Assemblage 23
"Assemblage 23" is a one-man futurepop/ebm project, whose sole member is mu… Read Full Bio ↴"Assemblage 23" is a one-man futurepop/ebm project, whose sole member is musician Tom Shear, based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Prior to starting Assemblage 23, Shear experimented with music under the name "Man on a Stage", beginning in the early 1980s. Most of Shear's music at this point was instrumental, as he lacked the confidence to sing; the quality of the music itself was highly questionable by his own admission. Shear eventually began to add vocals to his music; at the same time, Shear was also playing bass in a punk band called the "Advocates".

Assemblage 23 got its start in 1988, when at a "Depeche Mode" concert, founder Tom Shear heard the opening DJ spinning industrial dance music. Prior to hearing this type of music, Shear had been creating primarily synthpop and post-punk type music.

Hearing industrial music for the first time proved to be something of an epiphany for Shear, as he had finally found a form of music that combined the electronic sounds he loved from his synth-pop background with the heavier, darker aggression punk represented. Even so, the project was more of a hobby for Shear at this point; it took until 1998 for Assemblage 23 to gather enough positive acclaim to attract the attention of record labels.

Shear signed a deal in 1999 with the Canadian label Gashed! for a full-length album, "Contempt" (released in November 1999). A second album, "Failure", followed in March 2001 and was released by Gashed! in North America and Accession Records in Europe. A single from "Failure", "Disappoint", was released on Accession in October 2001. The song dealt with Shear's sense of loss after his father's suicide on October 28, 1999.

After falling out with Gashed Records following "Failure", Shear signed with US label Metropolis Records later in 2001; Metropolis re-released "Contempt" and "Failure" that November. A remix release, "Addendum", was also released in November only on Accession. By this point, Assemblage 23 had become fairly popular within the ebm genre.

The third studio album, "Defiance", was released in October 2002 on Metropolis and Accession, preceded by the single "Document" in September. October 2004 saw the release of a fourth album, "Storm"; two singles were taken from the album, "Let the Wind Erase Me" in August and "Ground" in November.

Almost three years later, in March 2007, Assemblage 23 returned with a new single, "Binary", which debuted at #21 on the Billboard US singles chart. This was followed by the album "Meta" in April.

In September of that year Shear released "Early, Rare, & Unreleased [1988-1998]", which is a limited edition collection of A23 tracks taken from the years 1988 - 1998, on his own label 23db records. This was followed in February of 2009 by a second collection "Early, Rare, & Unreleased: Volume Two", which was also limited to 1000 copies.

Late 2009 saw the release of "Compass". Both regular and deluxe limited 2CD editions were released in October 2009, preceeded in September by the single "Spark".

The latest album "Bruise" was released on June 12, 2012. It is also available in both regular and 2CD versions.


Shear also has a side-project, "nerve filter", which has been running alongside Assemblage 23 since 1995. However, no more albums will be released since the project is now open for remixes only.


Official website: www.assemblage23.com
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Assemblage 23 Lyrics


01-Let he Wind Erase Me Attenuate the light of day So I can see the lines…
30000ft I don't think about us much anymore Frankly, the topic has…
30kft Hello, if you're there, pick up the phone I'm calling from…
7 Days Seven days I'll never leave this house again Seven days I'll…
Alive Through the iridescent rain In this heavy atmosphere Nothi…
Angels & Demons The voices whispering inside your head Confine your thought…
Anthem We are born of stone And etched by wind Cast aside to…
Apart A riot of indecision A monument to shame A walking…
Automaton Inside the beige expanse Between the two extremes Reality …
Awake I am lost The footprints that I left have disappeared For no…
Away Concentric circles Forever closing in Another travesty That …
Bi-Polar I haven't felt so alive in years The sun is shining…
Binary Monochromatic reasoning A divide and conquer legacy Dissec…



Binary (club mix) Monochromatic reasoning A divide and conquer legacy Dissect …
Blindhammer All our father's backs are broken And our prophets are insan…
Breath of Ghosts I hear the breath of ghosts Hiding behind the wind Like an…
Cocoon Even though I know it's only chemical These peaks and valley…
Collapse I’m on the verge of collapse I’m on the brink of…
Complacent Complacent You're growing complacent You forgot what it all …
Consequence Mere apologies won't undo what you've done The echoes linger…
Coward Coward Why are you frightened? So quiet I can barely hear yo…
Crosstalk Open up Transmit to all receivers Woe to the disbelievers …
Crush In dying light, the day is fading Defeated eyes regard the…
Damaged I am merely the product Of the life that I've lived An…
Darker The world is asleep with it's head in it's hands Unable…
Darkflow Havoc from down below The desolation undertow Dragging me …
Decades Time is like a serpent That devours its own tail The coils…
Dirt Aghast amidst the grim procession Of hateful traits in your…
Disappoint Just one more time For the sake of sanity Tell me why Explai…
Divide I lost myself in shapeless oceans Whose depths concealed mor…
Document In stillness A silent weight Pausing as the minutes each eva…
Document (Laplegua Mix By Icon In stillness A silent weight Pausing as the minutes each e…
Drive When chaos reigns without a purpose When the swell of sound…
Fallen Down I've seen this face before It somehow looks familiar Tattere…
Fluorescent Skies I'm awakened by the sound Of rain against my window It's g…
Ghosts A thousand footsteps without direction Adrift like snowfall…
Graverobber Night falls with black wings He crawls out of bed Gets dre…
Greed A grip on you like an addiction A selfish need for…
Ground Be still Though chaos rains around you now Only so much…
Ground (Darker version) Be still though chaos reigns around you now only so much rai…
Horizon Hours Spiral and coil into black Some remembered, some forev…
House on Fire Sifting through the ashes With unsteady hands Searching for …
How Can You Sleep? A conscience never burdened you No empathy to slow you down…
Human Human There have been times throughout my life When I fell…
I Am The Rain Too eager to appease The cure is the disease And it's only…
I Ran I walk along the avenue I never thought I'd meet a…
Impermanence Just for one night, can we pretend that this is…
Infinite Like a grain of sand Swallowed by the desert Like a…
Infinité Like a grain of sand Swallowed by the desert Like a drop…
King Of Insects Words come easy Behind a screen When there's no interface-to…
Leave This All Behind Sunrise Light revealing Disorder Panic-striken Tension…
Let Me Be Your Amour Let me take the fall Let me take the blame Let me…
Let Me Be Your Armor Let me take the fall Let me take the blame Let me…
Let Me Be Your Armour Let me take the fall Let me take the blame Let me…
Let The Wind Erase Me Attenuate the light of day So I can see the lines…
Light I stand in a barren void that's featureless No sight or…
Longevity I forgive your weakness In light of all this bleakness You…
Love My Way There's an army on the dance floor It's a fashion with…
Lullaby May you find solace in the gentle arms of sleep Despite…
Madman''s Dream I saw cities swallowed by the ocean I saw children crying…
Madman's Dream I saw cities swallowed by the ocean I saw children crying…
Maps of Reality I suppose in your mind you believe you were right That…
My Burden My burden My weight to carry alone Inside me Down through…
Naked Awake, aware, alone Lost and far from home I walk without th…
Never Forgive It never felt so real Never so visceral But now it's all…
Old When I grow old And my memory Leads me deep into the…
Opened This day has altered my perception I'll never see things qui…
Otherness To give completely From within yourself To treat compassio…
Outsider When the door's always closed Isolation imposed I try the …
Over & Out A proud, indignant Idiocy You think it's funny I disagree…
Pages I read your mind But it wasn't a very interesting read The…
Purgatory So here I stand Completely alone My skin absorbs the rain H…
Raw Raw Unsheltered and exposed When every door is closed The…
Regret Some time ago I checked my conscience And found it…
Silence I want you to know the thoughts My mind contains I want…
Skin Identity sometimes seems fleeting An ever-changing tapestry…
skín Identity sometimes seems fleeting An ever-changing tapestry …
Skyquake The morning broke in eerie silence The ground beneath us cra…
Smoke A smear of grey across the sky A warning in the…
Sorry I'm sorry I can't bleed for you The way you want…
Spark For how much longer must I bleed Into the soil before…
Sun The first day I felt changed I felt removed and broken Over …
Surface Fall Seize I am merely debris Scattered along the ground…
Talk Me Down Calm this raging sea That churns and boils deep inside of…
The Cruelest Year The cruelest year Stole lives too young And many more stil…
The Drowning Season Disjointed context The words were merely sounds Watching a…
The Drowning Season (mix by Ed Vargo of THD) Disjointed context The words were merely sounds Watching as …
The Last Mistake I haven’t seen you in so long And I think that's…
The Noise Inside My Head It's 3AM And I am laying wide-awake And I can’t sleep for…
The Noise Inside My Head (Grendel remix) It's 3AM And I am laying wide-awake And I can’t sleep for…
The Other Side of the Wall A crippling anxiety A chasm between you and me That I wish…
The Poison Moon The flashbulb blind The siren blare A palpable tension Li…
Tragic Figure Once you had it all And threw it all away Day became…
Tried I tried, I failed to believe In the reward I would…
Truth The truth is like a dancer with shattered limbs What once…
underneath the ice I can feel the violence Spill across the floor My eyes hav…
You haven You crave attention As if it's due to you You…
You haven't Earned It (The Log You crave attention As if it's due to you You…


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