The Flowers of Intellligence (Remastered)

With Flowers Of Intelligence, Zenith - otherwise known as Frederico Franchi - released an album as hypnotic as the red desert sands that sweep across its cover. Deep driven by industrial drumbeats, shattered only by the heavy, heavy trance flips and twists, it may well have been lost in the shuffle of the end of the ride for all the decade's Industrial dance bands, but that's a shame because what unfolds across this disc is not so much beats and breaks but a tapestry that cascades in wide arcs of sound and scope.

From the breath stealing bpm of the opening "The Lovesong of the Blue Dead" to the celestial, lighthearted ye olde flavor of "The Streets of Avalon" and on to the Dalek voices that menace their way through the brief, and oddly titled "Sknaht Laiceps" (or "special thanks" for those who read backward), Franchi certainly proves that he's come through the experience with nary a wobble. The title track, meanwhile, is unnerving in its repetition, but works, leaving "Electric Turtle" to flip a heavy assortment of breaks into a beat which borders on ethereal majesty.

While Flowers of Intelligence won't be of much use for the uninitiated, Franchi nevertheless turns in a thoughtful performance that ultimately acts as both postlude and prelude for a millennium teetering on the edge.