Sandoz - God Bless The Conspiracy (Alphaphone)

From the first few seconds of track one, you can sense that God Bless The Conspiracy is important. The sounds, the production. This is not self-indulgent or overly serious, but an album of ominous, weighty consequence. But what else would you expect from Richard H. Kirk (for it is he!), the man behind the mask of Sandoz and a million other pseudonyms and labels?

This is Kirk's fifth album as Sandoz and appears on his own label, Alphaphone. It continues a career that started off as a founding half of the highly-influential Cabaret Voltaire back in 1974 and later spanned dozens of albums (released under at least five different solo monikers!). Along the way he has worked with the likes of Marshall Jefferson, Francois Kevorkian and Ministry and in recent months even found time to turn in a blindin' remix of Sneaker Pimps' '6 Underground'.

This new album is a real mixture of styles - but is so obviously conceived from one highly focused mind, that all tracks blend into one powerful blast. From the industrial film soundtrack of 'Lights In The Sky' to the chemical funk-meets-Starsky & Hutch themes of 'Demonology' to the patter of garage beats on 'Louisiana'. One of the most interesting cuts is 'Blow (This Mother Up)', a ruffed-up drive through a '90s urban jungle of archived jazz samples and breaks. The album seems to build up throughout every track to the grand finale - 'The Moon Rises'. If Chris Carter directed the next James Bond film and they needed a street active soundtrack, this would be a match made in heaven. And as if to perfectly illustrate the conspiracy theme of the album's title, found sounds and samples are sprinkled throughout each track like suggestive subliminal messages. Amazing. 9/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine