Hard Wired

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Hard Wired
Studio album by
Front Line Assembly
ReleasedSeptember 25, 1995 (1995-09-25)
Recorded1995 (1995), Warehouse
GenreElectro-industrial, industrial metal[1][2]
Length62:00
LabelOff Beat, Metropolis, Energy, Black Rain
ProducerBill Leeb, Rhys Fulber
Front Line Assembly chronology
Millennium
(1994) 		Hard Wired
(1995) 		Corroded Disorder
(1995)
Singles from Hard Wired
  1. "Circuitry"
    Released: October 31, 1995
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Alternative Press[3]
InterfaceFavorable[4]
Melody MakerFavorable[5]
Music Week[6]
Sputnikmusic[7]
VertigoFavorable[8]

Hard Wired is the eighth full-length studio album by Canadian electro-industrial band Front Line Assembly, released in 1995.

Production and themes[edit]

The album was produced during the course of roughly five months. Singer Bill Leeb wrote the lyrics after the music was completed. The usual procedure for the band, as Leeb explained: "We write [...] the music and then once we've got it finished, then I sit at home and start on the lyrics. I can't imagine writing any other way. [...] I think with our music it's usually the sounds that inspire us."[9] Lyrics-wise, the album addresses topics such as materialism and environmental issues, with an emphasis on the influence of technology: "I think most of the lyrics are basically about man versus technology. Basically, we’re destroying our planet with technology. At the same time, technology is the only thing that can save us. It's this constant struggle between these two forces that is making us go in whatever direction we're all going."[9]

Release[edit]

Hard Wired was the band's first release for Off Beat.[10] It has sold at least 50,000 copies worldwide.[11] The limited edition with 5,000 copies was sold out in two weeks.[11]

Coinciding with Front Line Assembly's tour through Europe in support of Improvised Electronic Device,[12] Hard Wired was re-released in August 2011 by German label Black Rain Records as limited edition picture vinyl with a circulation of 500.[13] It contains only seven songs and lacks the tracks "Mortal", "Modus Operandi" and "Transparent Species".

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Hard Wired in 2015, Canadian label Artoffact released a limited box set vinyl edition of the album with a circulation of 300 that included the Live Wired live album and the Circuitry single, all of which were remastered by Bill Leeb and Greg Reely.[14]

Singles[edit]

Circuitry is the only single taken from Hard Wired. The limited edition came as a two CD Digipak packaging with different artwork that didn't include the second CD.[15] This CD, titled Circuitry Disc 2, was part of the limited edition box of Hard Wired and packed in a slipcase.[16] The first disc is a Mixed Mode CD and contains interactive content. It includes the official video for the track "Millennium" from the 1994 album of the same name and photo galleries. The data track is listed as first track titled "CD-ROM File" on the back cover. The track is only playable on computers running Windows and requires at least Windows 3.1.[17] Disc 1 includes three remixes of "Circuitry" two of which are from Biosphere and Haujobb. The song "Epidemic" is a non-album track. The second disc includes another remix of "Circuitry" as well as non-album tracks "Destructive Transformation" and "Hydrogen". The idea to involve other artists in remixing originated from the label Off Beat.[9]

Although the following single Plasticity did not appear on Hard Wired it evolved from the album's production process. "It is part of the same sessions", said Rhys Fulber in an interview with Sonic Boom Magazine.[18] According to Fulber this was intentional and was already done with the Virus single: "We kept it off the album to release later [...] It gives people a reason to check it out because if you release it as a single that is already on album no one is really going to care."[18] Along with the original version and a Haujobb remix the single features non-album track "Replicant". A video clip was shot in Vancouver for the track "Plasticity" which also received airplay on Much Music.[18] Vocalist Bill Leeb described the video as "very techno-orientated and hard-driving" with "a lot of computer images" and being "virtual reality-related".[19] The video won the award for Best Alternative Video at the 7th annual MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto in 1996.[20]

The track "Plasticity" is featured in the article series 101 Greatest Industrial Songs of All Time in COMA Music Magazine where it holds rank 70.[21]

Most tracks of the singles were re-released in 1999 through Off Beat on the compilation album Explosion, together with tracks from the "Colombian Necktie" and "Comatose" singles. The timing of its release to coincide with the release of Implode was met with Bill Leeb's disapproval.[22] Plasticity was re-released in 2012 by German record label Infacted Recordings,[23] limited to 1,000 copies.[24] The rereleased version contains the "Fatalist" single and the "Prophecy" single as additional tracks. A remastered vinyl version of the single was issued in July 2015 by Artoffact. Among the tracks already found on the original single it features another hitherto unpublished remix by Haujobb called "Plasticity (Dope Experience)".[25]

Samples[edit]

Hard Wired makes extensive use of audio clips from a number of films.[26]

Some tracks use samples from Richard D. James songs, namely "Isopropanol" and "Dodeccaheedron" from his 1994 album Classics as well as "Isopropophlex" from his 1991 EP Analogue Bubblebath Vol I.[26] Also sound effects of the video game Doom can be heard on Hard Wired.[26]

Track listing[edit]

All tracks are written by Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber

No.TitleSample(s)Length
1."Neologic Spasm"
Contains samples of:
5:51
2."Paralyzed" 5:30
3."Re-Birth" 5:19
4."Circuitry" 5:55
5."Mortal" (Instrumental) 5:42
6."Modus Operandi" 5:47
7."Transparent Species" 7:15
8."Barcode" 6:11
9."Condemned" 5:51
10."Infra Red Combat" 8:49

Personnel[edit]

Front Line Assembly[edit]

Additional musicians[edit]

Technical personnel[edit]

  • Greg Reely – engineering, mixing
  • Delwyn Brooks – assistant engineering
  • Dave McKean – design, illustration, photography

Chart positions[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Rediscover: Front Line Assembly: Hard Wired - Spectrum Culture". June 16, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  2. ^ "Front Line Assembly to issue 'Hard Wired' 20th Anniversary 6LP Box-set... | Louder Than War". March 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  3. ^ Pettigrew, Jason (May 1996). "Music Reviews". Alternative Press. Vol. 10, no. 94. p. 77.
  4. ^ Waggoner, Andy (1996). "Front Line Assembly: Hard Wired". Interface. Vol. 3, no. 2. Chicago: Steel Skin Media Group. p. 25. ISSN 1081-8065. OCLC 32190183. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  5. ^ The Stud Brothers. "Front Line Assembly - Hard Wired". Melody Maker. London: IPC Media.
  6. ^ "Review: Front Line Assembly – Hard Wired" (PDF). Music Week. London: Spotlight Publications Ltd. October 14, 1995. p. 25. ISSN 0265-1548. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 30, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2022 – via World Radio History.
  7. ^ Simon (September 18, 2016). "Front Line Assembly Hard Wired". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  8. ^ Timebound (January 1996). "Front Line Assembly Circuitry - MCD Hard Wired - CD". Vertigo (in German). No. 11. Geldern: Celtic Circle Productions. pp. 10–11.
  9. ^ a b c Leeb, Bill (1996). "Front Line Assembly". Terra Industria (Interview). No. 3. Fairfax, Virginia: NWBT Publishing. p. 6.
  10. ^ deadhead (August 1995). "eyeshot". Music From the Empty Quarter. No. 12. Ilford: The Empty Quarter. p. 4. ISSN 0964-542X. OCLC 1057117763.
  11. ^ a b "Off Beat Records – Brief News". Off Beat. June 1, 1997. Archived from the original on July 3, 1997. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  12. ^ "Front Line Assembly on vinyl". Peek-A-Boo. Belgium. September 22, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  13. ^ Van Isacker, Bernard (August 4, 2011). "Mega limited picture vinyl release for Frontline Assembly's 'Hard Wired'". Side-Line. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  14. ^ Noisey Staff (March 14, 2015). "Premiere: Listen to the remastered 'Circuitry' EP from Front Line Assembly's massive new boxset". Vice. New York City. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  15. ^ "Front line Assembly > Circuitry". Mindphaser.com. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  16. ^ "Front Line Assembly > Hard Wired Limited Edition Box Set (Bonus Disc: Circuitry Disc 2)". Mindphaser.com. Archived from the original on May 16, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  17. ^ Front Line Assembly (1995). Circuitry (Back cover). Off Beat, Metropolis, Energy.
  18. ^ a b c Jester (February 29, 1996). "Interview: Front Line Assembly - 2/29/96". Sonic Boom. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  19. ^ Leeb, Bill (April 16, 1996). "Linda Maddocks With Frontline Assembly". Videowave Episode 191 (Interview). Interviewed by Linda Maddocks. New York: Videowave.
  20. ^ LaRose, Sean (September 30, 1996). "Morissette, MacIsaac take three at MuchMusic Awards". RPM. Vol. 64, no. 7. Toronto: RPM Music Publications. p. 8. ISSN 0315-5994. OCLC 1080361200.
  21. ^ Schock, David (March 9, 2012). "101 Greatest Industrial Songs of All Time'". COMA. Archived from the original on November 5, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  22. ^ "Front Line Assembly > Explosion". Mindphaser.com. April 30, 2005. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  23. ^ "Infacted Recordings Releases". Infacted Recordings. Retrieved April 1, 2014.
  24. ^ "Plasticity by Front Line Assembly re-released". Peek-A-Boo. Belgium. January 27, 2012. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  25. ^ Barkan, Jonathan (May 15, 2015). "Front Line Assembly 'Plasticity' Remaster Stream". Bloody Disgusting. Beverly Hills. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  26. ^ a b c "Front Line Assembly samples". Mindphaser.com. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  27. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Front Line Assembly – Hard Wired". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  28. ^ "Front Line Assembly – Circuitry". Singles Top 100. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
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