Content: The Hungarian pride of EBM returns with what definitely sounds as their most mature and polished work to date. The band based in Budapest was mainly active during the 90s and early millennium years. The album “Out Of My Ego” released in 2011 on EK Product appeared to be a new beginning for Escalator.
The new work by 2RT+TB & IGOR404 is an efficient melting pot of mainly 90s inspired EBM with a fresh production on top. Some parts remind me of early Cat Rapes Dog and other ‘old’ Swedish electro acts, and also early FLA. I like the diversity in the writing. Escalator is not repeating themselves, but clearly moves towards a wider arsenal of influences from song to song. This is not a new emulation of Nitzer Ebb, DAF and other pioneers in the genre, but a more elaborated EBM standard carried by solid melody lines, typical body bass lines, a twist between fast and slower rhythms and captivating vocals. The songs are lead by rough vocals, sometimes revealing a funny East-European accent.
Most of the songs are quite efficient and fully enjoyable, but any good album needs one or more potential hits. I’ve the feeling that “Houston… Who Am I” is the absolute dancefloor killer on this album. The song is well-crafted and achieved with very intelligent sound arrangements. The song will possibly appeal to lovers of FLA’s famous “Caustic Grip”, which I think is more than simply a reference.
Another song I want to mention is “God Eat Dog”, which is driven by a cool melody line reminding me of And One’s body-pop style. “Everybody’s Lying” deals with pure and merciless EBM at full speed and is more a song that will please the hard-core fans. The opening cut “You And I” is another noticeable song for its cool vintage style.
Both last songs are noticeable remixes of “God Eat God” by Patrick Codenys (Front 242) and Jeremy Inkel (FLA). My favorite one is the remix by Patrick Codenys.
Conclusion: Like most of all good EBM albums, “Let There Be Lie” is too short. Eight songs -plus two remixes, is not that much for a CD, but none will really complain after having heard the high qualitative level of this production.