Z PROCHEK INTRAVENOUS ALBUM MEMENTO MATERIA RELEASE: NOVEMBER 11, 2002 REVIEW: DECEMBER 3, 2002

"Intravenous" by Swedish Memento Materia debutants Z Prochek is a natural reaction to the steady stream of futurepoppish EBM released these days. Initially, there are traces of this light version of body music, but somewhere after the first three tracks, things start to smell of rage and bottled up aggression. While it is most welcome, this more anger fueled EBM, I get the feeling Z Prochek unwisely drown their, essentially strong, songs in distortion and industrial sounds. As if they want to hide the fact that they can write catchy synth tunes.
What it all comes down to, after hours and hours of listening, is that the Swedes of Z Prochek sound their best when they focus on and show their softer side. "Point Blank" is an example of this, where the vocals are reasonably clean and also accompanied by the beautiful voice of Carolina Nilsson in a dreamy chorus. Maybe Z Prochek should try future pop or electropop, because they write good songs, underneath all the noise. Unfortunately, I have to extend my wait for a new, hard EBM album of "Solitary Confinement" caliber.

NIKLAS FORSBERG