B12 - Last Days of Silence Review

This year B12 make their return after disappearing from the scene so suddenly back in 1996. Back then the duo’s sound was mistaken for coming from the Detroit underground but in fact was they were completely home grown. Signed to the infamous Warp records B12 were making a name for themselves through the early 90s up until ’96 when with a test pressing for their new album B1215 ready they suddenly departed with out a trace. Spurred by circulating old material through poor quality bootlegs and a sold out live show in 2005, B12 decided to fly the flag again through remastering old material for release but more importantly producing new material.

Last Days of Silence is the result and delivers a combination of electronic epic melodies over industrial percussion. You can really hear the Detroit influence throughout this album with the various dark soundscapes. There are some interesting tracks on this album, Hail of Mirror’s epic strings make it such an apt intro record for the album but also anyone’s DJ set. Whilst More Than One has a particularly old skool Detroit feel with its 303 percussion and swirling electronic synths. Don’t Be Afraid seems particularly evil as its angry melodies and broken beat slowly breathes out a dark sound. Another favourite is Static Glitch, it uses intensifying loops to create a scatty mess of beats and glitchy electronic sounds.

In addition to the interesting there are some different tracks too, such as Beyond Reason with its glitchy mechanical rhythms and Ashamed of Me with syncopated cymbals and haunting strings. I wouldn’t say they’re danceable but they are intriguing. More dancefloor accessible tracks can be found on 32 Lineup and Slope which take up a usual techno stance.

Whilst there are some interesting elements on this album I find some of the safer dancefloor material a bit run of the mill and maybe a tad dated in its sound. The live show should prove interesting whether the whole album could keep a crowd entertained. For the avid electronica and techno fans of yesterday I’m sure this album will be much loved but for the kids of today which were watching ninja fighting turtles through the 90s I reckon they will want something more. 5/10



Last Days of Silence is out on 26th May 2008
1. Hall of Mirrors (Digitonal’s Strings in Space Remix)
2. Magnetic Fields
3. 32 Lineup
4. One
5. Don’t Be Afraid
6. Static Glitch
7. In Control
8. Beyond Reason
9. Slope
10. Omni Therapy
11. Ashamed of Me
12. More Than One
13. Isolation on Demuba

www.b12records.com