Genre/Influences: Industrial-rock, noise, psychedelic-hardcore.

Background/Info: Controlled Bleeding was set up in the late 70s. The band hailing from New York rapidly became an influential name at the experimental- and industrial music scene. They’ve released an impressive discography, but this new studio-work can be easily considered as a milestone in their career. “Larva Lumps & Baby Bumps” is the first new studio-album since 2002! Founding member Paul Lemos remains the captain of the crew while he’s assisted by another ‘old’ member Anthony Meola plus Mike Bazini and Chvad SB. This is a double album featuring a total of 12 tracks.

Content: It always has been impossible to define the sound of this band. They for sure often experimented with elements of noise, industrial, rock and electronics, but they never really belong to an established music genre.

The new work holds on to this sonic anarchism although again reveals hard industrial-rock influences mixed with abstract elements like noises. Some parts are moving into a kind of hardcore experiment mixed with psychedelic guitar parts. Controlled Bleeding hasn’t lost a single element of their initial approach, which makes me think of a kind of ‘anti-music’. It clearly brings us back to the early years of the 80s experiments in noise and industrial music.
The sound still sounds driven by a very personal rock style, which is like an imaginary answer against classical rock music. It sounds hard and weird, totally unclassifiable and sometimes a bit psychedelic. A few songs feature vocal lines, which makes it more accessible and ‘traditional.

+ + + : The studio comeback of Controlled Bleeding is the most noticeable point about this album. Controlled Bleeding fans will be not disappointed, the band bringing us back to the essence of their successful sound formula. They remain a very unique experience in sound, which is hard to grasp and impossible to define. There’s only one Controlled Bleeding and that’s precisely what this album reveals.

– – – : The music of this band sound a bit like coming from another music planet or maybe from another time. It’s miles away from the current industrial music and that’s why I’m afraid it will only appeal for the die-hard fans of the band and other music lovers in search of anti-rock music. It’s definitely not my favorite album.

Conclusion: Veterans, pioneers, godfathers… there’re too much superlatives to qualify Controlled Bleeding. “Larva Lumps & Baby Bumps” doesn’t sound like a new beginning, but just the continuation of nearly 40 years of sonic terror!

Best songs: “Eye Of Needle”, “Carving Song”, “The Perks Of Being A Perv (Parts 1-4)”.

Rate: (7).