SPK

*300 copies limited edition* Auto-Da-Fé is a collection of SPK’s singles from between 1978 and 1979. The first five tracks, from '78 and '79, are basically a scratchy thrashy punk sound, augmented by synthesizers and samples. Guitars grind, electronics screech, and metal is most thoroughly bashed. Highlight of these early works, and indeed the album, is the deranged Slogun. The intro to the song, a demented echoing clucking and quacking, leads into a pulverising mechanical grind. Surely a candidate for most extreme song of the late 70s and early 80s.

The next three tracks come from 1981, and a new more synth-oriented sound has been discovered. "Metal Field" and "Walking on Dead Steps", ever-so-slightly catchy, creepy, with militaristic overtones. "A Heart that Breaks (In No Time Or Place)", is the stand-out here, a minimalistic, almost EBM track, as an empassioned female voice narrates the amazingly bitter lyrics, while seemingly random percussion bashes quietly in the background.

The final three tracks date from 1982. On these tracks, a kind of shamanic quality has overcome the music, a tribal, mystical sound has come into effect. Synth-drum beats hold the songs together, as metallic-percussion inject the tracks with a hint of randomness and confusion. Vocals are no longer shouted, but delivered calmly, and the synth backing is created through drones, rather than beeps and stabs.

Every single one of these 11 tracks is of highest industrial quality.Best and rough sound of the era. From Industrial-Noise textures to Punk-Trappings to more danceable Industrial Angst-Pop. A selection of great SPK hits that made the history of Industrial Muzak.