing Pain
• Blade \oWorldwide Mix\c
• Monument \oLost Classic Mix\c - Front Line Assembly, Intermix