Featuring 66 songs from 35 bands, Digital Hardcore Recordings: Don't F**k With Us traces the growth of digital hardcore in America. Artists such as Ronin, Cheap Czad, and Mike V2.0 sent their work to the American offices of Digital Hardcore, the label of digital hardcore mastermind and Atari Teenage Riot founder Alec Empire; he was impressed enough with the U.S. response to the movement he started that this triple-disc set was the result. Fortunately, the bands included on this collection don't just ape Atari Teenage Riot's sound -- the first disc alone ranges from moody, atmospheric pieces like Replicant Impulse's "And Cub" to the metal-influenced polemics of the Shizit's "Audio Jihad II" to the noise assault of Schizoid's "Food for Thought." The only problem with Don't F**k With Us is that while each group featured in this set has their own distinctive take on the mix of industrial, punk, metal, and electronica that comprises digital hardcore, presenting three discs of it at once makes it difficult to take in what each individual band has to say. Still, digital hardcore is nothing if not extreme, so in a way it makes sense to present the American side of it in such an uncompromising fashion. Needless to say, fans of Atari Teenage Riot, EC80R, and other Digital Hardcore artists, as well as industrial music aficionados, will find a lot to like here. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi
