FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY - Reclamation
Songs: 12  Time:  74:33
Spanning 5 years in the history of this talented act, Reclamation gives us the best of Front Line Assembly between 1989 and 1994.  From the Gashed Senses and Crossfire period of FLA we are treated to the Contagion Mix of Digital Tension Dementia.  It was with this release where listeners initially began to see the rapid rate of progression that Leeb’s music was making.  Far more complex than most of his previous work, Digital Tension Dementia ushered in the new, cybernistic qualities that FLA are now known for.  Digital Tension Dementia was the first single off of Gashed… and was followed closely by No Limit.  The Disintegration Mix of this track combines violent samples from The Hidden with rough rhythms, pulsating sequences and growling vocals.  With the release of this single, FLA had become a staple in the field of hard electronics.  The following year, after a one-off collaboration with the musicians behind Skinny Puppy, Leeb and company returned with Caustic Grip.  Caustic Grip spawned a trio of singles, Iceolate, Provision and Virus.  The first of these, Iceolate, showed Leeb’s music progressing even further with the addition of more chaotic programming and pounding rhythm lines.  Once the single for Virus was released FLA had already garnered a huge following both in North American and abroad.  The video for Virus saw airplay on MTV and receive rave reviews in the club scene.  Two years of silence followed before the next offering from FLA, Mindphaser, would surface.  Once again, FLA had a hit on their hands and also, once again, a widely acclaimed video which consisted of film snippets from the Japanese / American film collaboration Gunhed.  Maintaining their rhythmic assault FLA soon released another full length, Tactical Neural Implant.  T.N.I. was a major success for FLA and it brought forth another single, The Blade.  In the US, The Blade single was a typical 4 track single consisting of two mixes of the title track and two unreleased tracks, but overseas this single was released as an EP with 4 mixes of The Blade and 4 unreleased tracks.  Reclamation brings these 2 unreleased tracks as well as one of the unreleased mixes to US shores for the first time.  Heatwave boasts a deep, wet sounding rhythm, random samples, dark vocals, and a galloping beat.  Target follows a similar pattern in that it was constructed as a dark, electronic dance piece geared for any electro-head club kid.  In 1994 FLA released Millennium and an accompanying pair of singles (Millennium and Surface Patterns.)  For most avid fans the new sound on Millennium came as a shock.  Hard guitar riffs invaded into a territory that was once governed by gritty electronics.  Many people may have been turned off by their new style, but at the same time FLA gained many new fans.  Then overall song structures of both of these singles still retained the blueprinted sound that FLA had mapped out in their previous releases, but it was accented (and made even harder) with the grinding guitars.  Even though Reclamation ends in this period, FLA moved on to release two more albums (Hard Wired and FLAvour of the Weak.)  Even though Reclamation is more or less a ‘best of’ compilation, it is still a nice addition to the library of any FLA fan, especially to those who were unfortunate enough to miss out on the Euro version of The Blade and can now partake of what they had been missing.
   
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