Description
Material World is an album by the American industrial band Blackhouse, independently released on Ladd-Frith in 1990. The album was recorded from spring to fall 1990 at Ladd-Frith Studios with Brian Ladd and Ivo Cutler producing. (The album track “Finale” is actually a soundtrack to Karl Schott’s short film of the same name.)
Blackhouse has been cited as the first band to make industrial music for the Christian market. According to the Summer 1986 issue of the New York based magazine Vortexx, the band was formed in 1983. They played a few live gigs in Salt Lake City but were met with open hostility by Neo-Nazi youth and hardcore Christians. Eventually they went underground and concentrated on recording only. (The summer issue of the magazine features an interview with the band by Jamie Rake.)
After a one-year hiatus, the Ladd-Frith label comes out in full force, adding to the multitude of recordings by the premier Christian industrial band. Blackhouse – Ivo Cutler and Sterling Cross – is joined by the guitar and programming of Brian Ladd, who also co-produced the record with Cutler. Blackhouse isn’t preaching their docturine to all that will listen; their approach to life, which is reflected in the lyrics, comes naturally from their Christian perspective. The title track is light, bright and catchy – industrial pop with a recurrent musical theme laced throughout the piece. Then the mysterious «Chains of Love» puts you in a musty cave with the relentless pound-pound-pound of the chain gang’s hammer against metal spikes, as organ music drifts over the excavation from the background. Blackhouse mixes noises normally associated with the Art Of Noise along with some demented take-off on rap sampling in «Word». They take you on a «Journey To The Son», uplifting your musical spirits over a 21-minute piece that moves in and out of ideas and pumps your heart with higher aspirations. Being original is sometimes difficult in music that is loosely based on changing and twisting the ideas of others into a new form – such as in rap or industrial – yet Blackhouse seems to accomplish this and compose an accessible masterpiece to be enjoyed by all. [Jackpot! Essential new music as chosen by CMJ’s editorial staff – CMJ New Music Report, Vol. 25, No. 9, Issue #224, 22 February 1991]
[Michael Delaney, Harvest Rock Syndicate, Volume 6 – Issue 1]
CD tracklist:
01. Material World – 4:20
02. Chains Of Love – 3:32
03. Word – 4:25
04. Double 0 777 – 10:26
05. Journey To The Son – 21:44
06. Finale – 8:17
Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://blackhouse.bandcamp.com/album/material-world
[youtube_sc url=”b_KcEcuhk5w” title=”Blackhouse – Material World” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]
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