genCAB frontman David Dutton put his group on hold following the release of 2008 debut album ‘II transMuter’, a forward thinking record in the electro-industrial genre that blended elements from EBM and synth-pop into song arrangements perfectly suited for aggressive rock.
They finally returned in 2022 with long-awaited follow-up ‘Thoughts Beyond Words’, as well as the genre bending ‘Everything You See Is Mine’ EP. These were promoted on a US tour supporting Aesthetic Perfection, for whom both Dutton and genCAB drummer Tim Van Horn had spent the intervening years playing live.
2023 saw genCAB sign to Metropolis Records, with the album ‘Signature Flaws’ appearing that autumn. A meditation on demise, it introduced elements of shoegaze and post-hardcore to an already densely amalgamated melting pot of sounds.
Having issued the ‘Let It Rip’ EP in late August, its lead track ‘Six Hits (Let It Be)’ is included on an album cryptically entitled ‘III I II (THIRD EYE GEMINI)’. Out on 20th September, half of it is a modern day update of the best material contained on their debut, with the remainder being brand new tracks inspired by the re-recordings.
“This album was more or less the happiest of accidents,” states Dutton. “Although the majority of it is a set of remakes, I was disconnected from it for years for various reasons. I was young and a completely different person when it was originally released. I also did not have the skill to finish a song in a way I considered to be professional sounding, so I just avoided listening back to it for years. I eventually reevaluated it and recognised aspects of myself that I thought had disappeared.”
Having already reworked the song ‘Perish The Thought’ from this period in order to play it live and sound as modern as newer genCAB material, Dutton decided it might be worthwhile to look at some of his other early tracks. However, there was a problem. “The original master tapes had disappeared. I didn’t have them, the label that originally released the record didn’t have them, nor did the engineer that helped me mix them years ago,” he explains. “I decided to rebuild the tracks from the ground up, putting not only most of the album back together, but also redoing a B-side from that era [‘DMT’]. I was also inspired to write new songs while back in that mindset, such as ‘Appentence’ and ‘Seasons In Hell’, which now acts as the perfect precursor for the song ‘Of Love And Death’.”
Dutton’s deft production results in an album that remains faithful to the feel of the original release, albeit in completely restructured form. With his vocals also sung with more confidence and conviction than before, it sounds fresher than ever.
III I II (THIRD EYE GEMINI)
TRACKLISTING
1 Spite Is Might
2 Appentence
3 Six Hits (Let It Be)
4 Self Image(s)
5 Siren Song
6 Seasons In Hell
7 Of Love And Death
8 DMT
9 Gemini Transmuter
10 Perish The Thought