CD, NoiTekk, 2009
www.xentrifuge.carbonnine.com
A short summary of what to expect from this act, taken verbatim from their MySpace page: “Xentrifuge (Zen-tri-fyooj): a machine in which audio devastation is manufactured.” Their sound is a cold, mechanical place, devastated and left for dead. These guys should have their picture in the encyclopaedia under the listing for terror EBM, as they define this genre exactly: rhythmic noise beats blasting through sterile, desolate atmospheres and punctuated by screaming vocals that blister their way through layers of smoldering textures. A simple enough recipe, followed by any number of bands, that has, unfortunately, aborted almost any hope of something fresh and exciting to spring from the seething morass that this genre has become.
“Converting Infinity” has a lot to live up to: 2007’s “Light Extinguished”, the band’s debut album, was seen by many as the perfect example of this apocalyptic sound. This follow-up, to their credit, carries on exactly where they left off, and takes no prisoners in its assault on the senses. As a reviewer, I would have respected a more varied sound, showing more growth, than the violent barrage that these ten tracks of distilled electronic aggression offer, but it was not meant to be.
From a production point of view, Xentrifuge’s attention to detail is flawless – but isn’t that what can be expected from an audio devastation machine? No room for human error, resulting in a clinical precision that makes the misanthropic negativity of the music even more palpable.
[6/10]
— David vander Merwe