I have been waiting for what seems like forever for a new Lights of Euphoria CD, and just when I was about to give up hope, Metropolis Records released this Krieg Gegen Die Maschinen CD. Unfortunately, while it's good, it's not as good as I was hoping it would be.

The very first two LoE recordings were collaboration albums that included many guest musicians and singers. The third and fourth LoE albums were much more structured with three primary band members making the songs. Well, it appears as if T. Schmidt is the only remaining member of the band now, and he has brought on several guests to contribute to this recording. What this means is that this CD, like LoE's second release Beyond Subconciousness, sounds like a compilation CD.

T. Schmidt does almost all of the music on this album, but brought on different guest vocalists for the songs. One of the more popular singers featured on this CD is Ronan Harris from VNV Nation. He provides the vocals for the track "Consequence", and proves that he can still sing with aggression if he wants to. I can only hope that the next VNV Nation CD sounds more like this song than their more recent material.

Most of the songs on this CD are really good. There's electro-industrial, EBM and synth-pop offered throughout this album. So there's definitely a lot of variety here. All of the songs feature nicely constructed music with textured programming, relentless beats, dramatic melodies and deep toned male vocals. If European industrial, EBM and synth-pop is your thing, this CD is for you. But wait, the review isn't over yet. Remember I said this CD isn't as good as I was hoping it would be? Well, there's a few reasons for this. The main thing being that there are four out of place experimental instrumentals here that I could have definitely done without. I admit that two of them aren't too bad as they're short intros and outros for the CD. But the other two are full-length and placed as tracks five and eight. They're not really bad as much as they just don't belong here. They sort of ruin the flow of the CD. They're noisy and experimental and don't blend well with the more energetic dance feel of the CD.

Besides the instrumentals, I'm not happy with the track order of the CD, either. The CD starts off with a bunch of synth-pop songs, and ends with a bunch of electro-industrial songs. It would have been better if these different types of songs were placed better so nothing sounded clumped together. Because it almost seems as if all of the songs were just randomly placed on the CD without any real thought.

Finally, one of the songs offered on this CD isn't even an LoE song. It's called "Shadows Merging", and is a Run Level Zero song. The reason it's on the CD is because it's remixed by LoE. It's still a great song, so I'm not complaining.

I'm disappointed that this CD only really offers eight new LoE songs not counting the experimental instrumentals, which I don't since they're obviously only on the CD to add tracks. But when all is said and done, this really is a great CD that offers some excellent songs. Just expect to have to get through some filler to enjoy them.

 

Lights Of Euphoria return with their best CD yet. They deliver very structured and tightly constructed energetic electro industrial music with a touch of synth-pop for more variety. Each track is good with fast paced dance floor made electronic programming / sequencing / sampling, harmonic synth melodies, driving drum beats and deep accented male vocals. This is a very well produced CD of an extremely high quality. It's crisp and clean with no rough edges. The songs are very well done with melodies and chorus' that stand out. Each song sounds diverse with something different in them. There are club tracks with a futuristic/sci-fi techno edge, uplifting synth-pop songs and even a couple of angry and aggressive moments. I have been a fan of Lights Of Euphoria for a long time now, and it's good to see them keep releasing CDs of this quality. They mature with every release, but still stay true to their style. They are definitely one of the more talented electronic bands creating music today and deserve recognition. This CD is a must for all electronic music fans.

 

This is quite a change of pace for Lights Of Euphoria. Their previous albums have always included a lot of guest musicians, instrumentals and remixes. The songs presented here are all created by three key members and don't feature one remix in the bunch. This album is very tight, polished and consistant. I feel that it's their best work so far. The overall sound of the music is a bit lighter and softer with an overall synth-pop vibe. However, there's still plenty of energy and emotion. Most of the tracks found here would be great for clubs, but there are some more melodic and dramatic moments as well. Out of fifteen tracks there are only two instrumentals and they are used strictly as opening and ending pieces. I am extremely pleased with the quality of the vocals. They are deep voiced and clean without distortion and actually sing with harmony. The music is very layered with various electronic sound effects, drum programming, samples and beautiful synth melodies. It all plays at a comfortable pace and is just enjoyable to listen to. Each song manages to sound slightly different adding variety to the entire package. Some songs are more relaxed and mellow while others are more alive and frantic. There isn't a bad track here. Everything is good. This is a very high quality album. The overall production is top notch. It's crisp and clear with no noise or distortion. While this isn't really an angry or aggressive album, it's still very serious and dramatic with an emotional edge. The mood is cold at times making you really feel the passion presented here. If you're tired of distorted noise and techno dance music, this Lights Of Euphoria album is definitely something different that you should check out.

 

This is one of the best electro industrial albums that I have heard in a long time. First of all, you get fifteen songs and they are all good. Also, they each sound diverse with different vocalists on almost every one. Variety is the key here, and this album delivers. Each song is done extremely well with a combination of dance energy electronic rhythms and beats layered over melodic background synths. There are vocals on almost every song, and the singing style is different from song to song. There is even some sampled guitar here as well to give the music a slightly heavier edge. There are a couple of excellent instrumentals here as well with voice samples scattered throughout. The songs grab you right from the start and don't let go. Most songs have a dark and aggressive style. But there are a few that are strictly energy packed and play at a frantic pace for the dance floor. There are four remixes here that are done so well that they sound like original songs. Singing on all of the songs is done by deep growling male vocals with heavy accents for the most part. But there are sometimes female vocals as well. There is nothing slow or boring here. Everything is catchy and energetic and could work well on the dance floor. The music and singing is done to perfection on each song. This is a quality album from start to finish.

 

This is very well done electro industrial music that is very polished with dance club caliber beats and rhythms. But only five songs include vocals. That means ten of the songs are instrumentals. This album was definitely made for clubs. It's a mixture between Neotek and Cyber-Tec. There are some songs on here that sound a lot like both of these bands. The Neotek sounding songs are very techno based with deep distorted vocals. The Cyber-Tec sounding songs are a bit more mellow with deep vocals that are not distorted. They have more of an electro goth sound to them. There isn't a bad song to be found here, but I prefer music with vocals. This would have been an outstanding album if most of the songs included vocals. I wonder why this band only decided to include vocals on five songs. Usually bands like this at least fill half of their albums with vocal tracks. I hope on their next release they do.