Franky Deblomme and Thomas Vrambout are the Belgian DARKMEN. After releasing their presentation CD on Machineries Of Joy (label of their EBM mates of Ionic Vision) they now moved to EK Product to launch their new piece. This album is quite simple and efficient you get 11 songs of pure good “old-school” EBM plus 5 remixes. The intro ‘Stahlwerk 1’ could have been a title of an E-Craft release it’s a great intro with a kind of distressing EBM vibes. ‘Legs Like Gold’ keeps all last worries away about the technique and influences of DARKMEN. Welcome in the world of pure body music. ‘Scheissmusik’ was sung in German, but English is the main language that was used.
Short and temperate EBM bass lines and a linear, fast forward rhythms remain the main elements of their work. There’s actual no great 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 appealing exciting body cuts that will hit all dance floors. ‘Open Your Eyes’ is a less typical song for this band although it’s quit right in this Album. 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 which joined EK Product and is definitely a good band, which totally matches with the musical taste of the label. For fans of good old-school EBM certainly a recommendation to buy. Everyone else should still listen to the album before buying it.