Like many Germans, Alec Empire was delighted to see the Berlin-Wall reduced to rubble in 1989. Unlike many Germans, he wishes the demolition teams had leveled the rest of the city as well.

On Atari Teenage Riot's debut U.S. album, Burn, Berlin, Burn!, Empire's group attacks the system with a blinding noise that blends the tempos and polemics of hardcore punk with the techniques and technology of electronica. The group's radical political messages are somewhat superficial, relying on cartoonish declarations like "Cut all policemen into pieces" ("Fuck All") and "Life is like a video game with no chance to win" ("Into the Death"). But the combustive power and creativity of the band's music more than compensates. "Destroy 2000 Years of Culture" grafts a loop of what sounds like Slayer's "Dead Skin Mask" over lunging hip-hop beats, paranoid vocals and volleys of keyboard scree, and "Not Your Business" cartwheels through a miasma of epileptic break beats and samples that sound like an angry swarm of wasps.

Occasionally, Atari Teenage Riot's furious Nintendo cacophony is so over the top, it approaches self-parody. But the band is well aware of – and even flaunts – its humor value. "Start the Riot" is riddled with cheesy computerized hand claps, "Atari Teenage Riot" steals its melody line from "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and the frenzied "Deutsch-land (Has Gotta Die!)" is interrupted by Empire lethargically announcing in a distorted, half-speed voice, "We react very strongly to tranquilizers." But Empire and Co. react even more strongly to Germany's rigid government and conservative infrastructure. And, as Atari Teenage Riot shout, "The time is right to fight!" (RS 760)

JON WIEDERHORN