While The Golden Foretaste of Heaven’s sound is nothing revolutionary it does mark a new direction for Alec Empire and the DHC gang. Along with the new sound also comes a new label to distribute it—Eat Your Heart Out. With a bubbly lettered logo and a DIY ethos, Alec and the gang are primed to set the world on fire… or something to that effect.

Alec Empire is no stranger to change, and fans of his music have come to expect a certain degree stylistic variation from one project to the next. Though, historically Alec’s work has gotten harsher—going from the scream infused techno sounds of Atari Teenage Riot that he coined as Digital Hardcore to glitch electronica, and then to noise metal in his more recent albums. Contrary to this trend, The Golden Foretaste of Heaven is actually quite tolerable by the average listener’s standards. I mark this by the fact that Ivy didn’t tell me to turn it off or rankle whilst playing it for most of the weekend.

On the surface The Golden Foretaste has a good beat, it’s pretty much dance club music with a couple slow-downs thrown in for good measure. The album’s first track New Man shines light on the direction and influence of The Golden Foretaste. New Man—as in Gary Numan, one of the fathers of gothie synth-pop—recycles elements of a Gary Numan song that I can’t quite put my finger on at the moment, and with some flourishes and new lyrics comes out rock solid. Throughout this album Alec wavers between signing and spoken word, the effect gives the music a personal feeling like a techno house party—flickering lights that are a little dirty and all you see is sweat slick hair flailing about and bodies bumping into each other.

Tracks like ICE, Down Satan Down, and Robot L.O.V.E. really stand out with their heavy pop sensibility and steady running beats. Alec throws a bone to his hardcore fans—oh yes, pun intended—with On Fire, bringing the sound back to his newish-past work with grinding distorted guitars and a solid pounding beat. The Golden Foretaste slows it down on a couple tracks—1000 Eyes and NoWhy/New York—that are reminiscent of David Bowie’s more introspective work.

Overall, The Golden Foretaste of Heaven is an easy pill to swallow. Instead of biting social and political commentary you get something that is personal and carnal in some way shape or form. Alec has managed to create a heady seductive soundscape that manages to retain it’s masculinity without being vulgar.