Need a new genre of rock music to try out? How does Electronic Violence sound to you? That is how Next Life describe themselves...and it's a pretty fair description.

Norwegian duo Hai Nguyen Dinh and Tormod Christensen share a love of transistor culture and punk and hardcore influences. Playing and recording since 1999, they mix up industrial metal riffage with the sounds of old school computers and games consoles. Quite a unique idea and sound, incorporating the sounds of Amiga, Commodore 64, Megadrive and Super Nintendo with metallic riffage. 'Artificial Divinity' is the third album from these noise merchants, the first to feature a live drummer. It's instrumental and the twelve tracks on offer mostly clock in at under 2 minutes each.

Opener 'Back To The Abyss' fades in with the sound of a helicopter before some frantic metallic riffing cuts in, sounding like a heavier Stabbing Westward, it's over seemingly as soon as it's begun. The influence of old school console games is evident throughout, tracks such as 'Lightning Accelerator' and 'Blade Of Courage' are fast paced, riotous affairs that sound like background battle music - adrenaline fuelled and intense.

'Nuclear Winter' sets an apocalyptic scene in mind, the digital intro builds slowly, before it segues into the 'Living Dead Forest' and again into the haunting and atmospheric 'Moonlight'. There are progressive elements on show in the longer songs such as 'Divine Encounter'(2 minutes and 12 seconds!), and they generally segue into one another creating one overall soundscape. The songs are so short it's difficult to review them as singular pieces of music, it's more like a collection of ideas brought together as one twenty minute piece of music. There is really no need for song titles, by the time I write it down it's over. It's like the soundtrack to a fast paced shoot 'em up console game, and if you used to spend your summer holidays bashing buttons on your Megadrive then the sounds on 'Artificial Divinity' will take you back to those days with some fondness.

So, it's a modern metal sound, current and energetic, albeit almost retro in feel. Being instrumental and computer based the music has its limitations, but Next Life manage to keep it interesting and not once does it sound dull or repetitive as I feared it would. Music for computer geeks, metal heads and people with a short attention span.

www.myspace.com/next_life