Remission (EP)

Remission is a 1984 EP by Canadian electro-industrial band Skinny Puppy, their record label debut and first release with Nettwerk.[1] The 12-inch EP originally featured with six tracks, then, a year later in 1985, it was released on cassette with five additional songs that lengthened the release to a full album.[2] This expansion became the default version of Remission.

Remission
EP by
Skinny Puppy
ReleasedDecember 1984
RecordedJuly-Aug. 1984
(Mushroom Studios, Vancouver)
Genre
Length24:09 (original)
39:33 (re-issue)
LabelNettwerk (Canada)
Scarface/Play It Again Sam (Europe)
ProducercEvin Key, Dave Ogilvie
Skinny Puppy chronology
Back & Forth
(1984)		 Remission
(1984)		 Bites
(1985)

Remission was certified gold by Music Canada on January 31, 2000.[3]

Release history

In December 1984, Remission was distributed through Nettwerk as Skinny Puppy's first major release. Despite being preceded by the embryonic Back & Forth EP that was limited to just 35 home-printed copies,[1] Remission is seen as the band's debut effort.[4] To complicate the matter further, most issues of the EP following its release year, 1984, were expanded with five additional tracks, retroactively turning it into a full-blown studio album.[1]

In 1993, Nettwerk released Remission on CD using the expanded track listing from the 1985 cassette release.[1] However, this wasn't the first time Remission appeared in the format; the EP's first CD release was in 1987, when it (along with the appended track "Glass Out") was combined with Skinny Puppy's 1985 album Bites to form the release Bites and Remission (a compilation distinct from the less popular Remission & Bites, which was also released in 1987 and also on Nettwerk, but that preserved the original track sequence of Remission and the European sequence of Bites).[1][5]

On May 17, 2018, cEvin Key released "Coma", an instrumental track created during the Remission era, through his YouTube channel.[6]

Background and composition

Both Remission and Skinny Puppy's follow-up album Bites were created before Dwayne Goettel joined in 1986 and helped crystallize the band's hard, percussion-driven industrial sound.[7][8] As such, Remission features more synthpop and electro elements than Skinny Puppy would come to be known for. It is the first known commercial release to use a TR-909 drum machine.[9]

In 2013, Skinny Puppy's 12th album (4th since being reunited without the presence of Goettel), Weapon, was released as a sort of spiritual successor to both Remission and Bites. Apart from containing a re-recorded version of "Solvent" from Remission, Weapon was deliberately created with antiquated instruments to achieve their early 80s electronic sound.[10][11]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]

Contemporary reception of Remission was mostly positive. The AllMusic review wrote that the EP "remains the Puppy's finest hour. The breadth of vision and amazing instrumental prowess of vocalist Nivek Ogre and sound-designer cEvin Key will likely never be transcended."[4] Retrospectively, Remission gained more praise, being cited as an important influence to many bands.[12] In an article about Skinny Puppy's broad influence, Alec Chillingworth of Metal Hammer wrote, "Al Jourgensen’s Ministry was laughable in ’84, whereas Puppy gave us Remission: an EP bursting with potential, exuding a dance-ready racket heavier than anything their contemporaries offered."[12] Fact placed Remission at number 19 on their list of 20 best industrial and EBM albums of all time, calling it "excellent electro-pop".[13]

Track listing
Original EP release (side A, Back)
No.TitleSample(s)[14][15][1]Length
1."Smothered Hope"5:14
2."Glass Houses"3:24
3."Far Too Frail"3:41
Original EP release (side B, Forth)
No.TitleSample(s)[14][15][1]Length
1."Solvent" 4:37
2."Sleeping Beast"6:01
3."Brap…"1:12
Total length:24:09
1985 cassette release / 1993 CD reissue
No.TitleSample(s)[14][15][1]Length
1."Smothered Hope"5:14
2."Glass Houses"3:21
3."Incision"4:41
4."Far Too Frail"3:43
5."Film"2:51
6."Manwhole"1:44
7."Ice Breaker"2:46
8."Solvent" 4:38
9."Sleeping Beast"6:01
10."Glass Out"3:25
11."…Brap"1:09
Total length:39:33

Personnel

All credits adapted from Remission liner notes.[16]

Skinny Puppy

  • Nivek Ogre – vocals, keyboards, synthesizer, percussion, spooky horn[17]
  • cEvin Key – synthesizer, drums, percussion, tapes, vocals, treatments, production

Additional personnel

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[3] Gold 50,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Kern, Jay (2010). Skinny Puppy: The Illustrated Discography (Second Edition). Mythos Press. p. 14.
  2. Remission (Cassette liner notes). Skinny Puppy. Nettwerk. 1985. 85561-5009-4. Retrieved July 7, 2018.CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. "Canadian album certifications – Skinny Puppy – Remission". Music Canada. January 31, 2000. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  4. "Skinny Puppy, Remission". AllMusic. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  5. Remission & Bites (CD liner notes). Skinny Puppy. PIAS Recordings. 1987. BIAS 48. Retrieved July 7, 2018.CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. Key, cEvin. "Skinny puppy- coma 1983 ( cevin key instrumental )". YouTube. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  7. Ankeny, Jason. "Skinny Puppy Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  8. DiGravina, Tim. "Skinny Puppy - Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse". AllMusic. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  9. Reid, Gordon (December 2014). "The history of Roland: part 2 | Sound On Sound". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  10. Gourley, Bob. "Ogre of Skinny Puppy talks Guantanamo Bay and "Weapon"". Chaos Control. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  11. Burnsilver, Glenn. "Skinny Puppy: "We Spent an Unnecessary Amount of Time on hanDover"". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  12. Chillingworth, Alec. "How Skinny Puppy Changed Metal". Metal Hammer. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  13. Clouston, Richard. "The 20 best industrial and EBM records ever made". Fact. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  14. Cigéhn, Peter. "Skinny Puppy samples (The Top Sample Lists)". The Top Sample Lists. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  15. "Skinny Puppy – Video Samples from Movies and Official Bootleg Database". skinnypuppy.eu. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  16. Remission (vinyl liner notes). Skinny Puppy. Nettwerk. 1984. 12 NTWK 12. Retrieved May 22, 2018.CS1 maint: others (link)
  17. Ogre, Nivek; Alacrity, Jason (November 18, 2013). "Litany webchat with Ogre and Jason Alacrity" (Interview). Interviewed by Corey Goldberg. Litany.net. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
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