Fort Hazel is a small independent record label based out of Boise Idaho and have graced us with the third installment of Swallowed by Machinery; seventeen songs that are as eclectic and varied as you will likely ever hear on a compilation CD. While this comp is unquestionably DIY (complete with magazine cutouts for liner art and a hand cut track listing), the quality and presentation of the music makes this CD an eerie and wonderful addition to your collection.

Some of the most noteworthy tracks are Deerhoof - I hear an Echo (avant-guard rock), Low Belly - Violaine Moderato (a_rad_wigs remix) (instrumental avant-guard), Zann - taalfahit ius Gluck (a German metal-core band that I would love to hear more of), darph/nader - Headroom Section 1 (ambient noise-rock), a radio with guts - the white trucks will ruin everything (a one-man-band lo-fi project), Encompass and Stalemate - these stained red hands/devoid of love (metal-core joy from Baton Rouge), the band from bloody elle - go der (a wildly experimental song that is so simple that it's captivating), Department of Experimental Health - Bomb the USA (from the track listing:

"Bomb the USA' was written a year before the S-11 bombing. It is still legitimate. The song is about equality. It is about justice. It is about peace. Let the US Government feel the pain it inflicts upon others throughout the world. Let war be as spitting in the wind. Bomb the bomb factories. Become the media with a vengeance. Wage peace with weapons of wisdom. Explode. Implode. Fight with your wallet, your eyes, your soul. The air is now dense with the thick smog of 'Patriotism.' Who can see clearly? The USA is still blocking the ICC in order to be world police with impunity, to defend 'Democracy' with tyranny, ruthlessness, and deceit. The USA is not a place. It is in your mind. In honor of Nagasaki Vietnam, and the tens of thousands of civilians murdered by the USA military (1989-1991). Bomb the USA."

To fully imagine the theme think of the song by Raft of Dead Monkeys, Fight the CIA... but imagine if Raft was serious. Before your eyes roll in the back of your head, if it's not too late, realize that this is a pretty decent electronic/industrial song from a German two piece band).

If you are looking for the obscure, and are craving an anti-radio-friendly CD, be sure to support local music from all over the world by picking this CD up. There are only 1,000 pressings.

Go buy it from Fort Hazel

Mike Frost
www.buzzgrinder.com