Futurepop. Thank you VNV Nation for coining the term.
That was sarcasm, ladies and gentlemen.
Angels and Agony, a Dutch export of the genre, offer us Unison to partake in. Overall, one can quickly conclude that this is just another Goth club soundtrack, something to dance while posing in expensive fetish wear. Sure, it’s definitely that, meets all the requirements: a steady stompy beat, driving synth bass, floating melodies and husky male vocals half-whispering the secrets of transcendence. But Unison has a few touches that make it interesting to listen to off the dance floor. It has moments of songcraft, key changes and textures, and at times feels like it’s a band and not just a couple guys with sequencers. This was probably mostly due to John Fryer (NIN, White Zombie, Depeche Mode) sitting at the production helm, making their music a little more accessible.
Unfortunately, these droplets of creativity are not enough to make it stand out with any significance its contemporaries (not even the conceptual first and last tracks that bookend the album). Far too many cliches control what this album is about. The dance floor residents are picky about what they dance to, which significantly limits any of these bands from really expanding without losing their club rotation.
Unison comes with a second disk, a series of remixes focusing on five of the tracks from disk one. Generally, remixes are geared towards club play, but the astute observer can come across some genuinely interesting arrangements if one gave them a chance. Such is the case here, with a number of the mixes geared towards more piano driven or orchestral scoring. This is what would make picking up this album worthwhile, if anything.
Website: Angels and Agony
