Test Dept.
Test Dept is a British industrial band. It was founded in 1981 in London by Paul Jamrozy, Graham Cunnington, Jonathan Toby Burdon, Paul Hines and Angus Farquhar. The band is considered one of the most influential industrial bands.
A hallmark of this band was to give statements on numerous political issues and to strive for cooperation (e.g. with the choir of striking miners from South Wales). There was also repeated cooperation with the Einstürzende Neubauten . At the end of the 1980s there were collaborations with various theater groups such as the Brith Gof for the album Gododdin in which the poem of the same name was set to music. Despite the characteristic driving percussion in their music, the music has a wide range and in later years also includes other areas such as techno .
After the band broke up in 1997, the musicians pursued solo projects such as B. Cunnington, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, with his show Pain , in which he processed his experiences with this disease. In 2016 they got together again.
Discography
- Ecstasy Under Duress - 1982
- Compulsion - 1983
- Shoulder to Shoulder (with Striking Miners' Choir) - 1984
- Beating the Retreat - 1984
- Live at the Ritz - 1984
- Atonal & Hamburg, Live - 1985
- European Network - 1985
- Shoulder to Shoulder - 1985
- Faces of freedom - 1985
- The Unacceptable Face of Freedom - 1986
- A Good Night Out - 1987
- Terra Firma - 1988
- Natura Victus - 1988
- Materia Prima - 1989
- Gododdin (with Brith Gof) (LP) - 1989
- Gododdin (with Brith Gof) (EP) - 1989
- Pax Britannica - 1990
- Pax Americana - 1990
- New World Order - 1991
- Proven in Action (Live 1990) - 1991
- Bang on it! (EP) - 1993
- Totality - 1995
- Legacy [1990-1993] The Singles Plus More - 1995
- Tactics for Evolution - 1997
- Disturbance - 2019