Franky Deblomme and Thomas Vrambout are the Belgian Darkmen. After having released their official debut CD on Machineries Of Joy (label of their EBM-mates of Ionic Vision) they now moved to EK Product to launch their new opus.
The program is quite simple and efficient. You get 11 songs of pure ‘old-school’ EBM plus 5 remixes. The intro-cut “Stahlwerk 1” could have been a title of an E-Craft release. It’s a great intro with a kind of chilling EBM vibes. “Legs Like Gold” keeps all last doubts away about the style and influences of Darkmen.
Welcome in the world of pure body music. There’s a kind of DAF-touch, which now and then emerges to the surface, but especially on “Scheissmusik”. This song was sung in German, but English is the main language that was used. Short and dry EBM bass lines and a linear, fast forward rhythms remain the main elements of their work.
There’s no real difference compared to their debut-CD, but there was no real reason to change. Songs like the darker “Run And Hide”, the faster “We Are Hard” and “No Pain, No Shame” are pretty exciting body cuts that will hit all dancefloors. “Open Your Eyes” is a less typical song for this band although it’s a cool cut as well.
The remixes were done by K-Bereit, Nordar, Grandchaos, Mechaload and Mr Dupont. All of the bands belong to the wide EBM family, but the best family members here are K-Bereit with a darker remix of “Legs Like Gold” and Grandchaos remixing the same song in a more minimal way.
Darkmen is one more Belgian band to have joined EK Product and definitely a good band, which totally matches with the musical taste of the label.