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Hioctan are the latest in the long line of 'German shouty bands' and given their name this is appropriately explosive music. Hioctan keep the old EBM styles alive with typical harsh vocals and older style rhythms (no techno/trance influences here) whilst adding a darkly melodic element that seems to be the staple fair of most Noitekk artists. Titles such as "Torture", "Euthanasia", "Bad Religion" and "Forceps Delivery" (a surprisingly bright number given the title!) give you an idea of Hioctan's lyrical concerns, dealing with many darker subjects although "Mediagenic" has a few good pointd to make about media manipulation. The voice samples that crop up regularly (another EBM staple, of course!) add to the mood, including Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise from the film "A Few Good Men" on the title track (the famous "You can't handle the truth" line-I'm sure they'd be chuffed about that if they ever found out!). "Shine On Me" reminds me slightly of a horror film soundtrack and it's this evocative nature that is the album's strong point; if there is a weak point it's the lack of variety. Once established this style is largely stuck to throughout with only a few minor differences in tempo, such as the regimented military percussion of the cover of The Klinik's "Someone Somewhere" being immediately memorable. It may well be that Hioctan will develop like Funker Vogt have, where none of their albums sound radically different from each other but always knowing how to stop the formula getting stale, this debut proves that this is a possibility. For now, though, these tracks are of high enough quality to come under the 'good solid album' heading which means that even if there are no tracks here that really stand out ("WYSISYG" might be a contender but I'm convinced that's only because it opens the album!) it also means that there are no bad moments either.
RATING: 8
Artist Link: http://www.hioctan.de
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