Front Line Assembly (FLA) is a Electro-industrial band from Canada that was formed 25 years ago by Bill Leeb after he left Skinny Puppy. Improvised Electronic Device (I.E.D.) is the band's 15th album in their 25 year history, and has been called "stronger and more danceable" than previous releases - I tend to agree.
The album starts off with the title track, a slow building song that sets the tone for what's to come. Driving beats and guitars come in about mid-way and won't let go. The second song, "Angriff", almost feels as if it's a similar song to "I.E.D.", but it's very deceiving, sneaky, and pounces on you when you least expect it with its crunchy guitar and hard hitting drums. This song reminds one of Rammstein or KMFDM. What's interesting is that the chorus of "Angriff" is in German, which makes the tie-in to Rammstein even more tighter. As I understand it, this song is inspired by the band's time in Russia.
"Hostage" and "Laws of Deception" are probably the most political tracks on the album, but each is a little different in their sound. "Hostage" is about oil and the wars that are fought over it and it also returns FLA to the industrial/dance clubs with the electronic sound. This is a song that gets the glow sticks out, and has dancers all over the floor. However, "Laws Of Deception" is a much more industrial political song, one which an army would chant the lyrics: "Laws of Deception, Laws Of Control, Laws to crush people down below..."
"Release" is a track that reminds me a lot of an old FLA song, "Bio-Mechanic" from their "Tactical Neural Implant" album and it has a nice guitar infused chorus that will make you want to head bang.
The first single off the album, "Shifting Through The Lens" is another dance club song that will bring the bodies to the floor. It starts of with a recognizable intro and leaps into a dance beat that should have the dance floor packed by the time it hits 2 minutes into the song. "Pressure Wave" continues the crunchy industrial sound, will have the moshers taking over the club and providing the pressure along the dance floor.
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