Album review: Painbastard - Borderline
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Hello everyone. I’m Valtteri, a fellow reader of Germaniac, and I’ll be helping Greg run the website by writing some articles now and then. For my first contribution I’ve decided to review Painbastard’s latest album Borderline, which was released on the 28th of September last year. Painbastard is a one-man industrial EBM project by Alex P., and he’s been recording as Painbastard since 1998. I discovered the band just recently when surfing Germaniac and was really impressed right away by the samples on Painbastard’s MySpace, so I decided to get the album.
Borderline is divided into two parts, Rage (tracks 1 – 9) and Melancholy (tracks 10 – 14), with Rage featuring fast-tempo killer tracks and Melancholy moving into somewhat calmer waters. The album’s opener, the crushing title track Borderline shows pretty much what to expect from the rest of the album: thumping beats, harsh industrial synth melodies, a bunch of well-used samples and distorted, screaming vocals. However, although the album is comprised mostly of these main building blocks, there’s enough variety so you shouldn’t get bored.
Part I is, as already stated, the faster and more aggressive part of the CD. In addition to the great opener, the highest points of Part I are definitely Hope Dies Last, which features a catchy melody and Nemrod of Dementi guest singing to great effect, Madhouse Earth, a powerful comment on the state of humanity today, and, interestingly, a remix of Borderline, which ends the otherwise dark and angsty part in a brighter and more hopeful mood. The other songs range from good to great as well, but tend to be overshadowed by the well-placed catchier cuts. Part II is more melodic, epic and down-tempo and two of its songs, are actually based on Ludwig van Beethoven’s composition Mondscheinsonate. The most memorable tracks here are the two based on Beethoven (Mondscheinsonate and Liebe, die verbrennt) as well as Parting From You. I think the latter should’ve been the last song on the album, as the nearly eight-minute long Beyond All Borders is just a bit of a stretch, although it’s not bad either.
All in all, Borderline is a great record. Sure, it might not be very easy to listen to if you don’t dig the overall hateful and aggressive tone and the constant assault of industrial bombardment, but those who don’t mind that are in for a ride. The change of pace between the parts definitely helps keep the record interesting. If you’re a fan of harsh industrial electro like early :Wumpscut:, Borderline might just be what you’ve been looking for. I know I like it!
Check out our previous coverage on Painbastard including the track listing for Borderline, and don’t forget to visit the MySpace site as well to hear a couple of samples here.
If you’d like to comment on my first article for Germaniac, feel free! Criticism, constructive or not, is always very much welcome.
