ASSEMBLAGE 23 – Storm

The curse of the fourth album strikes again! Yes, after Covenant’s “United States Of Mind” and VNV Nation’s “Futureperfect”, the other mega-future-pop band released the album far below its creative level: “Storm” is out.
Melodies are there, sure. Style is Tom Shear’s and that is certain. Beats and bassline, characteristic, yes. Why am I complaining then? Here’s why:

1) New songs are similar to prevously released and to each other
2) Whole album is ‘flat’: seems like there’s no change in bpm count, in range, in energy.
3) Lyrics are similar to previous material as well
4) No innovation whatsoever, no development

I wouldn’t go that far and call this album boring, yet, it is really uneventful outside the track 4,5 and 6 spell. So, THREE outstanding songs per album? Far from Shear’s level, don’t you think? He can pull excellent melodies out of his hat with ease, that is a fact but they’re becoming similar like white rabbits.Black sheep, now that would be an event!

So, friends, stick with singles on this one – best tracks, remixes, rare releases, cheaper. Wait for Assemblage 23 to get back to truly convincing, driven, persuasive songs.