I...Want...to Destroy!!! Atari Teenage Riot's Burn, Berlin, Burn

Sometimes, bands fall through the cracks of the vast expanse of music-dom. Sometimes, this is because their music doesn't fit into an established "genre" of music. Other times, its because the music is so out there, its hard to define who exactly would like it. In other cases, its because the music is too whacked-out and hard for fans of whacked-out, hard music to like it.

Pretty much any of these appelations could describe Atari Teenage Riot. Despite prime opening act positions on tours for such artists as Beck, Rage Against the Machine, and Nine Inch Nails, the band never even managed to break through in the underground music scene. They had some success, to be sure, but they were never darlings of the rock press like Guided By Voices or Stereolab.

That's fair enough, since they sound nothing like those groups. This is hard music, brutally, insanely hard music. And its electronic. Too techno for speed metal fans, and too speed metal for techno fans, ATR struggled to find a niche for their unique sound.

Inasmuch as the band manages to evade any traditional descriptions of genre, ATR is probably closest to noisecore (see Dillinger Escape Plan), but they are distinctively more electronica-inspired than bands within that sub-genre. A curious mix of aggro-punk, techno, hardcore, speed metal, political rap, and, well, bricks to the head, Atari Teenage Riot is clearly more interested in making a point than making something mainstream.

In fact, the band's vitriolic opposition to the government policies in their home country of Germany made them anathema to the police in Berlin (I suppose writing a song with the lyric "Rip all the policemen into pieces" did't help), and several concerts in their homeland resulted in violence. Luckily, the members of the legendary hip-hop group The Beastie Boys enjoyed the band's quirky hardcore techno sound, and signed them to their vanity label, Grand Royal records. The first release as a result of their partnership, Burn, Berlin, Burn is a compilation of tracks from their first two German releases, Delete Yourself and The Future of War. Stylistically similar enough to not sound like a compilation of two different albums, Burn, Berlin, Burn is an intriguing bit of music.

ATR is a band of rabble-rousers, in the best sense of the word. Ringleader Alec Empire, founder of Digital Hardcore Records, and vehemont defender of racial mixing in Germany and opposition to the overly violent police in Berlin, creates a sound born of pure, intense anger. Not one for Ghandi-esque tactics of passive resistance, he believes in open opposition to the people in charge. Along with cohorts Carl Crack and Hanin Elias, Atari Teenage Riot produces a sound that might come from Nine Inch Nails and Slayer having a bastard child force-fed massive quantities of sugar and forced to listen to Rage Against the Machine rant about politics. Subtle, they are not.

For the techno freaks out there, many of the songs on here move past the 200 bpm (beats per minute) mark, which is pretty darn fast, much faster than "hardcore" electronic groups like The Prodigy. Add to this shouting vocals by Empire and Elias, a male/female combo of angry nastiness, and you might gain an impression of their brutal, angry, violent sound.

From the start, the song titles tell you this isn't going to be a carriage ride to Grandma's house. "Start the Riot", "Sick to Death", "Deutschland (Has Gotta Die!)", "Into the Death", "The Future of War"...they aren't quite going for the soft sell on this album.

The music is primarily comprised of drum machine programming, synthesizers, and samples of video games ("Donkey Kong", "Mappy") and speed-metal and alternative bands (Slayer, Metallica, Nirvana, even Bad Brains). There are rare moments in this sonic attack when you are led to believe there is an ambition in their music to make something melodic and beautiful. Trust me on this, these moments won't last. This is chaos, pure and simple. With lyrics such as:

F*ck a 1,000,000 trendy hardcore members!!! / Never talk, always listen / I won't be afraid of the new time!!! ("Start the Riot")

As I left the supermarket two policemen grabbed me and they said/ "You're the c*nt that we were waiting for..."/ They didn't need a reason, they never do ("Heatwave")

We never talked a revolution/ We never played the cliche!/ That was you having old images in your head ("The Future of War")

Admittedly, some of their lyrics are N.W.A.-level comical in their violence, but, in general, the band seems pretty earnest in their hatred of the German police.

At its most intense moments ("Sick to Death", "Not Your Business", "Delete Yourself", "Speed"), the band's music is so deliriously intense in it delivery, the hardcore nut within me is head-banging with a fervor bound to give me a nasty pain in my neck for days following.

Outside of the tepid "Death Star", this album is all break-neck hardcore techno, music more hardcore than hardcore techno, and even more hardcore than most hardcore. Its so hard, even fans of hard music could walk away thinking its too hard. Mixing frenetic, 200+ bpm aggro-electronic drums with samples of Slayer? Definitely not for everyone.

This is the type of album in which you have to be in the right mood in order to listen to it. Its the type of music you listen to when you want to jump up and down, screaming at the injustice of the world. But, if you're like me and need to do that every so often, this is a worthy addition to your collection.