Review of Shango

Metropolis Records has done it again! Juno Reactor's fifth album Shango may be the soundtrack those freaky demons were listening to when all Hell broke loose on the Event Horizon. ('Member when the devils were yelling in Latin, "Nosferatu!", as they violated the crew? )

We've all heard Juno Reactor before. If you missed their first four albums, they were featured on the Mortal Kombat, Lost in Space, Virtuosity and Eraser soundtracks. Playstation junkies will recognize them as they did three tracks on "Jet Mojo3."

Let's get into it. The first two tracks really detract from the spirit of the album. "Pistolero" sounds like Front 242 trying to play Mariachi, but it's really Steve Stevens (of big hair and Billy Idol fame) collaborating with the band. It works, but it's by no means the strongest force on the album. Next up, "Hulelam" is a failed experiment. It sounds like something that should have been on a Playstation soundtrack. "Insects", however, rolls through the speakers leaving a very strong Orbital and Orb taste in the mouth. It's almost as if the band left a computer to program itself and let the digital symphony grow and blossom. This it true techno trance. "Badimo" sounds like the anthem military computers would play if Conan and his dog brothers met Slaine the Horned God alone in a 2000 AD battlefield. You can't help but be reminded of the T2 Soundtrack. "Masters of the Universe" is great car-chase music. Crank it the next time the Boys in Blue are chasing you! "Nitrogen" (Part 1 and Part 2) are very cool. Need a track the next time you want to do that lesbian Basic Instinct dance on the dance floor? This is it. "Solars" sounds like a secret track off Peter Gabriel's "Last Temptation of Christ". Perhaps the best, though, is Shango's last track: "Song for Ancestors". It reminds one of The Ministry's "Dream Song". Listen for that whispering and laughing in what could be Latin or the language they speak in Hell. Spooky shee-ot, man!

In short, braid the grace of "The Last Temptation of Christ", with the spiritual side of the Ministry and run it through a T1000's poly-mimetic alloy sound card and you'll get Shango. For more info on the band, check out this site or this one.


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