Skinny Puppy - Cyber-punk dances

The electronic-industrial movement, whose pioneers and founding fathers include bands like Throbbing Gristle and, above all, Cabaret Voltaire, found one of its highest expressions in the work of Canada's Skinny Puppy.

A group as innovative as few others in industrial music, Skinny Puppy were born around 1983 in Vancouver, the brainchild of singer Kevin Ogilvie (aka Nivek Ogre), percussionist and keyboardist Kevin Crompton (who rechristened himself Cevin Key), and Bill Leeb, who would soon leave his bandmates to form the equally seminal Front Line Assembly.

Their early singles would only be collected on record some years later, on the second instalment of the Back and Forth Series (compilations of unreleased material, rarities and b-sides), but already with the Remission EP (1984), containing gems like "Smothered Hope", "Glass Houses" and "Far Too Frail", the band's name became one of the most in-demand on the alternative club circuit. It could even be argued that they, more than anyone else, contributed to the explosion of so-called Electronic Body Music (EBM) - the musical expression of the cyberpunk movement, of rave culture, in short of that whole endless undergrowth of urban subcultures that enjoyed a genuine golden age in the first half of the Eighties.

Skinny Puppy immediately set themselves apart from predecessors and inspirations such as Cabaret Voltaire, Suicide and Clock Dva, largely thanks to singer Nivek Ogre: while the music still didn't stray too far from synth-pop conventions, what made the difference was his malevolent, atonal singing, miles away from anything resembling "melody" or "catchiness". A magnetic frontman with a powerful stage presence, Ogre turned the band's live shows into full-blown happenings built around apocalyptic, horror-tinged fantasies with his blood-soaked pantomime, while his lyrics - always visionary yet deeply tied to the realities of contemporary society - fused the most extreme self-harm (chronic nervous disorders caused by the abuse of every kind of drug) with social engagement on the ecological front (he has always been an activist for the animal-rights and anti-vivisection movement).

Given these premises, Skinny Puppy's debut album, Bites (1985), simply confirmed their leadership of the era's industrial-dance scene, thanks to two genre milestones like "Assimilate" and "The Choke".

The following albums, Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (1986) and Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate (1987), didn't add much that was new to their repertoire, but showed an ever-growing use of samples of every kind layered onto the electronic foundations - still very danceable, aside from a few more cacophonous episodes - and onto Ogre's increasingly sick, obsessive vocals. It was with the addition of keyboardist Dwayne Goettel in 1987, however, that their sound was finally able to fully realize its potential: Goettel's backdrops painted, with a tragic touch and a thoroughly distinctive style, both the singer's apocalyptic visions and Cevin Key's rhythmic and sonic inventions - Key, who around that same time launched the important side project Tear Garden alongside Edward Ka-Spel.

Skinny Puppy's golden era begins with the album VIVIsectVI (1988), a concept record tackling every negative aspect of society close to Nivek Ogre's heart: the result is a set of intricate, complex tracks like "Dogshit" and "VX Gas Attack", textbook industrial cuts like "Harsh Stone White", and calmer, more evocative moments like the gorgeous "Testure".

A further step forward came with Rabies (1989), an extraordinary album that remains their masterpiece, and which opened a fruitful period of collaboration with Ministry (Al Jourgensen himself produced the record). Jourgensen's presence is felt in powerful, savage tracks like "Tin Omen", the most "rock" moment in their catalogue, but the album's range of styles is so wide it defies any categorization: from the techno of "Rodent" to the pounding dance of "Hexonxonx" (one of their masterpieces), from the speed-metal delirium of "Fascist Jockitch" to avant-garde experiments like "Two Time Grime", all the way to the unforgettable "Rivers" and "Worlock", two refined, evocative, despairing tracks that bring Key's sampling artistry, Goettel's exquisite finishing touches, and Ogre's catastrophic visions all to their peak.

After touring with Ministry as guitarist and vocalist, Nivek Ogre and co. continued their evolution, arriving at a new concept album, Too Dark Park (1990), undoubtedly their most violent and furious work, and the one that comes closest to the true essence of "industrial music": here pure, unadulterated chaos reigns, with every track submerged in a devastating downpour of frenzied samples, psychotic vocalizations, and jagged, torrential rhythms. The opening triad of "Convulsion"-"Tormentor"-"Spasmolytic" is one single, deranged orgy of ever-mutating sonic ideas. Along the same lines, but with a touch more order, are a fine example of industrial dance like "Rash Reflection" and another of their synthetic melodramas, "Grave Wisdom"; the only moment of release is "Nature's Revenge", a track in pure "darkwave" style that sinks into a suffocating, tense and menacing atmosphere, and which is, in fact, one of the record's high points.

Meanwhile, the side projects keep multiplying: besides carrying on with Tear Garden, Cevin Key — together with Dwayne Goettel — reunites with old bandmate Bill Leeb in Cyberactif, while Key and Goettel alone form Doubting Thomas, devoted to ambient soundtracks.

Skinny Puppy's new album, Last Rights (1992), relies entirely on the trio's by-now consolidated craft: the work is a kind of "conceptual" sequel to Rabies, from which it borrows much of the sound and the same "occult" atmospheres; the link to that album is summed up in the lengthy "Riverz End", a sort of remix of "Rivers", which assembles a martial rhythm and keyboard flourishes worthy of the cosmic couriers of the 1970s. Among the most interesting and original ideas, though, are the opening "Love In Vein", another of Ogre's violent tirades set to a heavy rhythm constantly shattered by lightning-fast, almost subliminal breaks, and the sheer infernal chaos of "Knowhere", another collage of noises piled one on top of the other, until it buries Ogre's piercing screams. That same year, Nivek Ogre collaborates with Martin Atkins's Pigface.

Cevin Key and Dwayne Goettel surround themselves with exceptional collaborators such as Mark Spybey and, above all, the legendary Genesis P.Orridge, already a leader of Throbbing Gristle, to bring Download to life, yet another side project.

Whether distracted by so many collaborations or because tensions were building within the band, Skinny Puppy only find themselves back in the studio together in 1995, but the sessions are plagued by Ogre's nervous breakdowns and Goettel's severe heroin addiction; he is sadly found dead of an overdose shortly after.

The tragedy is followed by a dreadful period: Ogre and Key, devastated by the sudden loss of their bandmate, decide to put an end to the Skinny Puppy adventure right as the new album is about to come out, one whose copyright they also find themselves stripped of. Though it inevitably bears the marks of the many troubles that preceded and accompanied its creation, The Process (1996) still proves to be a thoroughly worthy album, full of intriguing ideas that seem to open new horizons for their music: for the first time, guitar dominates the sound, carving out powerful, driving tracks like "Death", more introspective moments like the splendid "Candle", and gothic apotheoses like "Cult" and the overture "Jahya". Other moments, like "Blue Serge", are instead pure techno, perfect for a rave, while the closing "Amnesia" is a majestic, dramatic track in the band's finest tradition, bringing their saga to a close in the best possible way.

In the following years, Ogre devotes himself to solo projects (Welt and OHGR, both disappointing) and high-profile collaborations (the 1998 album made with Martin Atkins, Bedside Toxicology, is excellent), while Cevin Key confirms his talent as an avant-garde musician with the instrumental albums Involution (1998) and The Ghost of Each Room (1999).

The occasion for a historic reunion between the two comes with a concert in Dresden in 2000, later immortalized on the album Doomsday: Back and Forth 5 (2001), but as for a return of the legendary Skinny Puppy name itself, the singer has stated: "I find it hard to imagine us getting back together, especially since Dwayne left. When he joined the band, a feeling was created that we'd never had before. Bill Leeb was a fun guy with a lot of talent, but he was never a musician on Dwayne's level. Beyond that, there's also a certain path I've decided to follow on my own for now, and collaborating with Cevin isn't part of that."

Despite this, there is constant talk of the two returning to the studio, and of an imminent new album under the Skinny Puppy name, one that would also involve Genesis P.Orridge himself, who reportedly recently took part in some informal sessions with Key and Ogre.

And in 2004 the reunion project takes shape with The Greater Wrong Of The Right, which features numerous guests of varying renown (such as Danny Carey of Tool and Wayne Static of Static-X).

The album opens with "I'mmortal", one of its most immediate tracks, offering a very modern-sounding sound inspired by acts like Nine Inch Nails and Orgy. The following "Pro-test" is a classic driving industrial-metal number that will work well on alternative dancefloors, while "EmpTe" favors a focus on rhythm and melody.

Next come "Neuwerld" (a sort of paranoid pseudo-pop chant), "Ghostman" (almost a mix of less extreme rhythmic noise and the aforementioned Nine Inch Nails) and the dark, intricate "dOwnsizer", followed by "Past Present", the album's most EBM-oriented episode.

Closing things out is "Use less", a less convincing track than the others for lacking power and incisiveness, and finally "Goneja" and "DaddyuWarbash", which stand out for their distinctive vocal style, somewhere between spoken word and singing.

In short, Skinny Puppy have made a fairly uneven album, one that for that very reason can catch the listener off guard and leave them puzzled. It's a very different shape compared to the past, more accessible and appealing to a new generation of potential followers. A not entirely convincing record, but one that leaves hope for a possible second youth for the band.

The following album, Mythmaker (2007), finds the legendary Canadians grappling with a new, provocative concept, this time centered on themes of "Control", first and foremost media control. Unfortunately, the promising initial premise gets lost amid the reality — and the absent substance — of an album that is little more than an unconvincing imitation of what Skinny Puppy used to be before their tragic breakup in the mid-90s. Cevin Key and Nivek Ogre show up again in a vain attempt to return to their classic formula, namely a chaotic, malevolent, oppressive electronic sound, pierced by hammering samples and open to forays into gothic and ambient territory. But that era seems to be dead and buried. Despite the duo's technical and theatrical skill, Mythmaker fails to recapture the apocalyptic aggression of the old days, nor does it manage to add anything significantly new, settling instead for churning out poor copies — carefully built, sure, but always lacking any real bite.

Aside from the alluring "jaHer", there's precious little worth noting on this album. At best there are mildly enjoyable tracks like "daL" and, above all, the flawless "politikiL"; at worst there are shapeless messes like "pasturN". But in every case, what clips the album's wings is a sound that has stood still — not so much compared to their own past masterpieces, but to what bands like Covenant or Chemlab were doing ten-plus years ago, as they chased after the very band that inspired them: the brilliant, terrifying Skinny Puppy.

So worn out, stale and recycled, the Skinny-sound of the third millennium does nothing but lay bare a crushing lack of inspiration. Tired, drained and numbed into flat professionalism, the current incarnation of Skinny Puppy leaves no trace behind, save for a pervasive air of senile frustration.

Contributions by Angela Benemei (“The Greater Wrong Of The Right”)

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