Bill Leeb – “Model Kollapse” album review

Is the debut solo album from the Front Line Assembly main man a towering success or just a “Kollapse”?!

I was quite surprised to find that Bill Leeb, the towering frontman of the above-mentioned Front Line Assembly, has only just released a solo album! As a long-time FLA fan, I was excited to give this a spin and review. Being one of the mainstays of Electro-Industrial along with fellow Canadians Skinny Puppy it was going to be interesting to see if Bill has stayed true to those roots or branched out and been a bit more experimental with Model Kollapse.

The first thing that hits me is the production. This has absolutely wonderful bottom-end sound from the off giving a great depth of body to opening track “Demons“. A fine opener, but not straying far from the FLA sound. Leeb has kept a lot of effects off his voice here giving a nice clear vocal.

As is typical of this kind of music, movie samples are used to effect for the intro to “Exotic Matter”. Sounds like something from Pinhead in one of the later Hellraiser movie series. This leads into a staccato start/stop drum beat – kind of D ‘n’ B style but nowhere near as fast and irritating! It’s a moody number, but never really gets going for me.

The third track “Neuromotive” however is a hark back to the old EBM days, bringing back memories of the days when I went to alternative industrial club nights. Quite nostalgia-inducing..

Unfortunately from this point on, the album becomes rather formulaic to me. The songs are by no means bad but don’t get me excited or moving in any way. The first single that was released from the album “Terror Forms (feat. Shannon Hemmet)”, is a bit more lively, but also very samey throughout its length.

On the whole, there is nothing at all wrong with the album. I’m sure a good many FLA and Skinny Puppy fans will really dig it, but I am left somewhat underwhelmed by it. I was expecting more variation and experimentation, but that’s just me!

It is Bill’s first solo album, so I’m sure he will be doing more as time goes on.

Track Listing

1: Demons

2: Exotic Matter

3: Neuromotive

4: Folded Hands

5: Pinned Down

6: Terror Forms (feat. Shannon Hemmet)

7: Muted Obsession (feat. ACTORS)

8: Simulation

9: Infernum

10: Fusion

11: Erosion Through Time (feat. Mimi Page)

Links

Bandcamp: https://frontlineassembly.bandcamp.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.leeb.3