[.ca] Defiance

uplifting?:
is it just me or is this quite a step towards positive, as compared to the depressive contempt and failure? i actually like this cd the best out of all 3 albums. he voice seems to have finally lifted and doesnt sound so much like a robot anymore!

simply amazing. Tom Shear does not disapoint!:
I'll start off by saying EBM/Industrial is my absolute favorite genre of music. Growing up with artists like David Bowie, Genesis, Sting and the Police, Tom Petty and AC/DC, i have a very broad taste for music, but nothing moves me like ebm/industrial does. This latest recording by Tom Shear is one of the finest recordings i have heard in a long time. "Opened" is a great way to start the cd - it kicks you into high-gear, and prepairs you for the sonic onslaught that is to follow. The next 8 tracks are the quality of music that i've come to expect from him. Heavy beats, complex synth layers and moving, intense vocals and lyrics. The real shinning track on this disk has to be "Lullaby" though. Slower than all the rest, mellow and melodic, the lyrics are full of care and compassion, and will soothe almost anyone. Again, Shear proves he is a powerful force in his genre, not to be overlooked. If you're a fan of "smart" music, check this out. You won't be disapointed!

awsome:
this was one hell of a good cd!!

Not as successful as Failure!:
Call me morbid, but I do not like normal techno on the account that it is too happy. Tom Shear's Assemblage 23 project is not usually called happy, primarily because its best album was about suicide. Failure, the previous album, mixed moderately hard beats with much foreboding and quite dramatic synth work, creating a feel of "Depeche Mode minus the Prozac". However, even though Defiance manages to show musical mastery of the electronic medium, it manages to be so damn happy that it is hard to tell that it is Tom Shears work. Industrial Dance Music (aka EBM) is basically a mixture of Industrial and Synthpop. Defiance is heavily based upon the synthpop from its synthesizers, and neglects (for the most part), the beats and hardness of its Industrial side. As a result, it feels quite similar to recent Apoptygma Berzerk, and not an angsty depression-fest like the previous album. Even though it isnt sufficiently Industrial for my taste, I will concede that the synthwork is as good as Failure, and just as beautiful. However, the happier feel of Defiance seems to negate much of the foreboding mood generated by Failure. However, it is certainly not all bad, in fact there are some utterly brilliant tracks, these being Document, and Drive, each of these managing to be as good as Failure's tracks, and almost as dark in mood. Overall, if you found Failure too angsty then this album will work for you, but on a musical level, it isnt as powerful nor moody. 3 1/2 stars

EBM = Dance music for the simple minded:
I'm sorry, I don't mean to offend anybody, but to say that the best Artists that EBM has to offer are 2-Dimentional would be giving them too much credit. I thought I saw a wee bit of hope in Assemblage 23's Failure, but then he came out with this garbage. Failure would be a better suited title for this album... If anyone is interested in listening to Intelligent Dance music filled with Depth and Emotion, I highly suggest looking into PsyTrance (often referred to as the next evolutionary step from EBM/Industrial)... The debut album from Eskimo would be a good start.

• Opened
• Drive
• Blindhammer
• Cocoon
• Document
• Fallen Down
• Horizon
• Light
• Maps of Reality
• Lullaby