Fractured

[Only Human Remains sleeve]

"Only Human Remains" (Album, 2005)

Only Human Remains is the debut album by Toronto based three-piece Fractured. Opener What Is The Moment of Truth? takes some the future sounds of VNV Nation and the compositional attitude and distorted vocals of Suicide Commando, combines the two and sets out the template for at least some of the underlying DNA structure to Fractured's sound. Before getting signed by the label, Fractured lead man Nick Gorman won a :wumpscut: remix competition - and Rudy R's influence is obvious (but he's never matched).

The higher BPM take works best on tracks like the title track Only Human Remains, but songs like Everytime that play up the dance beats just sound too cheesy. It's a style that's never sat well with me. Highlights are mid-tempo entres Becoming One and Haunted Memories with their more thoughtful approach (but still seriously distorted vocals) and are much more intriuging suggesting that its in this dancefloor indifferent direction that more rewarding results might be found. There is promise here evidenced in these more introverted songs and often sensed in the glitch editing styling that means I won't be writing off Fractured just yet. 6/10

Rob Dyer (March 2007)

Official Fractured website: http://www.faithisfractured.com