Review: “ENDGAME” by CYBERAKTIF
Label: Artofact Records, 2024
So, Cyberaktif is at it again. ENDGAME is classic hard retro industrial in the spirit of Skinny Puppy, front 242 and Front Line Assembly. Cyberaktif has been doing their thing since 1991! This new album points to the band’s immense output, and the Cyberaktif project ran between 1991 and 1995. The band folded upon the tragic death of band member Dwayne R Gottel of Skinny Puppy fame. The band reemerged in February 2024 with the release of their new album ENDGAME. Cyberaktif is part of any post-punk DJ’s set, with track NOTHING STAYS from their 1991 album Tenebrae Vision always on the playlist.
I, as a reviewer, have always been a fan of classic industrial bands. ENDGAME has a tight, crunchy beat. As I listen to the track writing this, I want to stomp out onto the dance floor right now. The production is crisp and sharp, with Bill Leebs vocals hissing ethereally over the beat, with occasional doom vocals.
Industrial has always been a genre that talks to the fears and anxieties of the era that a track is produced in, and ENDGAME isn’t different. In the current day of the Gaza conflict and the age of Trump, Cyberaktif talks to these fears, twisting and condensing them down into tight lyrics. Sure, it’s a retro sound, but it’s relevant as hell.
Leeb shows a diverse songwriting talent through the track list, with ethereal strains weaving like thread through sharp synths and programmed syncopated drum machine beats. This is of course worshipping at the altar of genre overlords Skinny Puppy, but this isn’t imitation. Leeb and Key bring their cyber sensibility for a set of tracks that is hugely danceable.
If I have criticisms, it’s that the album is a bit too overproduced. In classic darkwave and industrial, there is a tendency to use all of the toys, and to show that a producer is innovative. But I balk a little at things like obvious auto tune. But production effects on the vocals can help if they are integrated into tracks as a whole.
I’m a crunchy boy who likes crunchy beats. “Locked Away” is the perfect high speed cruising track. “Bitter End” isn’t as good as some on this album, being a touch repetitive with an extended instrumental opening. “New World Awaits” dives heavily into electronica nostalgia, which is OK by me. It’s a scary track, harkening back to the cyberpunk origins of the genre.
The rest of the album is in the same vein. It doesn’t try to reinvent the post-punk wheel. Instead, it delivers hard, industrial beats, honoring the legacy of Cyberaktif’s prior albums like Tenebrae Vision and the memory of Dwayne Gottel, as well as the broader Skinny Puppy legacy and discography.
If I have any criticisms of the album, is that it’s a little too by the numbers. However, I can let it slide somewhat – Cyberaktif and Skinny Puppy is a hell of a legacy, and Key, Leeb and Fulber were more concerned with getting it right. Since Cyberaktif is back in the scene, fans are hyped in the Bandcamp comments for more work from this team.
Available on Vinyl, CD, Spotify, Apple Music
Team: cEvin Key, Bill Leeb, Rhys Fulberwith Eric Peterson, Dre Robinson, Guilherme Pires
Mixed and Mastered by Greg Reely
Design: Allen Jaeger and Simon Paul
Video and visuals by Cory Gorski
Chris Bell 10.15.2024
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