Pain Station - Disjointed (1999)
release info: http://www.discogs.com/release/10632

1. Pain
2. Anxiety
3. T.O.S.
4. Martyr
5. Flatline
6. Control
7. Tourist
8. Grovel
9. Monster
10. Solitude
11. One Fine Day
12. More Pain

Pain Station Disjointed (COP Int'l)
 The sound of Cincinnati's Pain Station has evolved quite a bit in the short time that we have been exposed to them. Since the debut of the tracks "The End Of You" (on the enormous There Is No Time 4-CD compilation) and "Cringe" (from Coldwave Breaks) many saw Pain Station as a hard-edged guitar-driven industrial act. Then the release of the full-length debut album Anxiety on Decibel Records proved everyone wrong, as the one-man project headed by Scott Sturgis unveiled a darker electro sound. Now with his debut on Oakland s COP Int'l label, Scott Sturgis once again surprises everyone with an even darker release sporting a very powerful, electro-noise sound comparable to such great acts as Noisex, PAL, and Imminent Starvation. Still present are the harsh vocals but now they are backed by a strong electro sound. With the help of friends Tom Shear (Assemblage 23), Tom Muschitz (Alien Faktor) and Oneiroid Psychosis, Pain Station delivers what has to be one of the best albums of 1999. Just a mere listen to songs such as "Monster," "Grovel," and "One Fine Day" will prove to anyone that Disjointed is truly an infectious collection of anger-driven power electronics that cannot be ignored.

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
A little bit of everything makes it onto this disc, the sophomore release of Pain Station, a.k.a. Scott Sturgis. In places, he seems to share the very American approach to industrial music favored by bands like Index and Heavy Water Factory: dense, dark compositions laced with keyboard squelches, samples, and distorted vocals alternately whined, whispered, and shrieked. In other places, he strips down the mix, evoking a sound closer in spirit to the cold minimalism of European electro bands like Dive or Suicide Commando. In still other places, we get hints of Skinny Puppy or perhaps a more adventurous Nine Inch Nails. What we don't get is a record meant for the clubs--the beats per minute are kept to a relative crawl, and the emphasis is really on the more cinematic aspects of the mix than the rhythm programming. That's refreshing, and Sturgis pulls it off quite well on Disjointed, using a cleaner, less muddled production that emulsifies the disparate elements in the songs. Standout tracks include the gloomy sultriness of "Martyr," the deceptively simple programming of "Flatline," and the sweeping faux strings of "Solitude."
--Steve Landau


Rip info: Ripped with EAC, secure mode, offset corrected, test & copy. Log and cue included.