When he’s not busy freaking people out with industrial explosions in Skinny Puppy, starring in rock operas with Paris Hilton (“Repo! The Genetic Opera”) or doing heroin, Nivek Orge (or Kevin Orgre when he’s feeling less dyslexic) is the frontman of ohGr. Unlike the ultra-abrasive sound of Skinny Puppy, ohGr has traditionally been slightly more accessible than that group of industrial pioneers. Welt, their first album, incorporated electro and even some synth-pop into the mix, while the ingeniously named follow-up Sunny PsyOp did the same. But on their third album, Devil in My Details, there’s nary a synth riff or electro beat to be found. This is nearly as industrial and frightening as a Skinny Puppy record, which is weird considering that this is the first release by ohGr since Skinny Puppy got back together, maybe Orge can’t turn the industrial side of him off now that’s it’s been turned back on. It’s also not nearly as good as either of those two records or anything Skinny Puppy’s done since their reunion, losing steam quickly after the first two strong tracks (“Shhh” and “Eyecandy”). There are a lot of ideas on Devil in My Details; Ogre goes off on rants about government conspiracies, the evils of eating meat and other assorted topics, but there isn’t a lot of music. For hardcore fans of Ogre and his assorted side-projects only. (Synthetic Symphony 2008)
