FIRST AID 4 SOULS
‘Noise ‘n' Breaks From Hell - Selected Electro Works Vol. 2'
ELECTRO ARC

Hungary's First Aid 4 Souls might not be a household name in the industrial scene, but this collection of tracks shows off the undeniable talent of István Gazdag and his cohorts to great effect. Founded in 2006 but with a lineage going all the way back to 1992 and the industrial outfit Vacuum, it is hard to understand why FA4S don't receive more international attention especially when this is what they have to offer.

The album is the follow-up to the first instalment which covers the band's psy-acid side but this time charts nearly every sound in the electro-industrial spectrum. From the aggrotech of opener ‘Insomnia' (featuring Tor Marrock) to the Juno Reactor-esque ‘Paradigm Shift', it is evident that the band is well versed in the genre and can turn their hand to any style as their mood sees fit. There is a danger though of a compilation such as this sounding disjointed as a result. But the songs have been picked and arranged with great care to the point where this actually retains that album feeling.
The only things that hold this back are the occasionally bad production and low-mixed vocals. This can't always be helped though as some of the tracks do go back a fair way, but it can stall the enjoyment of a few songs here.

As a retrospective or introduction to an underground band you can't really ask for better than this. The songs are all well written and constructed, if somewhat rough in places. But best of all, there has been care and attention paid to the construction and presentation of this collection as an album in its own right which alone makes it worth the download time.

[3/5]