I think this was the first VNV Nation album I ever listened to. And while I liked it from the get go, it didn't really develop a lot of personal meaning until later on in my life and I started struggling with a lot of bad depression and anxiety, which it helped me get through. The songs "Chrome", "Endless Skies", and "Homeworld" all continue to remind me of the good times from back then. The only song on the album that I've never cared for is "Strata".

A few years after I discovered this album, I finally saw VNV Nation live for the first time. In fact it was the first concert I had ever been to "on my own", where I had chosen to go with friends, rather than how my mom take me to something as a kid that she thought I would enjoy. Their live sets back then (I dunno about now) used to end with the song "Perpetual" from this album. The uplifting experience just helped me immensely back then, and listening to it will still leave me in a happy mood.

This is a live version of "Perpetual" from a live concert like... 15 years ago? Or so? It was professionally recorded, and really captures the positive mood of their concerts (and the song itself).



This album also heavily influenced my own music for a while. So there's that, too.

Anyway, it's a subgenre of industrial music called futurepop, btw, which is an offshoot of EBM with influences from trance and synthpop. Basically "happy industrial dance".

One of the earliest darkwave/gothic rock albums I listened to. The mood, the lyrics, the sound... it all just speaks to me on a super deep level. I still listen to this on occasion when I'm feeling down. It's a sort of cathartic "hey, me too..." when I do, where it's like two people sympathetically getting each other through a rough time. My favorite songs on here are "Crucified", "Undermined", and "Waterfront".

The band themselves also influenced my personal aesthetic for a while. I guess still, too, though I can't always afford the clothes I want

Oh god I love Front Line Assembly. Like, a lot. Them, Kraftwerk, and Skinny Puppy are probably my top three favorite bands of all time. FLA has always been an electro-industrial band, but they've gone through a few shifts in sound over the years (nothing too dramatic). But it's their more recent emphasis on the electronic side of things that, for me, is just to die for.

I think part of why I like this album is how it makes me just want to dance. The opening song has that sort of rolling EBM-inspired bassline that is borderline orgasmic. Track 04,"Tilt", is nice and dirty electro-industrial, with buzzy synths, heavy drums, and an almost electro-tribal bass line, for lack of a better description. I'm fairly sure the lyrics are about nuclear war. Their cover of "Rocky Me Amadeus" (track 3) is a banger as well.

But I think my favorite track is track 08, "Wake Up The Coma". The chorus is pure perfection to my ears.

Full album: