Once the incredibly annoying into for "In Chains" passes a rather nice and surprisingly catchy song begins to emerge. I once heard this track used during a private demonstration for some very expensive amplifiers at a high end hi-fi shop. When the track finished another one of the potential clients said, "Yeah I like that eighties type stuff". This comment mystified me as the song doesn't sound very eighties to me. Yes, it has a CR-78 beat and some analogue synths, but that hardly makes it "Just Can't Get Enough".
The next track "Hole To Feed" is a mix of electronics, acoustic toms and guitar that doesn't hold together too well for me. The first single for the album "Wrong" follows and is surprisingly electronic in execution. I remember there being a good video for this song and some of the remixes were excellent. There's something about "Fragile Tension" that I can't warm to despite its relatively frugal use of guitar, but the next track "Little Soul" is much better.
It has taken me over ten years to realise just how electronic this album is. A prime example "In Sympathy" which features a prominent analogue beat and some nice synth programming. The Roland CR-78 is resurrected for single "Peace" which is a bit of an odd track as the verses are sublime but the chorus is a bit of a disappointment.
"Come Back" is a great song but clearly someone got itchy fingers and turned the distortion up on almost everything associated with the backing track and ruined it. There is another version of this song floating about on the internet that is often labelled as an "early version" or "alternative take" which is superior to the released mix by some distance. Judging by comments on YouTube, I'm not the only one with this opinion.
There's short instrumental track called "Spacewalker" before we hear my favourite track on the album "Perfect". I love the melody on this track and the pulsating synths give it an energy that I find irresistible. Like the rest of this album this song employs analogue synthesisers but I'm sure I can here a JV-1080 preset in there somewhere. This song made the biggest impression on me but I think I must have neglected it recently as hearing it now has instantly transported me back to 2009.
"Miles Away" is a bit of a guitar driven dirge that gives way to "Jezebel" which sounds like it was transported to us from seventies LA. The last track is "Corrupt" which is an uptempo and catchy number that makes you want to go back and start the album again. Surprisingly the 'hidden track' "Interlude #5" is also included on the vinyl after 3 minutes silence. This album gains lots of points for "In Chains" and "Perfect" but loses almost as many for the wasted opportunity of "Come Back". Still, this is miles better than what is about to come. 3/5
