Bill Leeb - Model Kollapse (self-released)

It seems almost inconceivable that an artist as established and iconic as Bill Leeb has only just got around to releasing his debut solo album. But then, when you consider that he has spent the last four decades creating great music via such musical vehicles as Front Line Assembly, Delerium and Skinny Puppy it is understandable that he had his creative hands full.

Model Kollapse sees Leeb continue down the path that he has been on since his earliest sonic forays, perhaps here more focused on the specifics of the song rather than the more general soundscape but making music still echoes with the biting, angular, raw, and hard-edged electronic dance sound, inspired by and infused with the music of experimental and industrial pioneers such as Front 242, DAF, KMFDM and his own formative band, Skinny Puppy.

With two singles, “Terror Forms” and “Demons,” paving the way for this gritty and groovesome collection, it is clear that it isn’t just the sound of the music itself that is remarkable, but the intelligence behind it. With the first single addressing the rise of artificial intelligence and the second the darkness that seems to be settling over all parts of the world, it is clear that this is an album that asks more questions than it answers, the main one being “When will the human voice be lost to AI and technology….or will that be what saves us in the end?

It is perhaps ironic that Bill Leeb is using digitally driven music to ask such questions of the very technology that he wields, but such is the strange times we find ourself in. Whether it is considering the uncertainty of life via the clashing sonics of “Folded Hands” or the warped love song for the technological age that is “Muted Obsessions” or even the slow, glitchy dance grooves of “Simulation” which looks deeply into the eye of the machine and sees who blinks first, these are all pertaining questions, a conversation had between the maker and the made, the man and machine.

It also, just through its very existence, indirectly, asks a more general and poignant question. In a world where the powers-that-be, the politicians and leaders, faiths and businesses seem not only to be failing us at every turn but perhaps purposefully plunging us into ever darker times, why is it that it seems to be the artists and creatives, the music makers and songwriters that appear to be the only adult voices in the room?

Demons video
Spotify
Terror Forms feat. Shannon Hemmett
Spotify
Model Kollapse album pre-save
Album order / Bandcamp