WarMech

WarMech is a video game soundtrack album by Vancouver-based electro-industrial band Front Line Assembly. The album was released through Artoffact Records on June 22, 2018 as the soundtrack to Carbon Games' AirMech Wastelands, a sequel to the 2012 video game AirMech that also featured a soundtrack by Front Line Assembly.^[9] WarMech features Jeremy Inkel's final recordings,^[10] as he died on January 11, 2018.^[11]

WarMech
Soundtrack album by Front Line Assembly
Released	June 22, 2018 (2018-06-22)
Genre	Electro-industrial[1] dubstep[2] video game music[3] EDM[4]
Length	73:21
Label	Artoffact Records
Producer	Bill Leeb Jared Slingerland Sasha Keevil Craig Johnson Jeremy Inkel
Front Line Assembly chronology
Kampfbereit (2015) WarMech (2018) Wake Up the Coma (2019)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
I Die: You Die	Favorable[1]
Overdrive	Favorable[5]
Reflections of Darkness	8.5/10[6]
ReGen	Favorable[2]
Release	7/10[4]
Side-Line	7.5/10[7]
Spectrum Culture	[3]
The Spill Magazine	[8]

Background and production

Already having been a fan of Bill Leeb's various projects,^[12] Carbon Games founder James Green had approached the band for WarMech and its predecessor album AirMech because "I wanted to work with Bill/FLA for our games [for] the same reason I love the music as a fan. It's more of a signature Bill Leeb thing in fact, as you can hear it across all his music projects - the complex layering and build up of songs. [...] Having something with the depth and texture you find in FLA songs is exactly what I wanted."^[12]

During the production period of some fifteen months Carbon Games gave the band complete artistic freedom, a process both parties described as easy-going. Carbon Games as well as Front Line Assembly considered the album a big improvement over the already well-received AirMech.^[12][13]

While Leeb saw AirMech as a learning experience, he emphasized the importance of the extensive dubstep programming "with different types of dubstepping" for WarMech: "In some of the songs they are the real key elements. It's more intense in that way, we just pushed it to another level."^[13]

Release

The songs "Mechvirus" and "Molotov" were released for early streaming through the group's Bandcamp account.^[14][15]

The original intention of Carbon Games was to issue a physical release of the album themselves. Talks with label Artoffact about the vinyl edition lead to Artoffact assuming responsibilities also for the CD issue.^[12]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Mechvirus"	6:33
2.	"Anthropod"	5:45
3.	"Heatmap"	6:21
4.	"The Imminent"	4:54
5.	"Force Carrier"	5:17
6.	"Meteorfall"	6:49
7.	"Molotov"	5:30
8.	"Rip Sensor"	7:31
9.	"The Eminent"	6:11
10.	"Mechanism"	6:07
11.	"Earthriser"	5:48
12.	"Creator"	6:35

All tracks are written by Bill Leeb, Jeremy Inkel, Jared Slingerland, Sasha Keevil, Craig Johnsen.

Personnel

Credits adapted from WarMech liner notes.^[16]

Front Line Assembly

• Bill Leeb – vocals, electronic instruments, production
• Jared Slingerland – electronic instruments, production
• Jeremy Inkel – strings recording, electronic instruments, production
• Sasha Keevil – electronic instruments, production
• Craig Johnson – electronic instruments, production

Additional musicians

• Jason Bazinet – additional samples

Technical personnel

• Dave McKean – album art

Chart history

Chart (2018)	Peak position
German Alternative Albums (Deutsche Alternative Charts)[17]	3