Tactical Neural Implant
| Tactical Neural Implant | ||||
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| Studio album by Front Line Assembly | ||||
| Released | April 28, 1992 | |||
| Recorded | 1992, Creation Studios, Vancouver, B.C. | |||
| Genre | Electro-industrial | |||
| Length | 44:57 | |||
| Label | Third Mind, Apollon International, Roadrunner | |||
| Producer | Front Line Assembly | |||
| Front Line Assembly chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Tactical Neural Implant | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Industrial Strength | Favorable |
| Melody Maker | Favorable |
| Music From the Empty Quarter | Favorable |
| Select |   |
Tactical Neural Implant is an album by electro-industrial artists Front Line Assembly. Third Mind Records originally released it in 1992 on both compact-disc and LP formats. The album has also been issued by Roadrunner in a two-disc set that includes the Millennium album.
The album contains what some reviewers regard as some of Front Line Assembly's best songs, including the singles "The Blade" and "Mindphaser". The album still receives heavy play in industrial and electronic music dance clubs and is considered "a classic among clubgoers, DJs, and musicians even now."
Tactical Neural Implant sold more than 70,000 copies. It was the first Front Line Assembly album to be officially released in Japan.
Mindphaser is the first single taken from Tactical Neural Implant. The single was released April 7, 1992 on Third Mind. It includes two versions of the title track and the tracks "Toxic" and "Mutilate" that were also released as bonus tracks on the Japanese edition of the album. A promotional music video for "Mindphaser" won "Best Alternative Video" at Much Music's 1992 Canadian Music Video Awards. The award winning video was directed by Robert Lee and produced by Gary Blair Smith and took two months to make. The video depicts Front Line Assembly inserted into clips of the Japanese Science Fiction film Gunhed. The Japanese film company let Front Line Assembly use any footage of the film in exchange for the right to use any changes the band would make for themselves. The video also received airplay on MTV. "Mindphaser" was voted the sixth greatest industrial song of all time by COMA Music Magazine in their feature article "101 Greatest Industrial Songs of All Time".
After having won the award, Front Line Assembly shed some light on the production of the video on MuchMusic. Bill Leeb considered their approach to writing to be quite unconventional. "I was shown some footage first", said Leeb, "we actually wrote the song to the footage. Also the lyrics were written to the footage." "There was a lot of brainstorming between us and the people involved in the video", added Rhys Fulber. According to the band it was rather the images than the actual plot of the film the video clip is based on that inspired writing. "The actual storyline is kind of hard to follow because it's all in Japanese obviously", Fulber explained. Although "even just visually it's hard to follow [...] it's just the imagery we found quite amazing." Leeb commented on concerns that the imagery might push the music into the background. "A lot of times videos actually wreck songs" by pushing the listener in a direction, he said. In contrast, "this way it worked hand in hand really well."
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