The Factory Incident – Redtape

The Factory Incident – Redtape / 2005 Postfact / 6 Tracks / http://www.factoryincident.com / http://www.postfact.com / Reviewed 23 March 2005

John’s vocals provide a interesting contrast to the smooth bass and guitars found on the beginning of this track, seemingly a mixture of David Byrne and Daniel Ash. The effect one gets out of The Factory Incident’s disc is one of increasingly impressive instrumentation and a coolly detached singer laying eir vocals willy-nilly over this music. Muse and Palcebo make their ideological entrance during the beginning strains of “Said and Won”, a track that allows John to lower eirself into the eighties-influenced guitar work of Karl and Aimee. While the instruments are trying to create a much more chaotic and energetic sound, the skillful vocals of John hold them back in a state of flux, only allowing them to break out from this self-imposed shell when a technical orgasm is absolutely essential. Taking a bold direction during “Argument”, the “we have some conflict” phrase half-yelled out by John is only the beginning of a much more bold and brash set of vocals, vocals which benefit from a lessened constraint on the instrumentation. The track is noisy and busy, but this is all in the benefit of The Factory Incident. Sure, some sprawling guitar lines are allowed to soar over the track, but the rough and tumble nature of the stanzas are what proves most impressive during this track.

If one would roll back the years and place The Factory Incident in 1975, the music on “Redtape” would be as essential as any released from Rocket From The Tombs or Wire. Now, in 2005 we see the band as a band irreversibly influenced by the bands of that period, but are in no way relics of that time. The inclusion of a much more broad sound than many of these precursor bands are what really delineates The Factory Incident from being just a knock-off band. The band achieves new highs with “In The Vile”, a place where the scratchy vocals of John really take on a singing quality and The Factory Incident looks more into the direction of fellow area-residents Dag Nasty (again, distinguishing themselves from bands of the era with the strong instrumentation, especially present on this track by the ever-present emotive bass lines of Shaun and the spastic (yet controlled) drum lines of Stephen). In a sense, “In the Vile” takes the retro-mantle from bands like Interpol, and The Factory Incident shows that they do not need an overbearing studio hand to make a cold, yet compelling sound – this is all their own creation, and this is why The Factory Incident will receive the praise they deserve.

Top Track: In The Vile

Rating: 7.6/10