For several years the highly energetic trio from Black Tiger Sex Machine and founders of Kannibalen Records have been releasing multiple EP’s and classic singles. All of which get played across clubs and festivals all over the world but now, after several months of hard work and dedication they have finally released their first album. With all of this hard work that the Tigers put into this album… it is a truly impressive, bass heavy, electro-feely and apocalyptic album. Each track has its own unique style of production within it that tells it’s story throughout the album. As the Tigers have said, this album is them in a post-apocalyptic world filled with chaos, a virus and of course zombies. The remaining survivors (who are representing the dedicated fan base of BTSM) are apart of their church that together fight back to make the world right again. Listen to this album and you can definitely understand why that is the theme.
They start off the album with a quick minute and eighteen second intro named The Virus and they set the mood of the album right with this track. It begins with a distorted underline buzz and horns that lead into vocals and chords. All of this sets the mood correctly for an EPIC story to be told through music. Before you know it leads into the next track Broadside, which begins with an almost horrific laugh so you know this track is going to be cataclysmic. It builds up with high pitched samples with an orchestra vocal sample behind it, then disappears to a synth sound wobbling back and forth. The drop hits with a screeching sample into a vocal roar, all of which together makes this track seem as if everything is chaotic in the world around them. It is dark. When they bring it back for the second build up, they take the song down a path you won’t not expect as they break it down into Drum and Bass. It reminds me of being in a zombie driven world because it came out of no where and it is extremely fast paced, it truly gets your heart pumping. Following that extreme original track, the Tigers worked with Husser on their next track called Crazies… and his vocals with this beat is perfect. His rap builds up to this almost trap like beat, and when it comes back to his vocals the way he portrays his voice makes it seem as if he is the one becoming crazy. Then the infamous unexpected bass hit with a unique sample comes in and tosses the song around, making it truly a crazy beat itself. The tigers don’t leave their outstanding electro feel out of this album as their next track Punks has a classic electro sound on it that builds up to a voice sample of a guy requesting for backup and help. It then drops into a perfect electro sample with a definitive techno sound that reassures everyone that BTSM is never leaving electro, that they are just expanding their genres of musical influence while keeping it original and this tracks shows that.
However they love showing their diversity in genres for music, and their collab with Karluv Klub to produce their next track Infected. It begins with a cinematic feel that combines into a techno synthesizer sound, the intense vibes don’t stop here as this techno is dark and when the drop comes it drops all shutters away to a vibrating bass hit that takes you by surprise. This track definitely stands true to its name as it feels as if the music is coursing through your veins infecting you throughout to dance. They collabed on their next track Armada with Lektrique for months of hard work to find the correct sound to fit this track and after all that time they have executed the track perfectly. As this whole album was built on the idea of a post- apocalyptic world this album holds a cinematic feel to it, but this track takes the cake for making you feel as if you were there. It starts with vocals and horns that lead up to a vocal sample asking, “Have you felt it?” As soon as the question is released the track goes relentless and responds with “Yup” that truly makes this track bounce. Next their track Survivor Ft. Face-T with young producer Kai- Wachi begins with a reggae like beat and Face T’s vocal samples help build this jammy like song to a classic Kannibalen like sound, with a scratchy hard hitting bass sound that only BTSM and Kai-Wachi could conjure together. Next another original from BTSM, Blood Moon and it doesn’t wait long for the heavy bass to be apart of the song when in 32 seconds they take the track down with an electric feel. It radiates a feel of echo and loop as it keeps almost the same constant underline sound, but throughout the track they add samples making the beat interesting and nail biting. The reverberation on this track in on point. Following that track they team up with Apashe for Swing High for a beat that starts off completely different than the rest. It has an almost 50’s swing type of feel to it that doesn’t stay classic for long, as they make the old swing into a trap like beat. The combination of both genres is unique and they make it fun to listen to as they bring together these two different styles of music into a harmonic rager. Numbers is their next track on the album list, and as this song has been released as a single for a couple months before the release of the album, this song fits perfectly in the theme of their LP. This is another one of their tracks that shows that BTSM has not lost touch of their electro-roots. It combines the feels of classic electro and hard hitting bass with a growl like sample that makes this song iconic for Black Tiger Sex Machine. Their last collaboration on the album is with Dabin and as this song has been released before the album as well, they released Break VIP so it keeps it fresh on the second drop. This track fits perfectly in the album because the way the synth and guitar are combined, make it feel as if the fight is over and you won the fight but the war is not over. It sounds heroic and when they drop the bass it fits the feels of this song flawlessly. Finally their final track The Church is an outro that captures the finishing feels of the album. The way they produced this track makes it seem as if they are leaving the album as a to be continued… so hopefully there will be a second album to be seen by them in the future relating to “Our Church.”
This album isn’t just a production release, but also they have a tour promoting the album. They have started it earlier in January and are hitting multiple cities in the US and Canada. Check it out below and click the links for tickets! I will be doing media coverage for their show on February 27th in Colorado Springs at the Rawkus, make sure to catch their show there if you can! Also Check out my video I took of them at Decadence!
Author: Dom Ragusa