Digital Energy – Tempest (Album – Infacted Recordings)
Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, body-pop.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: This German duo saw the light of day in 2000 and self-released the album “Interemontional” in 2008. They split one year after and reactivated the band in 2014. They self-released a few singles and finally joined hands together with Infacted to unleash their official debut album.
Content: The album features 10 songs plus 3 remixes. The previous singles have been featured. After a somewhat Kraftwerk-ian intro cut, “Trust” (their last self-released single) reveals an overwhelming sound production mixing elements of EBM and electro-pop together. This song sounds a bit like the imaginary offspring between Covenant and Rotersand. It’s however not representative of the album, which is rapidly moving into evasive electro-pop compositions. The songs remain danceable and sometimes melancholic while the influence of Depeche Mode is easily recognizable. One of the last songs (cf. “Disease” is getting back to EBM elements.
Remixes have been accomplished by ES23, Outsized and Kaos!.
+ + + : The work takes off an impressive way by the outstanding “Trust”. This song stands for pure electronic sound intelligence, driven by aggressive sequences and great sound treatments while the clear, but charismatic vocals are the cherry on the pie. I also recommend the other ‘harder’ cut “Disease”, which might appeal to early And One fans. So Digital Energy clearly has potential, but they’ll mainly appeal to synth-pop lovers. “Mirror” is for sure their best song in the genre.
– – – : The Depeche Mode inspiration is too much at the forefront and that’s a pity as this band clearly has much more to offer. I expected a bit more out of the remixes.
Conclusion: Digital Energy is a band showing two faces. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think they better have to leave the Depeche Mode inspiration a bit more behind.
Best songs: “Trust”, “Disease”, “Mirror”.
Rate: (6½).
Artist: www.facebook.com/digitalenergymusic
Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690
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