MXD – Frustration Is Fuel

The likes of Rob Zombie and Rammstein proved that you could combine electronic sounds, sampled voices, sound effects, racing rhythms, and non-English lyrics with heaviness and big guitar riffs, creating something that would appeal to a wide variety of listeners. Frustration Is Fuel, the latest opus from Switzerland’s MXD, uses that formula too. Judging by their music, MXD isn’t into cheesy horror movies like Zombie, and unlike Rammstein, they don’t want you to bend over.

No, it seems that MXD instead wants you to bust a move (or a hip) on the dance floor with a track from Frustration Is Fuel thumping over the club speakers. Frustration Is Fuel is twelve tracks of mostly fast-moving Techno Metal; as the old saying goes, “It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.” So get that disco suit out of the closet, shake the moths out of those pockets, and get up enough courage to call that special someone you’ve had your eyes on: it’s time to hit the dance floor, and this time you don’t have to be drunk to have fun, because MXD is in the house.

If the first track from Frustration Is Fuel, “Roxygen,” (possibly the best song title in the history of mankind) doesn’t get you pumped up, have a doctor check to see if you’re still alive. It’s a super-catchy, up-tempo number with a cool riff and an infectious vocal refrain. Like most of the other songs on the album, there are lots of sampled voices and electronic effects, but they don’t dominate, rather they accentuate the music, making it more fun.

Indeed, most of the songs on Frustration Is Fuel are rather fun, with lots of fat (phat?) beats, mile-wide grooves, clever vocal effects, electronic noises, and chunky riffs. The aggressive “Fuel” nicely incorporates snippets of Clint Eastwood’s infamous “Do I feel lucky?” speech from Dirty Harry into the mix, while the huge, atmospheric “Ictus” incorporates robotic voices, distorted vocal effects, and sampled sobbing to good effect. “Hockenheim” is about –- what else -– auto-racing, and has German lyrics, making this sound like a kinder, gentler, Rammstein song, even though MXD isn’t as heavy and aggressive as the Teutonic titans. But if Rammstein’s Till Lindemann listened to Frustration Is Fuel‘s adrenaline-spiked “Megadrive” in his car, he’d probably get pulled over for speeding.

For most of the journey, Frustration Is Fuel is a fun album. It does lose some momentum near the finish line though, with the last few songs not being as effective as the rest; seven-minute album closer “A Meaning Of Life” just seems to go on and on with no point to make after the halfway mark. This track could have used the loving touch of an editor’s scissors.

Despite this minor setback, Frustration Is Fuel is a catchy, groovy, and fun-filled outing that’s cooking with gas … rocket gas.