INSTITUT LIVE LIKE TRAITORS, DIE LIKE TRAITORS ALBUM COLD MEAT INDUSTRY RELEASE: MAY 26, 2003 REVIEW: MAY 29, 2003

Industrial music in its earliest incarnation was full of philosophical and political ideas, concerning man's place in the civlization and the control mechansims of our society. Since these ambitious beginnings, things have largely deteriorated. The pioneering acts have, like in most genres, been followed by copycat after copycat, regurgitating the original ideas until they’ve just become a washed-out caricature.
Institut are a good example of this. Word has it that they’re quite a live act, but on record they’re not so much probing society’s conventions, but rather my patience. I thought that it would be an obvious paradox trying to be subversive by sticking this closely to genre conventions, not to mention clichés, but this oh so angry act seems willing to dismiss such difficult questions with yet another slab of effortless noise.
This is also utterly lacking in dynamics. In fact, my vacuum cleaner (with the intimidating name “Rocky 1400” - suck on that, Institut!) produces a more inventive noise. The muddled - but very angry! - vocals don’t help things up either.
Then again, industrial culture has often been about obscuring one’s real points in efforts to make the listener think for himself. So maybe Institut is making a comment on conformism by conforming this well themselves, and I’m just not getting the point. But that doesn’t seem very likely.

KRISTOFFER NOHEDEN