Warning Signs

After the success of his 2017 album Foren6, Martin Sane's Electronic/Industrial project Fx8: Sd8 is about to outgrow his cocoon. It has the potential to become that full-fledged industrial music project that might spearhead a resurrection of the traditional electronic industrial sound formerly endorsed by cult acts like Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly or Mentallo & The Fixer in the 90ities. While we are writing this info, Sane is touring together with labelmates 2nd Face in South America (!), preparing his European touring activities to go along for what might become one of the strongest old school electronic-industrial releases in 2019: Warning Signs. The writing is on the wall in more than one way: Martin Sane's looks at early indications of a dystopic downturn of our peaceful societies echoes in our news almost daily. The notion of insecurity and angst starts to foster and grow in various places among the earth from North America to Europe to Southeast-Asia. His new album is a soundtrack to a modern dystopic downfall that we would rather like to ignore than to face. Musically Warning Signs is so old school, it could almost be called a Retro Industrial album, as it includes all the ingredients that made industrial breathtaking in the 80ies: Vocal Samples, complex drum programming, and big strings mixed with structures that remind of old Skinny Puppy cult songs like Inquisition or Addiction. Like their originals, these songs need repeated listens to sink in and unfold their potential. But what amazes most is the contradiction between the theme of the album and it's sound: How can something sounding so retro tackle problems that are so recent? Can we afford to ignore these Warning Signs?