!distain “On/Off” (Echozone)

Artist: !distain Title: On/Off Format: Album Label: Echozone Genre: Synthpop Release date: May 13, 2011 Available on Spotify!

The German Synthpop duo !distain return in 2011 with their sixth studio album after the successful “Anthology 1992-2010″ managed to climb to top 5 on the Deutche Alternative Charts.

The last album I heard with the band was the “Raise The Level” album from 2007 and I must say a lot of things have happened since then. Maybe not on the inside of the band, but with the sound. The catchy and very beat driven synthpop sound from previous album like the one I mentioned or even the strong “25 Frames A Second” album from 2004 are like blown away. Instead you get lots of tracks that is at this mellow stage with only some small hints of the good old sound back in the days. “My God”, “Monokultur”, Second Coming” and “Mediaeval Presence” are all at the more catchier stage.

The band actually continues to include songs with interesting collaboration of other artists, and they manage to do it very well. The collaboration with former Dual Density-singer Tess Fries is really great and the two voices match in a beautiful way. Still, I have a very hard time listening to any !distain song with German lyrics. And there is no change here.

“On/Off” is a decent synthpop album with some great tunes but in a more mellow stage. However, I don’t feel that is have the same strength that earlier mentioned album has and can’t stay alive on only a handful of good songs. Although, I feel the sound and structure is more mature then previous album and probably they can find right direction again.

Tracklist:

01. The 6th Floor (Feat. Seyhan)
02. Mein Weg
03. Why (Bootlicking Hypocrites)
04. 100%
05. Values Of Truth
06. What Do You Want From Me (Feat. Tess Fries)
07. My God
08. Monokultur (Feat. Rick Prokein)
09. Together
10. Second Coming
11. Mediaeval Presence
12. Mein Weg (Elektrostaub)