reviews

Gothic Beauty- USA - 2009

This album was first released in 1988, and it still impresses without
sounding dated -- one wonders what happened, when a twenty-year old album comes up freshly remastered and sounds better and more innovative than a great deal of brand-new electronic music. Not to say that it is detached from its time, but when pulses and patterns recognizable from late-eighties electronic music do surface here, they've been turned and sharpened such that they've kept their edge. If it's all new to you, too, "At the Fiftieth Gate" is a good place to catch up with Attrition, with song structures influenced by Garry Cox on guitar ("History Man"; "Two Miles Up"), contagiously affecting electronics (the title track; "Haydn," included here with versions previously available on 12"singles), and unsparing, unsettling lyrics. (Carolee)


Option magazine - USA - 1988.

"Tense and agressive minor-key dance rock laced with thick synths, raw guitars, and dark, mysterious vocals. The solid and multi-dimensional rhythmn tracks never let you catch your breath, except during the two quasi-orchestral synth passages that open and (almost) close this album. The same band responsible for "Shrinkwrap" a few years ago, they've shown considerable maturity since then. Their sense of tension, dynamics, and balance set this record far apart from others in the genre."