Civilization (album)

Civilization
Studio album by
Front Line Assembly
ReleasedJanuary 20, 2004 (2004-01-20)[1]
Recorded2003 (2003)
GenreElectro-industrial, EBM, breakbeat
Length56:50
LabelMetropolis, Synthetic Symphony
ProducerBill Leeb, Rhys Fulber
Front Line Assembly chronology
Epitaph
(2001) 		Civilization
(2004) 		Artificial Soldier
(2006)
Singles from Civilization
  1. "Maniacal"
    Released: October 21, 2003[2]
  2. "Vanished"
    Released: June 22, 2004[3]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Barcode Magazine7.6/10[5]
Cleveland SceneFavorable[6]
DisAgreementFavorable[7]
Exclaim!Mixed[8]
Kerrang![9]
musicOMHFavorable[10]
ReGenFavorable[11]
Rock Sound9/10[12]
Side-Line9/10[13]

Civilization is the twelfth full-length studio album by Vancouver industrial band Front Line Assembly, released on January 20, 2004 through Metropolis.[1] The album was produced by band founder Bill Leeb and returning member Rhys Fulber, who had departed in 1996. Civilization has been described by reviewers as being a more stylistically diverse and relaxed album compared to the band's previous releases.[13][12]

Production

The album was produced and mixed digitally in a large part with the digital audio workstation software Pro Tools. Leeb and Fulber collaborated on site in Vancouver and remotely with Fulber residing in Los Angeles.[14]

Style and themes

Leeb considered the sound of the album "in some ways old-school", although produced with cutting-edge technology, saying, "I don't think we took any big leaps of faith as far as trying to do something that we never represented, so if you like the way Front Line ever sounded then I think you will really like the record a lot. [...] We just got together and did it the way we used to."[14]

Leeb acknowledged the nihilistic theme of the album: "I'm still down on the world. [...] It’s hard to sometimes just really be positive about things."[14]

Release

Copy protection

Promotional copies of the album came with copy protection. Metropolis called it "an experimental run" and emphasized that the sales copies were delivered as regular CDs without protection.[15]

Album errors

Metropolis mislabeled the back cover track listing of Civilization on at least three separate occasions. The errors included swapped song titles, missing the song "Parasite" and excluding the "Dissident" page in the booklet. These numerous errors led to rumors that Metropolis was releasing special edition copies of the album, all of which were false.[16] While the track listing found on the back cover was incorrect, the liner notes still presented all the songs in the correct order, excluding copies with the missing "Dissident" page.

Singles

Civilization was accompanied by two singles. "Maniacal" was released about three months before the album.[2] It contains the original version and a remix of the title track as well as the B-side "Anti". The follow-up to the album was the single "Vanished". It includes two remixes of the title track and the non-album tracks "Stürm", "Disseminate" and "Uncivilized".[17] "Stürm" is also featured on the soundtrack album from horror film Saw.[18] Both singles reached the top of the Deutsche Alternative Charts single chart (see Chart positions).

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Psychosomatic"5:35
2."Maniacal"5:14
3."Transmitter" (Accidentally listed as "Fragmented" on some track lists)5:38
4."Vanished"6:25
5."Strategic"1:52
6."Civilization"6:43
7."Fragmented" (Accidentally listed as "Transmitter" on some track lists)6:22
8."Parasite" (Missing from some track lists)6:13
9."Dissident"5:29
10."Schicksal"7:19

Personnel

Front Line Assembly

Additional musicians

Technical personnel

Chart positions

References

  1. ^ a b "Upcoming Releases on Metropolis". Metropolis. 2003. Archived from the original on December 13, 2003. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Front Line Assembly: Maniacal > Overview at AllMusic. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  3. ^ Front Line Assembly: Vanished > Overview at AllMusic. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  4. ^ Jeffries, David. Front Line Assembly: Civilization > Overview at AllMusic. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  5. ^ "Front Line Assembly - Civilization". Barcode Magazine. February 17, 2004. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  6. ^ Narvaja, Norman (March 3, 2004). "Front Line Assembly - Civilization (Metropolis)". Cleveland Scene. Cleveland: Euclid Media Group. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  7. ^ "Frontline Assembly – Civilization". DisAgreement. February 1, 2004. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  8. ^ Adair, Mike (April 2004). "Front Line Assembly - Civilization". Exclaim!. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  9. ^ Lawrence, Alistair (March 2004). "Front Line Assembly - Civilization". Kerrang!. No. 998. Bauer Media Group.
  10. ^ Wright, Helen (February 9, 2004). "Front Line Assembly – Civilization". musicOMH. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
  11. ^ Sodergren, Stephen (March 13, 2006). "Front Line Assembly: Civilization". ReGen. Beltsville, Maryland. Archived from the original on July 20, 2010. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  12. ^ a b Whitehead, Alex (March 2004). "Front Line Assembly - Civilization". Rock Sound. No. 59. Freeway Press Inc.
  13. ^ a b TSF (February 9, 2004). "Front Line Assembly - Civilization". Side-Line. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  14. ^ a b c Leeb, Bill (2004). "Front Line Assembly". barcodezine.com (Interview). Archived from the original on April 4, 2004.
  15. ^ "Metropolis News". Philadelphia: Metropolis. April 2004. Archived from the original on April 23, 2004. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  16. ^ "Front Line Assembly > Civilization". Mindphaser 3.0. July 12, 2005. Archived from the original on June 16, 2012. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  17. ^ Front Line Assembly: Vanished > Overview at AllMusic. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  18. ^ "Saw (2004) Soundtracks". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  19. ^ "Deutsche Alternative Charts Jahrescharts 2004 Top 50 Alben" (in German). Public Music & Media Ltd. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  20. ^ "Deutsche Alternative Charts Jahrescharts 2003 Top 100 Singles" (in German). Public Music & Media Ltd. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  21. ^ "Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales". Billboard. Vol. 115, no. 46. New York: VNU Business Publications. November 15, 2003. p. 49. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  22. ^ "Deutsche Alternative Charts Jahrescharts 2004 Top 100 Singles" (in German). Public Music & Media Ltd. Retrieved April 26, 2014.