Atari Teenage Riot - Reset

I realise I’m going to sound old when I say this, but the first three tracks of the new Atari Teenage Riot album sound exactly the same. And they hurt my ears. The Berlin-based trio combine electro-noise and shouted vocals in what hopes to be an aggressive and revolutionary sound. What the beginning of the album achieves is monotonous dance beats with clichéd phrases about government oppression shouted over the top, almost to the point of parody. Fourth track ‘Death Machine’ feels like it might be going somewhere, but never really takes off and finishes with a whimper. ‘Modern Liars’ again starts promisingly but descends into an immature and unfinished sounding half-track. ‘Cra$h’ is immediately improved by the addition of guitars, but the vocals are still cringe-inducing and uninspiring – “We’re getting closer; We will reach our goal; I will make it”. Perhaps it is the simple nature of the lyrics or the repetitiveness of the beat or possibly the preaching, echoey Euro-vocals that make Reset a bit pants, but for all their efforts to sound like the noise of the future, ATR just end up sounding like dated noise.