'There is no place on this planet that is immune'... So begins the strangely titled Neo Inferno 262's debut album, Hacking The Holy Code. These guys are a sort of French super group including members belonging to Arkhon Infaustus, Antaeus, Corpus Christii, Love Lies Bleeding and so on. In spite of this, I haven't seen the release getting much publicity.

In a nutshell, Neo Inferno 262, play some mean industrial black metal - managing to keep things black and industrial in equal proportion (unlike many others - Blacklodge for example). The album opener, Black Pulse Negativity, starts off with a noisy, brooding riff that explodes into tremolo picking furor complete with harsh blastbeats and croaked vocals. The song then crosses over into electronic terrain containing trance-lite beats, spooky 70's styled synths and a lot of samples primarily from horror/sci-fi films with homage being paid to time machines (?) and Satan. There is an unpredictable edge to the song and the dynamics are so maintained to keep the typical black metal listener happy (erm... or should I say grim and kvlt?). The samples are included quite tastefully without getting too annoying and the guitar-less, synth-driven interludes over which the samples are played, are interesting and engaging, without breaking the flow of the song. The production is an appropriate mixture of crisp guitars/synths and noisy drums/feedback (especially the hats) at the same time and it works.

The following songs emulate the first one in terms of structural elements contained, but things are constantly mixed up and thankfully the album doesn't come across as a lesson in repetition. There is a lot of variation when it comes to the electronic tones and noises - 'tis a good thing because most of those come with tolerance limits. Some of the synth-strings and flange/swirl effects sound cheesy but since they aren't too upfront in the mix, it’s all good. The black metal portions are well done and kept succinct, packing a tight punch. I love it when the riffs are slowed down to a standard beat and interesting electronics are thrown into the mix - makes for some terrific black metal.
 
However, throughout the album, passages exist where the drums and these trance-ish electronics linger around pointlessly until the actual 'riffs' kick in and these can be very irksome. Another negative point is that the 8th track, A Needle In Your Eardrum, is an utter fucking waste - if you want to listen to a good mixture of trance and black metal, check out Aborym's Tantra Bizarre instead. A good few of you may think that the number of samples included is too many, but it didn't really affect me too much. The song titles are all very curiously named as is the trend with most of these cyber satanic bands. With songs like 'SAlvation T rotagivAN' and 'Halluci Nation Above Abomi Nation' you know that these guys are very serious about their religion and are highly knowledgeable. Heh. Good, inferior satanik fun.

Taking the comparison route, an obvious reference point is Aborym, one of the pioneers of the genre. I think I even heard a couple of Aborym riffs on the album (!). However, these guys do bring new goods to the table and it would be crude on my part to label them as clones. Bottom line, if you're a fan of Aborym or Blacklodge or Dødheimsgard or any industrial black metal, I suggest you check this album out, for the things done right, far outweigh the negativities.

Label - Necrocosm

Year of Release - 2008