 Three
3Zero - reviewed by Metal Hammer - Vote 9/10
THERE can be few bands on the industrial scene more dedicated, more focussed than
Leechwoman. The London-based outfit have spent years honing their unique sound without
once making a concession to the pernicious gods of fashion or commerce, and with
Three 3Zero , they finally have an album that comes close to replicating their live
intensity. Leechwoman s sound is based round the mechanoid Kodo drumming of Rog,
a percussive brain-pummelling assault on a kit made of old gas cylinders and washing-machine
drums, filled out with abrasive guitar grind and distorted vox. Their debut album
was hamstrung by extremely muddy production, but this time round it s crystal-clear,
allowing the raw, pared-down style of the band to shine through. It s easy to forget
that industrial music was essentially invented in the UK by Throbbing Gristle because
this country hasn t produced a lot since then, but Three 3Zero stakes the claim once
more. Mindblowing.
9/10
Mark Chapman
 Three 3Zero - reviewed by Kerrang! - Vote 4/5
London's filthiest band take industrial back to basics.
BEFORE IT became the domain of dull-as-fuck Nine Inch Nails clones, industrial music,
according to genre originators Throbbing gristle, was all about making the nastiest,
most hellish noise you could with whatever you had to hand. Leech Woman have taken
this approach to heart on this, their second album to date.
Armed with angle grinders, steel bars and washing machine drums - alongside buzzing
guitars, frontman Alex B's tortured vocals and grisly distorted bass - the quartet
have finally nailed down the hypnotic, percussive intensity of their live show. Eschewing
such niceties as catchy choruses or bouncy grooves, 'Three 3Zero' instead evokes
a setting of hopeless, urban paranoia as uncompromisingly bleak as you're likely
to get. Just don't expect to hum it on the way into work. You have been warned.
 Three 3Zero - reviewed by Terrorizer - Vote 8.5/10
'Test Department' sneer the cynics, venting the particular kind of disdain that's
solely reserved for those who look to the outer margins for inspiration, as though
other forms of filching are so ubiquitous they barely warrant mention anymore. Hell,
I'll even throw Test Dept in myself, not so much for Leech Woman's fibrillating,
hyperkinetic scrap heap clatter, as obvious a reference point it may be, but to make
the point that in looking further back into the roots of industrial, they've grasped
the fundamental point of the genre, the one that got entirely lost amidst the haze
of extra-hold hairspray and narcissism, surely the singularly most inappropriate
pose its pretenders could have possibly struck.
Industrial was all about the environment, how to engage with it, how it penetrated
you. How it fucked you up and how to fuck it back in return. Sod green issues, Leech
Woman deal with grey and black issues; concrete, surveillance cameras, the city's
impatient, attention-scattering clamour, and how to assert yourself when your environment
never allows you any composure.
'Three 3Zero' feels like London. And anyway, spiritually I'd compare Leech Woman
more to Kevin Martin's one-time 10-piece-plus ensemble, God - for their brutally
psychedelic, petrifying density, for the way their information overload always manages
to coagulate into the most voraciously physical of grooves, determined to invoke
an array of conflicting muscle spasms throughout your body and let them fight amongst
themselves.
Opener 'Tool' starts off with that famous 'Scum' scene sample ("Where's your
tool?", "What fucking tool?" THWACK! "This fucking
tool!"), after which they proceed to wield their most effectively unsubtle
of instruments throughout. Alex B howls "Why can't I sleep?", self-evidently
it must be said, amidst an almighty din, relayed percussion rattling like steam escaping
through dustbin lids and guitar riffs working away with all the absorbed determination
of someone sawing your legs off.
Elsewhere, 'Cardinal''s endlessly palpitating groove makes you feel like you're part
of some Stygian chain gang, 'Bound And Blind' comes on like a disoriented Tin Man
stumbling through a hall of mirrors, and they're all threnodies of the condemned,
all railing with the realisation that there's no way out on 'there's not way out'],
and rather than pretend otherwise, use that understanding as the most unstable of
building blocks for an identity. And fuck me is it powerful.
'Three 3Zero' is an overwhelmingly paranoid album, but I'll say one thing for paranoia;
it forces your eyes wide open.
Leech Woman can't quite take it all in, result being that their debut isn't just
a trip into hell, it's also one hell of a trip.
 Three 3Zero - reviewed by Rock Sound - Vote 4.5/5
I remember when I were a lad, a time when Industrial wasn't just a by-word for the
blip-pop of a million and one EBM bands; a time when men were men, gauged purely
on their ability to smash the shit out of any number of inanimate objects, and the
women were scarier still. A time when music was anarchy and the greatest form of
artistic expression was trying to demolish the ICA from within; a petrol bomb in
the face of musical apathy. Leechwoman are such a band; ugly as fuck, hard as fuck
and noisy as fuck. And what a glorious noise it is too; the band's decision to draft
in 2nd Gen's Wajid Yaseen to twiddle knobs, 'Three 3Zero' is the sound Leechwoman
have attempted to capture on tape for the last 8 years.
'Tool', 'Solid State' and 'Cardinal' make for one of the harshest, most uncompromising
introductions to any album in recent times; a 'Reign In Blood' for the alienated
youth of urban decay, with the band are in full effect they're untouchable; a pounding,
tribal, coruscating blur of rhythm, a Kodo Drummers for the Home Counties. Breaker
, Fedrill , Knuckle Hate , Bound And Blind and Section 13 carry the album ever onwards
towards the climactic Gabba assault of Kincaid , each featuring varying degrees of
shit, piss and industrial waste, a sound the band have perfected since their genesis.
Influenced as much by the brutal pounding of Neubaten and Evil Mothers as they are
the ferocity of Extreme Noise Terror and the electronic affectations of Optimum Wound
Profile, Leechwoman are the ideal alternative to the anodyne and mundane; the bitterest
pill to even the most hardened junkie, an impenetrable wall of white noise for those
that don' t understand or just can t be bothered to make the effort. Their fucking
loss!
4.5/5
gileZ Moorhouse
Three 3Zero - reviewed by Live4Metal.com - Vote : Devastating
It is a great pleasure to get a new Leech Woman release. Debut album 33 came out
in 1997 on Jello Biafra led Alternative Tentacles. The world beckoned then Jello
pulled the rug out on the British side of Alternative leaving Leach Woman label less.
A remix album Shit Piss And Industrial Waste followed but Three 3Zero is really second
album proper. Far from disappointing it is too. The beefed up production courtesy
of 2nd Gen Wajid Yassen gives it a deserving power. For that reason we can certainly
forgive opening proceedings with old favourite Tool. It's never a bad idea starting
an album with a sample. Especially not when its as powerful as the "where's
your fucking tool", one from Scum.
For the next 48 minutes Leech Woman take us on an uncompromising and uncomfortable
journey into the claustrophobic bowels of London. For the uninitiated that have yet
to discover the wonders of Great Britain's most devastating live band it could well
be a bit of a shock. I fully expected the CD player to register 23 tracks even though
there are only really 11. It's an Illuminati affair people and one that fully encompasses
the dark paranoid ranting contained within. This industrial beast lurches from one
nightmare to another. Industrial music has come so far since the early days of Throbbing
Gristle and it is the percussion that makes Leech Woman the most exciting band in
the scene today. Much in the same way as SPK Rog creates an unholy racket with his
very interesting set up. No drum kit per se on display here. Dustbins and all manner
of steel implements are battered with a clashing clarity that lays waste to all in
its path. Alex B bellows out hate filled vocals and the whole cacophony leaves the
listener totally devastated by journeys end. The new songs are well and truly forceful
and will be great when played live. Solid State rattles out like a fire alarm going
off in the depths of hell. Cardinal beats a tribal tattoo of impending doom with
a bass line rumbling ominously in the background. P Rise guitar playing is always
present sometimes shining through and getting a voice above everything else. Breaker
has it duelling with Alex nihilistically screaming out, "I am nothing".
Bound And Blind romps along like a sado-masochist in a bondage chamber. Nick from
Hydra (another deep dark secret) takes over the vocal duties on this and unless I'm
very much mistaken a riff from Grandmaster Flash's White Lines is thrown into the
mix. Fendrill Second Generation clatters along like a motorway pile up in its instrumental
intensity. Old track Kincaid is given the gabba remix treatment and finally 2 1Ú2
minutes worth of white noise finish us well and truly off.
Three 3Zero conjures up images of secret societies and sinister goings on in the
dark underbelly of the city. Bleak horrors are hidden away and much as in the way
author Christopher Fowler hints at all is far from well. Hopefully it will herald
the way forward and get Leech Woman playing on a wider international scale. See them
live if you get the chance. Not only do you get the music but a visual show and angle
grinder pyrotechnics. I will say it again DEVASTATING. |
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