Differential Diagnosis (2019)

label: HANDS productions
released: April 26, 2019

In 2019 it’s high time for a differential diagnosis of the ICD-10 sound: Following the 2017 collaboration album with label mate Phasenmensch, the duo now goes all solo, and full-on floor appeal with a healthy dose of hard rhythmic bangers. A relentless techno drive and noisy edges in a flawless production, a complex backbone and yet simple and catchy signature hooks per track make sure that this works over the entire 75 minutes playing time, as well as yielding plenty club smashs.
ICD-10 state their agenda boldly: Infectious patterns, sound as decay, the rhythm of decline, music for disease. Henning Hinck and Daniel Himmelreich have proven their quality in front of techno and industrial audiences since 2011, even more since they started their live support of Phasenmensch a couple of years later, and “Differential Diagnosis” is the product of these long years shaping and sharpening their bold and cold, exciting and sometimes experimental sound. Kicking it off with “Congestion”, featuring the wailing chants of Buddhist monks, ICD-10 keep up the tension with earworm hooks (“White Surface”), avalanches of bass (“Rolling Thunder”), vocal hooks (“Wrong way Driving”) and sometimes almost “-core” kicks (“Centerline”). All along they don’t forget to throw in the occasional calmer moment (“Broken Rhythm”), plus a change of tone in the collaborative tracks with Toneflex and (of course) Phasenmensch respectively. The outro then allows for the only non-rhythmic track, the seriously disturbing soundscape called “Sleepwalker”.
“Differential Diagnosis” acknowledges the context of industrial techno and gets the amount of sonic refinement just right, thus leaving an individual mark while appealing instantly to any fan of the genre. Mission accomplished: “Some make music to open hearts – we aim to perforate other organs!”