Sunday 5 February 2012

Test Dept. – The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom (1986)


Country: England

Tracklist
1. Fuckhead 05:37
2. 51st State Of America 04:04
3. Comrade Enver Hoxha 05:00
4. Fist 03:35
5. Statement 04:24
6. The Crusher 04:04
7. Victory 04:09
8. Corridor Of Cells 07:58
9. The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom - Face 1 04:22
10. The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom - Face 2 05:30
11. The Unacceptable Face Of Freedom - Face 3 06:40

Test Dept were an industrial music group from London, one of the most important and influential early industrial music acts. Their approach was marked by a strong commitment to radical socialist politics.
The group formed in the London suburb of New Cross in 1981.
Their discography spans a wide variety of influences and styles, including a collaboration with the South Wales Striking Miners Choir in support of the miners' strike of 1984. They were particularly notable for complex and powerful percussion,
as well as high-energy live performances. Like the German band Einsturzende Neubauten, with whom they are often compared, Test Dept used unconventional instruments such as scrap metal and industrial machinery as sound sources. However, Test Dept's use of these objects was far more rhythmic than was Neubauten's,
and was often accompanied by film and slide shows. The group were noted for large-scale events in unusual site-specific locations, such as Waterloo station, Cannon Street station, Stirling Castle
and the disused St Rollox Railway Works in Glasgow.
The Unacceptable Face of Freedom is a collaboration between Test Dept (sound) and Malcom Poynter (visuals) whose sculptures formed the basis for the award winning album cover.
His work used toy soldiers and guns to sculpt large scale figures such as 'Horsemen of the Apocalypse'.
The album was praised by a music reviewer for The New York Times, claiming the album was notable
for a "sophisticated use of sound-collage techniques and the helter-skelter momentum of its cyclical rhythms".
In later years the band's music became less industrial and took on many of the properties of techno.
The band split up in 1997, but its former members have continued to work in the fields of art and culture.
Tracks 9 - 11 originally released as a 12" Vinyl, as remixes of track 1.

Memory

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