Vital Stats: SML8 is a Daytona-area band that blends electronica, industrial, metal and "orchestrated genres," says the group's auteur, Scott Van Horn.
SML8 includes music, vocals and "engineering" by Van Horn, plus Adrienne Noyes, vocals and live synths; Jace Wertz, live guitar; Dave "Murdoc" Arellano, live drums, and Seven, live bass.
The Music: Like Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor, Van Horn is savvy enough to know that the "engineering" and "orchestrated" aspects of industrial metal add to the mind-freak as much as the choking Rottweiler vocals and guitar assault.
"Surreality," the band's new 11-track CD, sports its share of Rott vox, but they're artfully balanced by the valkyrie vocals of Noyes -- thus conjuring a beauty and the beast effect -- and by Van Horn's subtle but clever use of electronica trickery.
"Do you ever feel reality is more twisted than dreams" a distorted, semi-electronic voice asks at the opening of the song "Mindcraft." Then the track boldly unleashes spry, almost New Age-y synths that hop-scotch amid arresting vocals by Noyes that are more Sarah Brightman than Evanescence's Amy Lee.
"Hate me, assassinate me, you can't escape me 'cause I'm the monster in you," Van Horn growls over a killer groove on "Death Grip," a track that's both danceable and chilling. "Don't let your guard down, 'cause I'm standing behind you, with flesh in my teeth and blood in my hair." It's guaranteed to conjure disturbing images of lemmings giddily slam dancing into the welcoming arms of some sort of psycho beast.
Van Horn's not-so-secret weapon -- that "engineering" he cites -- bobs and weaves throughout the album, whether it's the extraterrestrial harpsichord that fills the coda of "Cross Conscious Phenomena" or the cinematic synths that pump up "Reprogram."
And, like the Reznor guy, Van Horn knows the value of a hook or riff, and so such tracks as "Refl3ktion" and "Death Grip" glom onto the brain like those alien sucker monsters in that old "Star Trek" episode.
You'll Like This If You Like: Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Evanescence
Website: sml8music.com
CD Available At: Atlantic Sounds in Daytona Beach, online at the band's website, by email at sml8music@gmail.com and at live shows, $10.
Upcoming Gigs: CD release show with SML8 plus Hair of the Beast and Damn Son, 9 p.m. Saturday, SickBoy's Bad Habit Lounge, 200 S. Beach St., Daytona Beach. $5, ages 18 and older only. Information: 386-310-7870.
