STRUCTURE - Opaque

After 5 years Structure have released their new full-length album OPAQUE. It starts with the track Opaque which delivers a great portion of eighties sounds and a "New Order"-feel followed by the playful and melancholic song "tectonic". From there you get entranced by the warm and smooth atmosphere which they created with delicate synthetic compositions and the combination of real drums, guitars and synthesizers. The song Games (stu's mix) lets you blatantly feel all the sensitivity with which Structure designs their songs. With "Inside & Out" they also prove their skill in producing danceable songs.
I also have to mention the song "Johnnie's Vespa (radio mix)" which shows their command of Structure and their fun in making music. This song has a rock'n'roll and Blues Brothers style but in a non-electronic way. Well, it's a great, amusing song which is one of the absolute highlights of the album.
Unfortunately the album only comes with 10 tracks and a full-length of 38 Min : 20 Sek. In my opinion too little of a good thing! I would immediately recommend this album to all the people who like eighties influenced music with a portion of rock'n'roll, but who won't abandon SynthPoP!

This is the second album from the solo Artist Paul Adams from UK. It features 10 tracks of the finest classic melancholic SynthPoP with intelligent lyrics. "Fall From Grace" includes both eighties influenced songs (like "Master Of My Mind", "So Sweet The Promise" and  "Understanding") which remind me of early Yazoo songs - very minimal based on playful synthetic melodies and modern romantic songs. In both cases Paul Adams really proves his exceptional skill in packing all his sensitivity into his compositions, which create a warm and close atmosphere. Beside these excellent audio tracks the CD also includes an interesting CD-ROM section which delivers 3 remixes of album songs beside lyrics, photographs, wallpapers and screensavers.
Unfortunately I had some compatibility-problems while playing this CD on my Plextor CD-ROM drive.

COLUMN 5 - Faith On The Line

Faith On The Line is the debut album for the band Column 5 who come from Texas (USA). Column 5 tried to mix light EBM with classic minimalist SynthPoP. The sound structures are kept very flat based on monotonous rhythms and minimalist fm-sounds which create a dark atmospheric electronic mood. Column 5 really had some great ideas but the mix sometimes doesn't work. In my opinion they experimented too much with voice-distortions and exceptional sounds, at the expense of sensibility. It really needs a great deal of patience to listen to the whole album at one time.
Unfortunately the singer cannot always deliver and I sometimes had the feeling that they tried to compensate his weakness in singing by processing his voice. Also the recording and mixing quality isn't good and degrades the general impression too. On the whole "Faith On The Line" delivers some great new ideas but unfortunately they get nipped in the bud.

DE/VISION - Devolution (limited edition) | reviewed by Ahmudo

Prepare yourself for an alien ride when listening to the first track in the album, called Sadness, for De/Vision have come back in full force. After one year of work, they continue to excel by releasing one of their very best albums, and possibly one of the best SynthPoP albums in my opinion. They take it this time to a new dimension of music, which reminds me of the old and beautiful pure SynthPoP that has only been upgraded by electronics, not corrupted by lame and boring sounds. De/Vision plays this album very professionally, to a level that might exceed even the giants of SynthPoP. Songs are balanced out to satisfy all types of moods, from the danceable tunes such as (Drifting Sideways), or the kinetically romantic songs such as (A New Dawn) to a hard beat with harmonized backgrounds in songs such as (Digital Dream). It is impossible to determine the best song in this album; I like all the songs! After a blissful SynthPoP history of more than 15 years, I think they can be called the future of Pop!