Some Kind of Heroin

It makes sense for Mortiis to remix material from The Grudge, which is in my view his finest industrial album thus far. Some Kind of Heroin is thus not really a necessary purchase for any fans of the now-unmasked rubber troll, though it's still fun for a spin or two. Apart from 15 remixed tracks, there's also one new effort here, which is a nice addition to the material and fits into a similar style. 'Underdog' is a mid-paced song of lurching grooves, mids-heavy slabs of guitar, and occasional synth interludes.

As you would expect from the industrial and synth-heavy original compositions, the artists who have remixed them have made them a little longer, more repetitive, and in several cases more danceable too, which suggests that rock clubs and goth clubs might have been using several of these songs. I don't frequent any such institutions so I have no idea, but I guess I'd probably dance if 'Gibber' or 'Broken Skin' came over the sound system. The remix artists are also not too well known to me, but I know from the inclusion of Gothminister, The Kovenant, and David Wallace that Mortiis was able to collaborate with some big names in the darkwave and techno-industrial styles. That means several of the songs end up with slightly gentler or more electronic versions of the tracks, something that 'The Grudge' was very suitable for, providing material for four different versions on Some Kind of Heroin, the title of which is in fact a lyric taken from the same song. 'Gibber' also features heavily with three versions.

XP8 redoing 'Broken Skin' and Velvet Acid Christ's reimagining of 'Gibber' have the most potential for crossing over into mainstream clubbing music, the former favouring the raucous synths that brostep brought into the popular understanding, while the latter is a much trippier venture that will probably be played after 3am when everyone has either gone home or is only being sustained by drugs. The PIG attempt at 'Gibber' is interesting for being more like an old school industrial song, focusing more on the cutting edge of the guitar sound, as well as distorting various beats and vocals to end up somewhere close to early Skinny Puppy, if more coherent and song-based. The only time 'Decadent and Desperate' is featured is notable for the song going by at double speed with a heavy drum beat, while the closing In the Nursery mix of 'The Worst in Me' makes the most of the song's melancholy opening to include piano and violin in a total deviation from the feel of the original.

Remix albums are always aimed at a minority audience of die-hards and club-goers, which is no different to the appeal of Some Kind of Heroin. It doesn't really offer anything special to fans of Mortiis, though some of the efforts here reassemble the pieces of familiar compositions into new and curious shapes. If you're not really bothered about keeping many of the metal elements alongside the industrial and synthwave, you'll be happy here.


-- May Diamhea's feat of 100 reviews in 7 days remain unbeaten --