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Revolting Cocks

Cocktail Mixxx

Written by: PP on 08/05/2007 15:57:19

Revolting Cocks is an interesting band in that they are considered to be one of the pioneers of the whole industrial metal genre, and are certainly one of the inspirations for the Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor. My judgement of them as a curious mix of industrial keyboards, raunchy humour and artsy sound effects is entirely based on the one or two songs I found online, as aside from their 2006 effort "Cocked And Loaded" and "Cocktail Mixx", the remix effort of the aforementioned album, the band has only released one other album in the last 15 years and I wasn't exactly tuned towards this kind of music back then. It's always difficult (and slightly embarrassing) to review a legendary band you barely recognize by the name (but as the owner of a site like ours should know extensively), but it is even more difficult to try to review a remix of an album you haven't originally heard. But here we go anyway, "Cocktail Mixxx", the remix album of their 2006 effort "Cocked And Loaded".

Many aspects of "Cocktail Mixxx" bring Enter Shikari into mind. Perhaps there isn't as much screaming, but the concept is precisely the same: integrating metal and the electronic genres together seemlessly. But where ES concentrates on eurodance and a trendy screamo-approach, "Cocktail Mixxx" has all the elements of hard trance, hardstyle or whatever the fans of this kind of music want to call their genre, combined with oldschool industrial metal in the vein of Nine Inch Nails' "Prettyhatemachine". The effects are feedback filled, full of distortion and the keyboards sound almost synonymous to a stereotypical perception of the German club scene. Songs like "Prune Tang" take the piss with their offensive lyrics, but you might have expected such low-class humour from song titles like "Pole Grinder (It Hurts When I Piss Mix)".

There are plenty of moments on the disc where you'll instantly go "hey, didn't I hear this on a NIN album" or draw parallels to some Ministry material, but yet a few songs like "Fire Engine (Gumby Mixx)" have their own charm to them. Overall however, the album lacks songs that are quality; while the aforementioned and "Ten Million Ways To Die (Jammin The Radar Mix)" are interesting ways to combine the two genres together, the vast majority of the album filters through my metal-oriented ears as sheer unnecessary noise and effects wankery. It's the same kind of feeling you get at those hard trance clubs, where they push up the volume to ear-bleeding levels to cover up the shining mediocrity of the songs. I can't comment on whether the songs were originally good, but the remixes of them can only really be recommended for those who don't share the same dislike for the hardcore side of the electronic genre.

Download: Fire Engine
For the fans of: Nine Inch Nails, Revolting Cocks, Marilyn Manson
Listen: Myspace

Release date 05.03.2007
13th Planet
Provided by Target ApS