L.O.T.I.O.N.: W.A.R. In The Digital Realm 12"

L.O.T.I.O.N.: W.A.R. In The Digital Realm 12"


Tags: · 20s · cyber-punk · hardcore · hcpmf · industrial · new york · nyc
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By the mid 1990s there was a wider understanding amongst military strategists that information was more than a weapon or a platform, but that it constituted a whole new operating domain.
It officially came into being as a fifth domain of warfare when, addressing the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association in Washington on April 25th, 1995, USAF Chief of Staff General Ronald Fogelman reflected on how warfare, and in particular the environments in which it was conducted, had evolved over the twentieth century. ‘Information’, he claimed, ‘has an ascending and transcending influence – for our society and our military forces’.

The information realm is the fifth dimension of war.

L.O.T.I.O.N shows you how.


Our take: Without ever fundamentally changing their sound, every L.O.T.I.O.N. record has been better than the previous one, and the trend continues on their latest album, W.A.R. in the Digital Realm. L.O.T.I.O.N. has always sounded to me like an aesthetic marriage between the 90s Wax Trax scene in the gnarliest, darkest end of Japanese hardcore (bands like G.I.S.M. and Kuro), which might sound like a simple formula on the surface, but those sounds are so different and the territory is so uncharted there’s a lot of room for L.O.T.I.O.N. to do their thing. One thing that amazes me when I listen to W.A.R. in the Digital Realm is how catchy it is without compromising the fundamental ugliness and harshness of the music. One way they achieve this is by paring down the choruses to just a few repeated words. This gets you singing along to tracks like “Desert E” and “Cybernetic Super Soldier” the second time the chorus rolls around. My favorite track on W.A.R. in the Digital Realm, “Every Last One,” also takes takes this approach to the chorus: “decapitation—every last one” (it’s a song about cops). The song also features my favorite moment on the LP, the part in the bridge where they repeat the line “the only good cop is…” again and again, building anticipation until they let loose the big payoff line we’re all waiting for… “a dead cop.” W.A.R. in the Digital Realm feels short at only eight tracks, but all eight tracks are distinct (particularly the J-pop leaning final track, “Cybernetic Super Lover”) and none of it feels redundant or like filler. And it goes without saying that vocalist and renowned visual artist Alex Heir makes sure the packaging is as compelling as the music.