Combichrist Albums (5)
'Today We Are All Demons'
Release Date 1/1/2009
Tracks 13
Label Metropolis
See Album Tracklist and Review
'What the F*ck Is Wrong with You People?'
Release Date 3/6/2007
Tracks 14
Label Metropolis
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Get Your Body Beat'
Release Date 6/2/2006
Tracks 10
Label Out of Line
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Released on June 6, 2006 -- 'cause that date's all, y'know, evil 'n' stuff -- Get Your Body Beat spins an album's worth of remixes out of one five-minute single. It starts impressively enough: "Get Your Body Beat" is in fact a huge improvement over anything on Combichrist's debut album, Everybody Hates You. Still mining mid-'80s industrial dance music for all his ideas, Anthony LePlegua actually manages to turn his pilfered riffs into a tune with a strong beat and memorable chorus that sounds like a vintage mid-period Cabaret Voltaire single. Terrific, though shamefully derivative, stuff. Following that, however, the six remixes of the same song aren't radical or deconstructive enough to improve on the strengths of the original, and they can safely be ignored. Only the three remaining tracks, a remix of the previous album's "Products," the choppy grind of "What the Fcuk" (unless he's very upset about the trendy English clothing shop French Connection UK, it's puzzling why LePlegua never spells the f-word properly in his song titles) and the appealingly trance-like, sample-filled chill-out "DNA A.M.," keep Get Your Body Beat from being more than a dull, overlong CD single, but the title track and "DNA A.M." alone are worth the price of admission. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
'Everybody Hates You'
Release Date 3/8/2005
Tracks 13
Label Metropolis
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Remember that period around 1987 or so, when a new generation of electronic acts influenced by Throbbing Gristle, Test Department, and Einstürzende Neubauten added heavy electronic disco beats to their noisy aggression? Skinny Puppy, latter-day Cabaret Voltaire, and any number of bands on the Wax Trax label were the leaders of this second wave until Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails watered down the mix even further by adding palatable pop song hooks and were rewarded with superstardom. The first full-length by Combichrist (a solo side project by Icon of Coil's Andy LaPlegua) is a nostalgic look back at that period between "Sensoria" and "Head Like a Hole": Everybody Hates You is all distorted Roland 808-style beats, distorted megaphone- and/or computer-generated vocals, distorted synths, and distorted distortion. The rhythms are fairly irresistible to anyone who remembers this style fondly; the opening "This S*it Will Fcuk You Up" is particularly impressive. However, LaPlegua's supposedly transgressive lyrics are in the style that sounded like limp shock value for its own sake even two decades ago. The result is that songs like "Enjoy the Abuse" and "This Is My Rifle" just sound kind of goofy. Ignore the vocals and Everybody Hates You should appeal to a certain subset of aging club kids. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
