In a musical world in which even supposedly "brutal" bands are often considered family-friendly heartthrobs, Combichrist is one of the last acts standing that will totally still piss off your parents! The now-four-member act, led by Norway-born noise terrorist Andy LaPlegua, has made an international career out of exploring the uglier sides of electronic sound -- and lyrical content.
LaPlegua has never made any bones about using his music, from early rock projects to the pioneering futurepop act Icon of Coil, to exorcise his (apparently numerous) demons. His songs pick up many of the old themes of original industrial -- technology, violence, mind control, and so on -- and takes them to an even more visceral extreme.
You'd be an idiot to take any of it literally; these are clearly flights of metaphorical fancy. Still, Combichrist songs offer enough of a frisson of danger and enough decibel and volume pummeling to provoke extreme reactions.
The thing is, for all the surface shock value, there's a reason why cyber chicks and rivetheads continue to turn out in droves for the group's shows The not-so-dirty secret under all this dirty production is that Combichrist makes, essentially, dance music.
That's true even in a song with a particularly evocative title like "Throat Full of Glass," for which the band's released this video it proudly labels as NSFW. And yep, it pretty much fits the bill: It offers nudity, gunfire, and realistic blood galore. Check it out at your own cubicle-censoring risk, and see the band live -- probably without nudity and blood -- next Wednesday, June 1 in West Palm Beach at Respectable Street.
Combichrist. With iVardensphere, Star Killer, and Deadstar Assembly 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 1 at Respectable Street, 518 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. Tickets cost $18 in advance, $22 at the door; age 18 and up with ID. Call 561-832-9999, or visit respectablestreet.com
