Artist: FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY
Album: RECLAMATION REMASTERED (CD DIGI)

Release date: 1997/ 2007
Media type: CD

Front Line Assembly was formed by Vancouver, Canada based (but Vienna, Austria born) Bill Leeb in 1986. Some years earlier, together with friends such as Kevin Crompton (aka cEvin Key) and Kevin Ogilvie (aka Nivek Ogre), he had begun listening to the post-punk electronic releases from Europe that had started to appear in the racks of Vancouver's Odyssey Imports record store, including those by first generation 'Industrial' acts such as the UK's Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle, SPK (actually Australian, but UK based), and, perhaps most crucially, the minimalist bass-sequencer led rhythms of post-Kraftwerk German aggro merchants such as DAF, Liaisons Dangereuses and Pyrolator. With the early efforts of the other Europeans such as Yello, New Order, Portion Control and Front 242 as further influences, the three friends formed their own group called Skinny Puppy, with bill working under the alias of Wilhelm Schroeder. However, Bill was soon to leave the group to pursue his own brand of electronic dance and mood music as Front Line Assembly, working alone at first and then in collaboration with another local musician named Michael Balch. Front Line Assembly's first vinyl appearance was on a compilation entitled "For Your Ears Only", released by Gary Levermore's UK based label Third Mind Records in 1987, although Bill had already issued some limited edition cassette only releases himself prior to this. The first full length release by the group were three albums released monthly between December 1987 and February 1988, all for different labels: 'The Initial Command' (KK-Belgium), 'State of Mind' (Dossier-Germany), and 'Corrosion' (Third Mind-UK). Three months later Third Mindissued a further mini-album entitled 'Disorder' and the group (at this point Bill and Michael with 17 year old Rhys Fulber as studio assistant) signed to the label, who shortly thereafter repackaged their two releases together with three new songs as the first Front Line Assembly CD, 'Convergence' (licensed to Wax Trax! Records for initial North American release). The group returned in 1989 with the album "Gashed Senses Crossfire" which contained the dance flavored singles "Digital Tension Dementia" and "No Limit". Michael Balch left Front Line Assembly in 1990 so Fulber stepped in as a full partner. The duo soon released the album "Caustic Grip", while "Tactical Neural Implant" album from 1992 found the group's music moving in a more hard edged disco direction. By 1994, the sound evolved yet again, with the album "Millennium" showing a newfound reliance on guitars. "Reclamation" from 1997 collects together their strongest tracks, from 1987's "Digital Tension Dementia" to 1994's "colossal Surface Patterns". The compilation album shows the true genius of Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber proving just how far they were ahead of everyone back in 1989 (and 1994, for that matter). Rhys Fulber left the band in 1997, while his replacement Chris Peterson debuted with the album "Monument" in 1998. "Monument" took a peek at Front Line Assembly's most productive period and was edited together by band producer and most important co-collaborator Greg Reely to include several exclusive remixes, never released tracks, B sides and the infamous "Monument (Lost Classic Mix)." The album "Implode" appeared one year later. Sticking with a heavy dose of synth-pop trance and throbbing melodies, Leeb and Peterson issued "Epitaph" in fall 2001. Since then the band released 2 full-length albums: "Civilization" (2004) and "Artificial Soldier" (2006). The band is currently on tour in Europe! Catch them live whenever you have a chance!

TRACKLIST:

1. Digital Tension Dementia (Contagion Mix)
2. No Limit (Disintegration Mix)
3. Virus (Hybrid Mix)
4. Iceolate
5. Provision
6. The Blade (Pro-Gress Mix)
7. Heatwave
8. Target
9. Toxic
10. Mindphaser
11. Millennium (Ashes To Ashes Mix)
12. Surface Patterns (Mission Control Mix)