Customer Reviews

6 Feet Underground

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The most common complaint for this album is its lack of catchy and/or dancable tracks. De/Vision has for a while now been catering less to the impatient ears of the dance-hungry majority of electronica fans, and more towards the smaller crowd who appreciates the neverending possiblities of computerized music. Notice the way in "take me to heaven" the song is in a shuffle, or how "turn me on" features a wonderfully odd drum beat you probably will never hear any popular synth artist use or come up with.
Melodically, the album varies from song to song, but maintains its atmosphere from start to finish, an atmospher which the ablum's title should clue you in to.
Guitars are used sparingly (in an outro for the first track, and an electric bass for "Aimee"), but provide just the right touch when needed, as well. The song "Klangmonaut" is so deliciously Kraftwerk in its nature, it's a treat to hear a group like D/V play with a style like this.
Much of the album takes getting into, something a lot of electro fans don't want to do. A song like "I'm not dreaming of you" grabs the listener and likely becomes the favorite of the album; it's readily likable and catchy. Most other tracks are much more complex, and strike a deeper chord with me. They are out there, different, orchestrated, composed and moody. They reflect two musicians who don't want to grow tired of what they're doing, so they keep their approach fresh and transitory. I would recommend this ablum especially for anyone who knows the time and effort it takes to [try to] compose electronic music without falling back on synth and drum cliches.

Steffen and Thomas have done it again. In fact, they've topped themselves. 6 Feet Underground is brilliant from start to finish. Though I truly love most of their albums on the whole, this is the first time I've loved every single track on one of them. Even the two instrumentals are incredible and cannot be considered "filler" (actually "Klangmonaut" is the only true instrumental, but "Right On Time" is an instrumental for the most part, using just a couple of distorted vocal lines throughout). By far the standout track is the opener, "I'm Not Enough." This is, quite possibly, the greatest song the band has ever created. It bursts with emotion, and almost gives me chills whenever the chorus starts. There are many standout tracks, though, including "I'm Not Dreaming Of You," "Unputdownable," "Aimee," "Turn Me On," and "Beside You," just to name a few. But as I've already said, all are wonderful. It's very difficult to pick favorites. Overall, this is by far their most upbeat album since "Monosex," both in tempo and lyrical content. It is a delicious mix of elements from their previous four albums, yet it has a unique, cohesive sound to it that sets it apart from the others. If you are a fan of De/Vision (or Depeche Mode and the like), I can't fathom how you could NOT love this album. It's absolutely fantastic. And, as always, the production quality is mind-blowing. Let's bring these guys to the surface here in the U.S.!

Spacey, moody, dark, and entrancing are all suitable descriptions for this decidedly mellow album in comparison De/Vision's previous outings. I have become a very enthusiastic DV fan over the past few months and I have aquired a very extensive CD collection of theirs. I am very open to all new sounds and innovations from any group that I admire and respect but I can also admit that I'd take their earlier stuff over newer albums like "Void" and "Devolution" any day of the week. It's a matter of taste; I enjoy the faster, more club friendly side of dark synthpop rather than the slower, more ballad laden side of synthpop. And it seems to be an unwritten fact that when any synthpop band has been around for a while, their sound naturally evolves as they become older and more experienced and this almost always means that the new sounds become a bit slower and more softer than before. 6 Feet Underground is definitely evidence of this process to say the least but inferior, it is not. The soundscapes and synths on this album are absolutely gorgeous and totally entrancing. The music is smooth and much more ornately crafted than ever before. The songs are all either very emotional and tender( practically everything, but most notably "I'm not Enough" or the melancholy "Aimee", which is very reminiscent to another recent ballad called "Far too deep" ) or eerily cold( "Right on time", which reminds me of "Digital Dream" ), in stunning contrast to all the synth beats, all the while staying true to DV's uniquely darker sound.

Don't buy this expecting to hear another version of Devolution, despite those few similarities, this is far moodier and forboding than the previous effort. Think "Moments we Shared" in a "Void" type setting stripped of all the guitars. Each darkened melody is slickened with all the classic DV trappings except with a more tranquil and subdued demeanor. I am certainly an advocate for the faster brand of synth but this album is beyond words, and is so beautiful that thoughts of "Zehn" and "Fairyland" seem utterly foreign and forgotten while listening to this. No, I am not at all saying that this is their best effort or better than the two albums I just mentioned but it certainly deserves a spot in your DV/ Synthpop collection whether you prefer the slower stuff or not. You may not feel the urge to dance to every song but you will want to listen to this over and over, layer upon layer, and find yourself marveling at another newfound facet of this band's relentless dedication and newfound potential.

GREAT ALBUM!!!!!!!
Once again De/Vision continues their amazing run of excellent music. I've waited "quite impatiently to be honest" for this album to show up in my mailbox for some time, so the possibility of a let down was great, but not so! I can't recall such a well-polished and diverse album in recent memory. This album has all the elements of De/Vison through the years; I hear small pieces of Fairyland, Monosex, Two and even De/Volution, perfectly woven into a fantastic array of synthpop! De/Vision just keeps growing and maturing.
To bad mainstream radio doesn't play this, it would be a huge hit for sure. Great job guys, simply UNPUTDOWNABLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Not their finest work to date, De/Vision's "6 Feet Underground" is still a very worthy effort and a good CD for the seasoned fan. Overall, the album has several solid tracks, but very little in the way of a sure-fire, over-the-top hit.

The two singles on the album, 'I'm Not Dreaming of You' and 'Turn Me On' are excellent tunes, and are certainly worthy of being released as singles, but they are relatively slow and not even the best tracks on the album. If you're looking for the more 'danceable' side of the band, then 6FU may ultimately disappoint you.

However, released on both singles discs are several incredible, club-worthy remixes, that I feel are actually better than the original tunes.

My personal favorites on 6FU are the opening track, 'I'm Not Enough' which is in a similar vein to the two previously mentioned tracks, but a little livelier, and 'Take Me Over', which begins with a nice little melody, then kicks you in the head with a hard-driving, Ministry/Industrial-style rift. Sublime.

'Take Me to Heaven', the disc's closing track is a haunting, Depeche Mode, a la "Songs of Faith and Devotion"- type song, which lead-singer Steffen pulls off extremely well. The song's sultry lyrics blend nicely with the dark, desolate composition. Picture a cross between DM's 'Clean' and 'I Feel You.' However, the references to DM and the aforementioned Ministry, are just that, references for the uninitiated. De/Vision very much stand on their own merit.

'Beside You' and 'Right On Time', contrary to most of the rest of 6FU, make you want to move. The former is pretty catchy, while the latter is mostly instrumental, and falls just short of being a club hit.

'Unputdownable' reminds me of early Camouflage, but with much better English, and 'Aimee' is a nice little tune as well. Both songs have been released as b-sides and really aren't any better than that.

The title track is very dark and waaaay too long. I truly enjoy its brooding sensitivities, but it simply seems like they couldn't figure out how to end it. Too bad, because its not a bad song.

'Beside You' is OK, but it is yet another slow-ish track. In general, 6FU has a fistful of very good tunes, but ultimately fails to deliver as a whole. Perhaps if all the slow-ish songs were divided up and put onto several different discs, they would sound even better. But a lack of variation on the CD is really the only thing that prevents this from being one of the band's best.

I am a huge DeVision fan but like other reviews have posted, this album is good but not great. I'd even go as far to say that this is a low point of their career. In all honestly this album probably deserves 4 stars but compared to previous work, and as a DeVision fan, I can't give it more than 3 stars.

No song particularly stands out or is very catching (ok there is 1 or 2 good songs). Either these songs never made the cutting board from a previous release or DeVision simply was not as inspired while they made this.

Don't get me wrong, if this was their first album it would have been well liked but some of DeVision's previously releases have been the height of synhpop this album is just average.

Die hard DeVision fans should still check it out but if you're new to DeVision this is a BAD place to start out. Passing fans of DeVision should just skip this album entirely.

Ethan Straffin is entirely right (see below). This is by quite a distance the most mediocre De/Vision album ever.

In fact, this makes Devolution seem ground breaking.

I could write quite a deal about this record. However, in lieu of this, I refer you to:
i) Mr. Straffin's admirable comments; and,
ii) My review of Devolution (which shares many of the same faults and considerably more highlights).

It is, unfortunately, quite boring and less than passionate in the vast majority of cases. The exceptions are "I'm Not Dreaming of You", "Aimee" and the title track. But even they would be weak tracks on Zehn, let alone Monosex, World Without End or Void. I commend all of the above to interested listeners.

the more i listen to this album, the more i realize its probably my favorite devision album. with every listen there are more layers to this. and thats what makes a great album. of course, we all love the upbeat devision classics like, "dinner without grace", "try to forget", "your hands on my skin", etc... but i really do beleive devision sounds much more passionate and better when they're doing songs like "turn me on"(which is this album's "miss you more"). there are some of devisions best songs here. among the best are, "beside you", i'm not dreaming of you", "take me over", "aimee", and "im not enough". As long as you enjoy the mellower side of devisions music then you'll love this album. if you miss the faster songs then you can pick up the maxi singles- as they always remix their songs for the clubs.

The two best things about this album are "I'm Not Dreaming of You" and "Aimee." Beyond that...well, here's the thing. There's no doubt that these guys have their hearts in the right place, that they've got the programming skills to match, or that they're continuing to evolve as songwriters. The problem is that most of these songs are pleasant enough and technically impressive enough -- but that's all they are. There's nothing here that makes me go "WHOA." The vast majority of this album simply goes in one of my ears and out the other, and I've listened to it enough times (in a genuine effort to get it to grow on me) that I'm fairly confident that this won't change.

Actually, _6FU_ reminds me of nothing so much as Camouflage's third album from 1991, _Meanwhile_, in which that band had clearly run out of ideas and fallen back on cliches. If you liked Camouflage's "Heaven (I Want You)," you'll probably like De/Vision's "Unputdownable," and vice versa. Me, I can't listen to either without reaching for a hearty helping of Mesh to get the bad taste of schmaltz out of my mouth.

(Since then, of course, Camouflage have regrouped and refocused, and 2003's _Sensor_ is a considerably more impressive effort than this one.)

I'd recommend this album for diehard fans of the genre, but for those who are just getting involved with Depeche Mode: The Next Generation, De/Vision still aren't the best place to start. That honor must continue to go to the aforementioned Camouflage and Mesh, Iris, or even VNV Nation for that matter.

I expected more from them this time around but it seemed that they mellowed a bit too much on this album. It's more on the slower/softer side of De/Vision.

The title track was boring as dripping molasses. The rest of the songs faired a bit better. Nothing grabs you from the onset. Get to listen to it a few more times to appreciate some of the tracks here.

Good De/Vision album overall though.

Definitely not for casual listeners.