FRAGMENT KING "GREY ALBUM" (INV031)

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ORKUS (9.5/10)

DE: Der bayerische DJ Mark Kammerbauer, unter anderem Eventspezialist und Architekt im audiovisuellen Bereich (Nexialist, www.nexialist.com), ist bereits seit einigen Jahren in der extremen Musikszene aktiv – angefangen bei dem Free Jazz-Grindcore-Projekt New Leadership, hat er sich nun auf eine ьbelst krachige und finstere Breakbeat-Abart besonnen und gibt mit Fragment King eine bцse Dosis zum Besten. Die Basis sind stets satt groovende Beats, welche in Verbindung mit heftig verzerrten Gitarren und einem zutiefst rollenden Bass sowie parolenhaft herausgeschrienen Textbotschaften als eine Mischung aus Power Electronics und Drone Doom mit aggressiven Hintergrьnden bezeichnet werden kцnnten, von Kammerbauer enorm dicht und fett produziert. Godflesh auf noch mehr Drogen? Mehr als das – Grey Album treibt SchweiЯ und lцst Zorn, setzt Krдfte frei, sowohl in den gediegeneren Stьcken mit runtergestuftem Tempomat als auch in den wьtenden, rasanten Krachmaschinerien, in die der Fragment King ziemlich defragmentiert beinahe wahnsinnige Energieausbrьche eingebaut hat.

ENG: The Bavarian DJ Mark Kammerbauer, among other things event specialist and architect of the audiovisual sector (www.nexialist.com) is active in the extreme music scene for some years, starting with freejazz grindcore project New Leadership, he has now focused upon a most nastily noisy and dark mutation of breakbeat and for best results provides an evil dosis with Fragment King. Basis are always fat groovy beats in combination with massively distorted guitars and deeply rolling bass in addition to parole-like screamed text messages, which could be described as a mix of Power Electronics and Drone Doom with aggressive backgrounds, produced by Kammerbauer in an enormously dense and fat manner. Godflesh on even more drugs? More than that – Grey Album makes you sweat, evokes anger, releases force, in the controlled songs with slower pace as well as in the angry, fast noise maschines, in which the Fragment King has incorporated almost insane energy eruptions in a pretty defragmented way.

by Thomas Sonder for Orkus

SIDE-LINE

The official debut release of this American artist brings us to a dangerous border. This is a very restricted noise area where heavy breakbeats and other nervous percussions have been merged with noise and industrial. It sounds like pure chaos while the enraged screams only accentuate the punk-like style of this release! Minimal noise chaos!

Side-Line

ELEGY

FRAGMENT KING sevie depuis 2001 dans le rayon boucherie/autopsie des compilations et autres remixes industriels; il signe enfin son premier CD, Grey Album, sur le label bielorusse d'AMBASSADOR21, Invasion Wreck Chords. Un album gris situe au croisement de l'indus-breakcore et d'un digital-hardcore tres noisy dans la veine du recent PANIC DHH. L'industriel le plus lourd rencontre des guitares plombees tres crades, un chant desespere hurle du fin fond d'une cellule poisseuse, une batterie resonant comme un AK-47... Collision d'ingredients averee sur les sublimes et tortures "Brutalitarian" et "Prosthetics". Ne venait pas chercher ici le tempo qui vous fera danser, l'heure est aux lamentations lentes de l'ame et a la demence pour Mark Kammerbauer alias FRAGMENT KING. Les adorateurs du son noise glacial des productions de Coldmeat Industry devraient y risquer une oreille, et les fans de MUCKCRACKERS, PROTON BURST ou des premieres heures de Collapse pourraient sans nul doute s'y retrouver. Beton, metal et camisole pour imager cette oeuvre qui ne nous a pas laisses indifferents; original et quasiment inedit depuis la mort de GODFLESH.

by Olivier Camus for Elegy

CHAIN DLK (4/5)

Do you remember the early GODFLESH or SCORN releases, where guitars were roaring and throats were bleeding? Well, Mark Kammerbauer dug a lot the innovation of those two bands because some years after that explosion of rage he took that spirit, melting it with some elements of power noise and breakcore just to form his project FRAGMENT KING. Formed on early 1996 as continuation of a freejazz-grindcore band called New Leadership, the project released a first vinyl in 1999 ("Cities and seasons" compilation), a limited release of the LIVE AT SI cassette tape in 2002 and the "Simple things are often monstrous" split vinyl release with NEXICON on 2003. I don't know how FRAGMENT KING was sounding on his early releases but the ten tracks of GREY ALBUM convinced me immediately with that dark grinding guitars and with that treated voice that seems starving for more razorblades. The first track "Scape [a]" is a industrial chaotic fragmented manifesto, while the other ones, starting from "Brutalitarian", sound granitic and compact. The guitar sound form a wall of noise while rhythms are clear and powerful. On the twelve minutes long track, "Emperor slug", after seven minutes of "in your face" music everything falls apart just to leave space to the ambient industrialism of digital crashes. After this pause the sound starts again with its guitar/digital assault arriving to the closing "Scape [b]", a sort of revisited eigth minutes long revisitation of the opening track which has a long ambient metal coda after the fragmented noises. Try it!

by Maurizio Pustianaz for Chain DLK

AD NOISEAM

Interesting mixture of power electronics, slow GODFLESH-like guitars and fast breaks for a debut album which places FRAGMENT KING at the crossroad between the dark and harsh industrial sound and a somewhat more energetic and beaty breakcore. If NAVICON TORTURE TECHNOLOGIES was to work with breakbeats and use a bit of guitars, this is probably what he would end up with: a dark, emotional and angry album that has tracks for both introvert headbangers and clugoers alike. Very interesting.

by Nicolas Chevreux for Ad Noiseam