Music Review // Mark Wise "The Fire Within" (Let's Techno Records)

https://open.spotify.com/album/3XVnmsytNaPsuDyw3sj9bJ?si=0eU9_d_-R3GmRUryuTf43w&nd=1

Right away, Mark Wise brings out these great dance beats which make me think of a movie such as "Run Lola Run" because of their fast paced/running away from something quality.  Distorted guitars come into the mix now and then there is also vocals which sing lines such as the title.  In this way, with the vocals, I'm somewhat reminded of Rob Zombie or Gravity Kills.

This song- "The Fire Within"- appears in four different versions.  There is the original, a remix by Tony Ess, an instrumental version and then a radio edit.  What I like about this is that back in the early 2000's, this feels like the type of thing you would find at a record store as a CD single with an extended play or it could simply be split into a cassingle with two tracks on each side.  Either way, this feels like what radio stations would've once had but was also out there for the public.

With all of that being said, I feel like this song would fit in well with what a label such as Wax Trax was once doing, not only because of the way they explored cassettes and CDs but also because this would just fit in with their all around vibe of sound.  The fast paced electronics mixed with that industrial type of guitar and vocals just makes me think of artists such as Pitchshifter and along those Wax Trax lines.

As much as I enjoy this song and its various forms, perhaps the biggest accomplishment of Mark Wise with this all here is how he has managed to combine techno and industrial.  There just don't seem to be a lot of artists out there right now making music that hits with beats this hard, and if they do they don't really seem to be blending it with the same sounds Mark Wise has.  Making this feel like old but also new again is to be commended.