FIXMER/MCCARTHY BETWEEN THE DEVIL... ALBUM SYNTHETIC SYMPHONY, PLAYGROUND RELEASE: JUNE 28, 2004, SEPTEMBER 13, 2004 (SWEDEN, FRANCE AND SOME OTHER TERR.) REVIEW: JULY 1, 2004

For those still brushing aside the tears after the demise of the globally famous Nitzer Ebb way back in 1995, cry no more! "Between the Devil…" is an album of combustible quite minimal electronic music, powered by that voice. A project made up of the electronic compositions of Terence Fixmer (most famous as remixer to internationally known acts such as Sven Väth, Dave Clarke and DJ Hell), combined with the ex-lead singer of Nitzer Ebb, Douglas McCarthy, and his vocal assaults.
The album is experimental yet accessible, industrial in the vein of old DAF, Die Krupps and of course Nitzer Ebb, but also quite techno and dark yet quite bouncy. Fixmer manages to concoct some bewildering analogue–powered rhythms, full of raw intent, and very, very industrial. There is popping, hissing, thumping, screeching, spluttering… As if the recording had taken place in a car building plant after hours, rather than a recording studio.
It is hard to describe some of the tracks on this album as they are unlike anything you have ever heard before, "Tight Fit" in particular, with its twisted, trance inducing atmospherics and sirens, and a whispered dialogue over the top. Some however are easier – "Through a Screen" in particular. It makes a play for your throat, such is the killer instinct of the track, like a mechanical monster fed on a diet of iron chains. McCarthy is used to most effect on tracks such as "By Any Other Name", where his sorrowful vocals are allowed to fall across the hypnotic mechanical soundscape provided; once the words stop, then the beats are let loose…
Summing up this album, imagine meeting Richard X’s more sinister, slightly evil twin brother in a dark alley down in a suburb of Berlin, you are starting to get the idea of how fabulously original this sound is, and how much you need to hear it. As the last track on the album states "…you want it, you got it". It’s time you did.

MIKE WHYTE