Xtort - Nothing Is Real [DA Records]

Incoming only recently from the Dutch / German Industrial meets Wave and PostPunk outfit Xtort is their latest longplay outing "Nothing Is Real" which is, like most of their work, put on the circuit via DA Records, short for Dildo Action Records according to discogs. Stretched out over roughly 46 minutes the band, which is a successor of the long defunct Industrial Metal outfit HOER, presents a total of eleven new cuts on this longplayer, building a bridge between CyberPunk and FuturePop with the epic, yet dystopian opener "Truth" which is followed by the merciless and stomping, yet still melodic banger "Fire" and the more Industrial-flavored "Die Stadt", a tune leaning toward cold string arrangements, brutal vocalisms and robotic background vocoders. With these three opening cuts Xtort are presenting a rough layout for further things to come, like the grinding slo-mo brutality meets (Neo)Cosmic synth melancholia found in "Devil", the raw SynthPop / SynthWave flavours found in "No Passion" or the full on lo-fi (Neo)Cosmic meets ItaloDisco vibe in "Escape" which could've found a welcoming home on the now defunct Berlin-based imprint Das Drehmoment whilst the title track "Nothing Is Real" brings forth more stomping, uptempo Rave / EBM brutalisms with a tongue-in-cheek twist for absolute peaktime abuse. Furthermore "Waiting" sees the multinational band project surprisingly fuse classic, a little over the top Rock vocals with an easy, and well cheesy, ElectroPop foundation, "Like A Knife" brings back the CyberGoth / FuturePop drive of earlier tracks whereas following "Dangerous Impulses" might lead straight into the wee hours of Future Industrial underground parties and the abuse of echoing voices and warped space synths right before "Dieses Leben (Acoustic)" adds a surprising twist for a closing, entering a quick slice of German Rock music which surely isn't expected after 40+ minutes of cyberreal dancefloor focus.