Human Knot Farm – Human Knot Farm

Human Knot Farm
Human Knot Farm
1998 Flaming Fish Music (FFMCS012)
Bryan, Texas, USA

Acid Human (Shane Broussard) – Programming and vocals

Side a:

1. Political Numbers
2. Subsiding
3. Paranoid

Side b:

1. April 16
2. Cicada
3. Who Died?
4. Paraplegic

Ah, 90s underground  industrial. Something about it is so DIY, but so cool. I have been sent about 10 industrial tapes to transfer that are pretty rare – this one on Flaming Fish Music, the rest are independent. Human Knot Farm appeared on several compilations back in the day, so you might have heard of them. None of those compilation tracks are from this demo. This is a one-person project of Shane Broussard (aka Acid Human). Broussard’s sound is described as a mix of dark electro and experimental noise, and that is a pretty good description. As far as I know, HKF only had ten songs and that was it. Fans of Blackhouse when he was doing these same kinds of sounds would probably dig this as well (even though this is not a copycat).

Voxis:Machina – Lullabies

Voxis:Machina
Lullabies
1998 Ballistic Test / Flaming Fish Music

1. Rayzer Numb (the theoretically it should work mix)
2. Insanity Unleashed
3. Denymind
4. Myndhax (the splattered matter mix)
5. Vyzygothyk Veil
6. Chambyr
7. Hermind

For a while, I thought this tape was too buried to ever surface – but it finally did! Voxis:Machina was an early Flaming Fish release that evolved into just Voxis and then Blue Stahli. All of these projects are basically some of the names that Bret Autrey uses to release his electro-industrial-metal-rock projects. Voxis:Machina seems to be a bit more electronic and industrial than his later work, but you do hear flourishes of other styles from House to Darkwave to Ambient to Rock here and there. In 2016, Autrey released a compilation of older music under the moniker of Voxis called Darkeworld Project One. “Mindhax” and “Chambyr” from this tape were the only songs to make it on that compilation.

Ballistic Test Two

Ballistic Test Two
1997 Flaming Fish Music

Side 1:

1. Cradle->Grave – Freedomslave
2. globalWAVEsystem – Evaluate
3. Dixonoxid – World Of Fire

Side 2:

1. Pivot Clowj – The Aging Faucet
2. The Way Sect Bloom – Dead Stay
3. The Reclusive Cypher – Discoveries

Remember back before the days of CD samplers when tape samplers were used as promos by some magazines and groups? This is a tape from that era – I believe it was created to promote Ballistic Test Magazine. However, it could also be a separate project. But there were at least nine or ten of these compilations, eventually transitioning to CDs. Some of the names on the tape you will probably recognize, others you will not. This is a great sampling of mostly electronic industrial rock, with a couple buzzsaw metal guitar songs by Dixonoxid and Way Sect Bloom. Also, the ambient noise of The Reclusive Cypher.

Autovoice – 00000011

Autovoice
00000011
1996 Flaming Fish Music
Ontario, Canada

Steve Shoe – Vocals, programming
Johnny Space Echo – Programming, sound effects

Side 1:

1. Standardization
2. Project DV-8
3. Decay
4. Infinitum

Side 2:

1. If You Want Someone Build a Conscious Machine
2. End of Transmission
3. Ens Cogitans
4. The Initial

Autovoice is an electronic/industrial band that is still going to this day. You can actually find this album on BandCamp – I usually only digitize these re-released tapes to see how the original compares to what was released. A few bands seem to like to George Lucas their older releases – which is not always a bad thing. I just like to see. I can’t really tell any difference from this tape and the one on BandCamp, except for of course the two extra bonus tracks on BandCamp. Well, and the songs on BandCamp sound remastered. The sound itself is a bit darker and ambient than your typical industrial, while still retaining a definite industrial sound. There are also influences of noise and darkwave in many places as well.

The Way Sect Bloom – The Way Sect Bloom

The Way Sect Bloom
The Way Sect Bloom
1996 Flaming Fish Music (ffmcs003)

Jeff Bruce – Guitars, vocals, keyboards, programming, sequencing
Joe Gallagher – Additional guitars and vocals
Mike Cruz – Additional keyboards and vocals

Side 1:

1. Subsidize
2. Frustrate
3. Washed

Side 2:

1. Illumina
2. Frustrate (reality edit)

Interesting – I had forgotten that there was a self-titled Way Sect Bloom release on Flaming Fish Music after their God demo, but before their Effloresce full-length. All of the songs here were also on Effloresce. “Illumina” is pretty different from “Illumina (Defenseless)” on Effloresce, and there are also slight differences with “Washed” and Frustrate (reality mix)” as well. The Way Sect Bloom had a unique take on industrial hard rock that I always liked. The first three tracks were recorded by Scott Albert aka Celldweller, so you can hear his influence on the music as well. Kind of more of a collector’s item for the uber fan more than anything else, but still cool none the less.