by Theo Kavadias
Front Line Assembly, one of the premiere electro-industrial acts, has done much to help define what the genre is about. Tactical Neural Implant is one of the releases which has contributed most to this claim, setting a standard with its cool, calm, and collected electronic harmonies and driving bass. Tracks from Tactical Neural Implant have consistently terrorized the dancefloors, including the classic tracks &The Blade& and &Mindphaser.& Track by track, Tactical Neural Implant becomes a landscape of a dark future, at times fragile (&Remorse,& &Lifeline&), at other times a bold bordering on aggressive (&Bio-Mechanic&), but always compelling and somehow detached. It was perhaps this contradiction that forms the winning combination in Front Line Assembly's music of this period, and which guarantees that Tactical Neural Implant will stay compelling many years from its release.