ALBUM REVIEW: The Brotherhood Of The Bomb (reissue) – Techno Animal

TECHNO ANIMAL was a collaboration between Kevin Martin (aka THE BUG, who has gone onto bring out phenomenal albums like London Zoo and Fire under that name) and Justin Broadrick (aka JK FLESH and mastermind behind GODFLESH, JESU and many others) that existed from the early 1990s to the early 2000s. The duo – and the guest artists that featured on their albums – combined harsh electronic elements with industrial hip-hop beats and dub and ambient elements to create a dystopian sound that was sublime as it was intense. Having worked together on projects like GOD and FINAL, Martin and Broadrick released a number of great records under the TECHNO ANIMAL name, but it was the pair’s final album The Brotherhood Of The Bomb that really brought the noise.

Having been out of print for years now, the album is finally back and remastered perfectly by Broadrick himself, and the results still sound as truly thrilling as they did back in 2001. From the moment the very first beats of Cruise Mode 101 featuring Chicago hip-hop group RUBBEROOM kick in, you know you are listening to something very special and the sheer sonic spectacle will still take your breath away. From then on in, it’s a masterclass in tense atmospherics and head-shredding beats, with guests such as ANTIPOP CONSORTIUM and ROB SONIC adding rhymes to the hectic beat selection.

Tracks like the twitchy bleep-laden beats of Freefall and the ambient soundscapes of Monscopic add to the diverse nature of The Brotherhood Of The Bomb while the hyped up mutant dancehall of Piranha featuring a mesmerising performance from Toastie Taylor from NEW FLESH is a perfect example of what Martin would go on to do in his work as THE BUG. The collaboration We Can Build You that features Vast Aire from CANNIBAL OX and COMPANY FLOW‘s El-P (now half of RUN THE JEWELS) sounds like an underground hip-hop fever dream in the best way possible.

The album concludes with the pulsating Blood Money and finally, Hell, a track that features experimental hip hop act DÄLEK and rounds things off in stunning and devastating fashion. The Brotherhood Of The Bomb is an album packed full of the hardest breakbeats, ones that could break heads in fact, and the bass sound is still absolutely phenomenal. With drum & bass maverick DILLINJA, PUBLIC ENEMY‘s wall of sound production supremos THE BOMB SQUAD, and the almighty dub sounds of JAH SHAKA and ABA-SHANTI I all acting as influences, you get an idea of the truly huge sound that TECHNO ANIMAL had on The Brotherhood Of The Bomb.

The Brotherhood Of The Bomb still sounds as fresh, as forward-thinking and as dystopian in 2024 as it did when it was released and is quite simply as much of a masterpiece now as it was then, possibly even more so now as this remastered version by Broadrick sounds even harsher and heavier, and all the better for it. Tune in, turn up, and let the truly cathartic heaviness of The Brotherhood Of The Bomb consume your very being once again.

Rating: 10/10

The Brotherhood Of The Bomb (reissue) is set for release on February 16th via Relapse Records.