[product]

Shallow Graves is the dynamically powerful follow up to 2012's COP International release I, Omega. After self-releasing the Awaken The Alchemist EP in 2013, which featured remixes from witch house idols M‡яc▲ll▲ and V▲LH▲LL, it became clear that [product] was heading away from the club-track heavy feel of I, Omega and on to new, more experimental territory. Enlisting help from Detroit Diesel, iVardensphere, Acylum, and X-Fusion Music Productions, Shallow Graves quickly became a progressive expansion for [product]. A limited edition cassette version of Shallow Graves will feature alternate remixes by Candle Nine and ѦPѺLLYѺN'S ▼ISѦGE.

So far the promotional stuff, up to my own review! 'Giving Water, Taking Ash' sounds a bit like C-Lekktor versus Suicide Commando. So fans of one of these bands will be delighted, for sure! Love the screaming and the intelligent mixing! This one is for sure an incoming bomb! Who survived this one?

'Voluntary Extinction' goes a bit less clubby than the previous one, but still shakes one’s body nicely!

Detroit Diesel does a great job on 'A symbol for Water' (I knew already since the DWA XxX remixes that they were able to deliver a blast and here they just confirmed).

This one is a nice upcoming great one! Keep an eye on it!

Here's the DWA link for the fans:

http://www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be/en/reviews/various-artists-dwa-xxx-100-remixes/

here's my interview, promo link to all the upcoming gigs is included...

http://www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be/en/interviews/product/ - Peek-a-Boo Magazine

Genre/Influences: Dark-EBM.

Content: Michael Kurt aka [product] mainly releases his records by himself although he also released a few records on COP International and now moved to Vendetta Music to unleash his new full length. The previous album “I, Omega” (2012) was a very successful and hard EBM driven work.

“Shallow Graves” sounds like a further exploration in the darkest realms of body music. This album doesn’t feature an intro, but directly comes to smack you right in the face. “So Lost” is made of rage and the harsh vocals remind me a bit of Combichrist. “The Blind” coming next reveals a different approach, which comes closer to electro-industrial music. This is an instrumental cut excelling in the heaviest formats of electronic music. We progressively move towards more dark body tracks recovered by cold synth layers and animated by the furious vocals of Kurt. It all sounds merciless and enraged.

The track “Giving Water, Taking Ash” is the potential hit on this album. The cold sequence running through the track reminds me a bit of C-Drone Defect. This is a great piece of work featuring screams of terror and female spoken words mixed with harsh male vocals. And here again you’ll notice a cool synth line hanging over the song. [product] now moves throughout tormented dark-electro fields, which might be linked to Suicide Commando and Combichrist (cf. “Voluntary Extinction”, “A Symbol For Water”). Notice by the way that “A Symbol For Water” is featuring Detroit Diesel.

[product] stands for punchy dark body stuff mixing heavy and dynamic danceable vibes and frozen atmospheres. The album progressively moves towards a quieter final part where a few experiments can be heard. But the real apotheosis has been delivered by remixes from iVardensphere and Acylum. I especially enjoy the somewhat experimental remix of “The Blind” by iVardensphere.

Notice by the way that this album has been also released as a limited cassette edition featuring different remixes. It all looks like the cassette format is back on track while the CD format became a kind of endangered species.

Conclusion: I can’t affirm that this album will become one of the most successful releases of the year in the dark-electro & EBM genre, but “Shallow Graves” clearly sounds as a solid successor to “I, Omega”.

Best songs: “Giving Water, Taking Ash”, “So Lost”, “Voluntary Extinction”, “A symbol For Water”, “The Blind”, “The Blind – iVardensphere Remix”. - Side-Line Magazine

When we last checked in with Portland’s harsh EBM project [product], they had just released a very different single in the form of the Awaken the Alchemist. While that release’s move towards dramatic atmospherics and orchestration isn’t wholly reflected in the tracks on Shallow Graves, enough of those elements are present to suggest that project mastermind Michael Kurt is looking to expand beyond the palette of sounds normally associated with Terror EBM.

The aggrotech formula isn’t one generally noted for its subtlety or nuance; in the ten-plus years since its codification on Suicide Commando’s Mindstrip, advancements in the genre can be measured in inches rather than yards. With that understanding, the twists [product] has added to Shallow Graves allude to some larger ideas on how to interpret the style’s signature arps, pads and pounding drums. Witness opener “So Lost”, where the traditional verse/chorus structure is abandoned in favor of a large and evolving arrangement that allows pauses for the listener’s ear to rest and readjust before jumping back to the distorted bass and clanging percussion. Its effect is amplified by follow-up instrumental “The Blind”, where a buzzing synth lays the foundation for some foreboding strings and choral sounds. Either song could have been hammered into a serviceable banger, but it’s far more interesting to hear them stretched out and played with structurally.

Upon multiple listens I think the most definitive moment on the LP is “Carrion (To the Stars)” where a speedy 4/4 intro gives way to a half-speed breakdown and tinkling pianos, never actually returning to its original form. It’s a daring switch-up that feels all the more rewarding for it’s willingness to buck your expectations of how a song will play out. If anything it’s a tendency I wish Kurt would indulge even more, while songs like “Amaranth” and “Voluntary Extinction” are functional examples of ‘straight’ Terror EBM, they feel somewhat anemic next to the textural shifts and unexpected use of guitar on “Call to the Moon” and the power noise-esque “We All Live”. I can understand wanting to have songs designed for the club (after all, the kind of distinctions [product] is dealing in can get lost on the dancefloor), but I’d still far rather listen to the emotive and chilling title track than prosaic Detroit Diesel collaboration “A Symbol for Water”.

There’s something something intrinsically satisfying in hearing an act draw something different from a well worn (and somewhat abused) template, and [product] are scratching that itch for me in the same way that Distorted Memory did on Swallowing the Sun. There’s no doubt that this is a different sort of aggrotech record, informed by genre tropes but not wholly beholden to them. I’m not 100% behind every song on Shallow Graves, but I hear more than a few things that interest me spread across it, and that’s as much as I can ask from any artist. - I Die : You Die