Improvised Electronic Device | ||||
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Studio album by Front Line Assembly | ||||
Released | June 22, 2010 | |||
Genre | Industrial, electro-industrial, industrial metal | |||
Length | 60:16 | |||
Label | Metropolis, Dependent | |||
Producer | Bill Leeb, Chris Peterson, Jeremy Inkel, Jared Slingerland | |||
Front Line Assembly chronology | ||||
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Singles from Improvised Electronic Device | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Alternation | |
Bloody Disgusting | |
Brutal Resonance | 7/10 |
FEARnet | Favorable |
KWWL | |
PopMatters | 6/10 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Favorable |
Soundsphere | |
Sputnikmusic |
Improvised Electronic Device is an album by Vancouver industrial band Front Line Assembly, released in 2010.
Improvised Electronic Device was first released in the United States on June 22, 2010 through Metropolis. The European version, released on June 25, 2010 via Dependent, differs in that it features the fifth track "Shifting Through the Lens" as edit. The album was issued in two different formats: The physical CD includes ten tracks while the digital download release was offered as regular ten track version as well as deluxe edition containing two bonus tracks. In 2014, Canadian label Artoffact Records re-released Improvised Electronic Device as double vinyl in different variations.
Improvised Electronic Device spawned two singles. The first one, Shifting Through the Lens, was released a few weeks before the album. The title track comes in an extendend version and as digital download-only edit. The single also includes the track "Angriff" and the non-album instrumental "Endless Void".
Angriff [Remix] is the second single from the album. It was released on the occasion of Front Line Assembly's tour in Europe together with mind.in.a.box in September and October 2010, due to "Angriff" having "developed [in]to a club hit." Originally, the single was announced to be available only at live shows.Angriff contains a radio edit and several remixes of the title track, of which four are works by Mindless Faith, Skold, mind.in.a.box, and Project Pitchfork. The track "Attack the Masses", although credited as unreleased, was already released as a bonus track for the deluxe edition of Improvised Electronic Device, while "Freakuency" is a track previously unreleased.
According to band leader Bill Leeb there was no theme from which the album took form. "Everyone just started doing stuff", he said in an interview with Auxiliary Magazine, emphasizing how the band was influenced by their surroundings, "I don’t know if it’s just the times we live in or the stuff going on around us. Whether you read the internet or watch the news or whether you just talk to people. It just seems like it ended up being a theme of predominance, world issues." Leeb cited travelling with the band as important inspiration, mentioning trips to Russia as example: "Front Line has always liked iconic symbolism and going to countries like that really inspired me lyrically." "It seemed like wherever we looked there was something for us to get into. We didn’t have to make up any stories or create anything that wasn’t already in front of us.", he concluded. Similarly, the album title arose from the band's perception of the outside world. Guitarist Jared Slingerland said in a conversation with The Rumpus, "I mean, I.E.D., it's obvious what it is, but because it's still kind of a sensitive issue, Bill came up with the idea of 'electronic device.' There's obviously some overlap there."