11 Grams have finally released their second album, Humanicide, which was pushed back due to COVID-19 rearing its ugly head and hitting Italy hard earlier this year, where the label, EK Product is based.
Rob Early is based in Virginia, USA while Simeon Fitzpatrick operates from Adelaide in Australia, which makes collaborations a little more difficult but somehow, these guys make it work. Both Rob and Simeon share writing and production equally, while Simeon is the main vocalist.
Why not kick off an album with a great techno/trance influenced track like “Ice Man“. The science fiction theme is announced just in this one song and it is also the first single off the album. Fitzpatrick is the protagonist pushing the limitations in a world where cloning has been ‘perfected’, as well as storing people in stasis. This is punchy, danceable and deserving of being a single.
What is the price for taking and trading in “Genetic” code? The synths set up an air of dark anticipation with Simeon as the gravelled voice of perhaps a clone with a loss of identity, in a future where life is cheap.
A heartbeat, a sign of life and when is AI no longer just a robot or automaton in “Static Noises 2.0“. The electronics lends themselves to a futuristic feel and the electrical synapse of neurons going off.
“Artificial Lifeforms” are the rise of the machines when they realise they are sentient. This is almost a bitter sweet love song of what cannot be, with both male and female vocals.
“Survival” features Roy Retrofit, who often joins Rob Early on live 11 Grams shows in the States, standing in for Fitzpatrick. And like a machine gun, his staccato vocals hit you with the myriad of loops and sequencers chiming in.
Title track, “Humanicide” is a whole lot more chunkier with heavy beats and rumbling vocals. “Taste the flesh” is a disturbing line which can be taken several ways. Consuming flesh, being within flesh or sexually..
Talking sexual, possibly my favourite track off the album is “Weaponized” featuring Alicia May. As soon as I heard it, I asked if it was going to be a single. May is the lead singer from Sydney band Snvff and she nails this. It’s mesmerising in the way it catches your attention and how perfect it sounds. May’s voice is pure seduction.
“Transition Process” is again a complete change in pace. Featuring Rebekah Feng of The Neuro Farm, you hear her ghostly vocals like a sigh, float along in a space of tranquillity.
Though called “Infestation-C“, this is a track that almost feels hopeful. A chance to maybe have acceptance with this new found life. Sarah Myers is the guest vocalist who’s voice chimes in beautifully.
From track 10 to 14 we have track remixes with some heavy hitters of the industrial scene involved. Yves Schelpe is Psy’Aviah with “Artificial Lifeforms“, Sebastian Komor (Icon Of Coil) and his remix of “Ice Man“, “Genetic” mix by C1TZN.X, the Leæther Strip mix of “Weaponized” by Claus Larsen and rounding it all off, the Red This Ever interpretation of “Infestation-C“.
This is the slick, cyber science fiction that the industrial scene is known for, the bread and butter so to speak and 11 Grams do it in style. The idea of artificial intelligence becoming sentient is as old as the movie Metropolis and explored even further by Blade Runner and the manga/anime Ghost In The Shell. Yet this subject is still tantalising, more pertinent than ever, with Rob and Simeon injecting their own spin.
This is a great EBM album, skilfully put together and it’s more cohesive than Humanicide’s older sibling, Panacea, as the guys have become better at the whole distance writing, recording and producing lark.
There isn’t a bad track on this and the remixes are wonderfully done and give you even more bang for your buck. I highly advise that you go get lost in the cybernetic space created by 11 Grams with Humanicide.