At around 1999, Gary Numan said that he was going to make a series of 'dark' albums and he has delivered on that promise, Sacrifice, Exile, Pure, Jagged. Each album got progressivly darker each time.
In many cases, Numan likes to write an album like a story, the first lyrics are "Here is my small black box..." which is a good indication what is going to happen, dark moody bass lines and the drum machine in the background.
He has kept elements from previous albums for example, the bit of quiet singing and then plenty of loud harsh rhythm kicking in for a short while. But somehow he has made this album quite a unique sound with the help of Ade Fenton.
One slight down side is that nearly every song has a atmospheric intro which, to the new Numan fan amongst you, might like but does makes all the songs sound very familiar to each other but I think Numan does this on purpose to make the album an epic, atmospheric milestone. But once the 'intro' is over and done with, all the songs do take on a life of their own.
There are many songs on the album that have their own little quirks but suffice to say, they are all very individual and do have some great retro feel to some of the tracks. Nice big bouncy choruses, long bass lines, disceet synths and really good production.
There has been various formats of this release made, Chinese, American (with added extra track, Fold Alt. Mix), double white vinyl, and i am not sure if a black vinyl version came out so dont quote me on that!!!
The downside of this album is the front cover, the pic is ok, and i guess the B&W suggests that it is arty but does not do the the album any justice and does not portray the album at all but the font, just does not work at all, it would have been better plain with the font under the clear tray.
but a really good album with all that bass and rhythm....annoy the neighbours.
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