Something About The Past...
Dizzy Spells
The Program
Suspicion Breeds Confidence
V.V. - Voodoo Vault
Hand In The Furnace
Be Safe / Be Distrustful
Touch The Rusty Interface
Initials L.B.
Our Last Call
L'Instinct De Mort
Welcome To Entertainment
Who Can You Trust?
A Scapegoat Is Here
Delete
A Map For The End
En Vie...

"Program Vengeance" is the 5th CD release by Propergol. Although factually correct I would say that the first two releases on the Hermetique record label, "Un Dechainement de violence" ( 99 copies) & "Cleanshaven" (200 copies), have been heard by so few people and are so rare that I find it hard to classify them as full releases. Contradict me by all means. It’s a free world. If by a million to one chance the people from Hermetique happen to read this review then could they please, pretty fucking please, re-release them to a wider audience. Ta very much.

My first encounter with Propergol was with his third recording ‘United States’ on the Nuit Et Brouillard label. What an absolute stonker of a record. With possibly the best intro and first track ever burned onto CD it has stood as a byword for all that’s great in the power electronics genre. The use of frantic samples throughout , including those from the film Seven, coupled with the most ‘in your face’ noise is truly to be behold. The follow up "Renegade" on the Tesco Label, although good, could never quite live up to its predecessor. The phrase ‘taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut’ springs readily to mind.

After what seems like years since it was announced it was going to be released here at last is the natural successor to the awesome "United States". "Program Vengeance" is a 17 track FFS (five fucking stars) recording that has been worth the long anxious wait for it to arrive. Where "Program Vengeance" differs slightly from his previous work, and where it succeeds, is in the variety of styles that are prominent throughout. Starting off with a very slow tension building piece, unlike the usual ‘wham bam thank you mam’ template of old, here the sample infested sounds brings an air of impending horror to the fore before slamming the listener face first into a brick wall of rhythmic power electronics noise. Note the word rhythmic within the context of this sentence. You don’t usually associate rhythm and Propergol together but this additional facet adds a new and fresh dimension to his work. This exhilarating set piece lays the foundation for what is to follow as he explores more muted and subdued territories along with the imperious blasts we’ve come to expect. When Properol makes a racket he’s capable of waking the dead with his sonic overloads. What holds and binds this work together is the way the judicial samples are seamlessly integrated into the music transforming the pieces into something magnificently magical. No other artist around today can mix and match so seamlessly this combination. I never thought I would ever say this, but having played "Program Vengeance" every day since receiving it, "United States" has beaten into a cocked hat as the best Propergol releases to date.

Absolutely fanny-fucking-tastic and a damn well essential addition to everyone’s collection. Hear it for yourself and you will be converted to the cult of Propergol. How he’ll manage to top this with his next release (titled "Redemption" and due later this year on the Nuit Et Brouillard label) I don’t know but until that comes along "Program Vengeance" will happily fill my insatiable appetite for all things Propergol.

ANM