At the time, metal news just put any weird and innovative bands in the “industrial” category; chances are that if “Takis” had been released in 2006, CUT THE NAVEL STRING would have been classified as chaotic hardcore, or even neocore something…
Their style just can’t be defined in three words. It suggested that they were influenced by a variety of different landscapes. There was nothing industrial in their instruments (no machines here), it was all in the way they played their riffs (sometimes mechanical, unstructured, chaotic, or depressive), the general atmosphere and the at times simplistic drums (which wasn’t always played as one could’ve expected).
Depending on the tracks, the style could’ve been evolving from industrial metal to something nearing noise rock music, or from dark new wave from the 80s to some sort of chaotic hardcore…
And here we are, thinking of other bands such as PITCH SHIFTER (“Desensitized”), KILLING JOKE, a zest of GODFLESH (way not as tortured though), some of the NO ONE IS INNOCENT’s first album (that would have ingested something very toxic), and even VOIVOD (for their trashiest disharmonious riffs)…
CUT THE NAVEL STRING was a rock band and, despite its industrial metal approach, it never totally drowned into chaos and a depressive, inhuman and destructive feeling. Overall, their work stays rather human, and doesn’t quite “explode” the “rock” drawer in which they evolve (as we can still hear it in some of the vocals, guitar, drums, etc.). It’s a shame the band stopped after that album; following its evolution could have been interesting… I have this feeling that they could have become more abstract in their works, more intense, and could even have really scared their listeners.
Nevertheless, this album is still a good, quite varied one with a nice ambiance, and a pleasing chaotic feel to it.