Having struggled for a few years on his own record label, Gary Numan decided to sign with Illegal Records in 1988 and released the album "Metal Rhythm".
On this offering Gary seems to be creating a kind of pseudo-industrial-funk full of Roland D-50 presents and ideas stolen from Prince. The first three songs are pretty much indistinguishable from each other and whilst they feature prominent female backing vocals, they are thankfully devoid of saxophone. Another slight annoyance on this record is the constant use of the same drum
sounds. I am fairly sure Numan used a Roland R-8 here and I
feel like I can hear the FATS1 snare sound on every track.
Numan only seems to offer us something original on "Devious" and "Voix" in which he recounts some of his experiences with the opposite sex. The single "America" has some nice rhythmical elements, but the sound still harks back to the PPG Wave albums he made two years before. There are some clever stabs at radio friendly pop with "Respect" and "Young Heart" but the sound was already out of step with 1988's chart fodder like Yazz and the Plastic Population or S'Express, so it's no wonder this album only found an audience with his loyal fans. I'm tempted to give this album a low score but I am conscious I have to allow room to go a lot lower. 2/5
