Guilt Trip is a Swedish industrial duo consisting of Karl Lindberg (also under the pseudonym X!LE) and Magnus Nillson. In the nineties of the last century, they composed music called Chirurgie Esthetique. The band played EBM Industrial style. In 1997, they released one tape cassette Encore Une Fois. Karl Lindberg also tried to work solo as Kallegula. On discogs.com, I found only one song on compilation from 1999. In the same year, the duo’s first album was released under the new name Guilt Trip with the distinctive name Reborn. Newest attempt Roots is already the eighth in a row. The band draws heavily on the so-called Vancouver sound. However, it is not a two hundred and forty-fourth copy of Skinny Puppy or Numb. Although the reference to them is very clear to the listener, it is not a rip-off of any kind. At the same time, it is as if the mentioned bands collided with Nine Inch Nails. You guessed it right, there will be also guitars. Although only partially. This is the double album. The first digipak disc contains the original version of this new piece. The second disc is a remix. But one thing is unique about it. It contains all the songs of the original album in the same order and Sebastian Komor (Icon of Coil, Komor Kommando, Bruderschaft, ex-Zombie Girl and many other projects) is responsible for all the remixes on it. CD1: Original album. Balanced portion of dark industrial guitars and synthesizers. Don’t look for soloing or strumming here. Guitars are used purely to make simple cold riffs. The various keyboard lines are very cleverly intertwined between them. Whether it is as a background or also as the riffs. An uncompromising charge full of anger and from that flaming defiance will positively kick everyone. High testosterone thing. Probably the most commonly used term in the lyrics is the word lie. Musicians like it like a goat likes the knife (lies breed more in the third song Lie Breed). One tornado replaces another until you can’t catch it up anymore. Calming finally comes in the eighth track Fairy Tale. After that, the wild ride continues. Angry vocals sometimes evoke uncompromising passive aggression. In Guilt Trip performance it is more than sexy. Do you have suppressed negative feelings in you for a long time and you don’t know what to do with them? Turn on the Roots and release the steam. If once is not enough (and not it’s not enough), you can freely repeat it around. The album offers many dark electronic corners that you will only discover when you listen to the album properly. Although the compositions look simple, they are very finely surgically sutured. The last song called Sickening in a strongly gothic atmosphere ends with the words good bye. But since we have the second disc in front of us, as listeners, we don’t have to say goodbye at all. CD2: Remix album by Sebastian Komor Sebastian Komor has prepared his version of Roots for all fans of the dance industrial. Constant of the scene responsible for many futurpop or aggrotech anthems. The remix disc has a strong handwriting. Komor has simply dug through the entire Roots on his own. He breathed a different, alternative life into the songs. The one that is more suitable for club floors (if they reopen once). I have a strong feeling that many fans will stick to only one version of the album. They are quite different. We are usually used to the original album in the 2CD editions, and the bonus discs are then mostly repeated in remixes by various artists. Here’s a one-man show, or a third member of a band, creating an alternate universe. Experienced Norwegian industrial matador completed its construction at the highest possible level. The original songs offer a lot and as a listener you get even more. The individual pieces hide plenty of surprises. In the technical, cold EBM, Komor bends the original sound into various virtual forms. In addition to EBM Industrial, he sometimes uses Dub-Step / Tech-Step elements, or even Drum´n´base. He also has an endless variety of industrial samples. And if a song starts in one genre, it doesn’t mean it will stay that way until the end. Forget about the futurepop pattern, you won’t find this face of Sebastian Komor on the remixed Roots. Did I mention Nine Inch Nails at the beginning? There is a very clear reference to Closer in the eleventh track Self Inflicted. There is a lot of pleasant moments in the remix version. Double album Roots is a unique attempt. As I mentioned, many fans will initially stay with only one version, on one of the two CDs. On the other hand, everyone gets their own way. Guitar lovers will not be disappointed with synthesizers and vice versa. That’s why I give the full number of points.
