i r m
Oedipus Dethroned - CMI.87

"Oedipus Dethroned" is the second full length album by the Swedish IRM, after a LP also on Cold Meat Industry. This is an elegant black and red item, simply designed and almost devoid of the usual shock imagery of power electronics. Its 50 minutes of music are pretty diverse and rather violent.

The CD opens with my favorite track on the album, "The celebration of the untouched skin". A church choir covers waves of statics before being eventually drowned into several layers of noises, and leaving room for the shouted and distorted vocals. The same majestic and religious elements are present in the title track, a pretty slow paced power electronics track that still leave you some air to breathe. Overall, this is a CD of rather "old school" power electronics that focuses more on majestic and slow moments than on real sonic assault. Even if this is still violent enough to make the neighboors complain, "Oedipus Dethroned" seems to me a bit ligher than, for example, Slogun's "Kill to Forget". Some tracks aren't based on the usual walls of noises, such as "Inside the skull of a mannequin". On the other hand, it also has more personality and more soul. Very introvert, the lyrics are violent, but not overly confrontational.

Even though I'm not a big fan of power electronics, I've been really well impressed by this album. It has proven to be quite addictive, an adjective I wouldn't normally use to qualify this kind of music. Violent but void neither of soul nor of personnality, "Oedipus Dethroned" is another very good release from CMI.

Nicolas, December 11, 2000

With the release of the "Estheticks Of Cruelty" DCD compilation in 1.999, the Swedish label Cold Meat Industry made us enter in a new musical experience, presenting mostly brand new bands, many of them linked with the extreme industrials and power electronics. As a matter of fact, IRM was of one of them and even one of the most impressive projects, together with some others like Iron Justice and Institut. Now this Swedish duo offers a second album called "Oedipus Dethroned"; a title inspired in one of the most important Greek tragedies. After having listened excellent tracks like "Martyr 2.000", "Powerdrill" or "Soulcleaner" (all included in their first and homonymous album, limited to 700 copies), it comes the time to enjoy innovating compositions included in this new and dazzling album of IRM. The power electronic sound rules throughout the eight tracks of the album, but also achieving a very particular style: a new treatment of industrial bases, combining two distorted vocals, each of them with its own sonority, rhythmic combinations of a great richness and quality, ... and, the most important thing, the brilliant ambience attained in the whole album and the level of maturity that the band have obtained in spite of their short musical career. If I was obliged to recommend some tracks, I would recommend all of them ("The Celebration Of The Untouched Skin", "Oedipus Dethroned", "The Disease", "The Stage-Surgeon", "Inside The Skull Of A Mannequin", "The Wound", "The Stage", and "The Crucifixion (The Final Stage)"). A very well finished work with a very particular force.

[Kill Fäktor]