Customer Reviews

Decoder

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

 

 

At first I was reluctant towards this cd. I had listened to some of their previous material, which was quite in the vein of early FLA, and so when i knew that the later Noise Unit's works, that is 'Decoder' and 'Drill' were completely instrumental and more techno-oriented, I thought I'd never give them even a listening. When I first listened to Drill's 'Dominator' I thought, well, it's not that bad, but I didn't pay more attention to this side-project for some months.
Now that I own 'Decoder' I must recognise it is a masterpiece in its genre. It is a bunch of instrumental songs, varied enough not to bore me, similar enough to maintain a conceptual unity. Is this techno? well, it is. But Leeb style. If you know Leeb music (Front Line Assembly, Delerium...) you know that he explores in many diverse ways (metal, techno...) without losing his personal style. 'Decoder' is not an exception. Here you can listen to songs which are danceable, stmes minimalistic, stmes grandiose, stmes drum'n bass, stmes more EBM... but all with Leeb's unique style.
'Decoder' has no guitars, unlike 'Drill'. Which is best? I think both are great, stmes I prefer to listen to one, other times to the other.
Some of the best songs in 'Decoder'? At first 'Escape' was my favourite. It is a very good danceable piece, with a catchy melody that repeats throughout all the song. But my real fav here is 'Ascent', a very etherreal piece, somewhat reminiscent of Delerium, completely addictive and catchy. The rest are not much worse, all 9 songs here are pure joy for the senses.
It's a pity 'decoder' is out of stock. It's, in my opinion, a lesson of how techno can be interesting, not only fun, and how an instrumental cd can be listened to from the beginning to the end without a stop. Of course you can dance till you exhaust with this work, but the most interesting thing is that you can actually LISTEN TO it, and enjoy it as well.

Decoder being the 1996 release from Noise Unitis a very well produced instrumental album that can be said to have borrowed from a plethora of genres. Leeb borrows some from trance, a bit from techno, ebm, techno and electro music. The end result could end in becoming just utter chaos but it is not. This is an extremly well produced album and one can definetly hear that they hand picked the sounds. I love the sphere on the cover and the text is cool, but the book-let has nothing but a discography and that stinks. Even so this is a very nice album and I love to listen to it.

I listen to this album constantly while in my 'workshop'. It's driving. Also has a good many layers and mood shifts throughout as well as some interesting thematic 'vocals'. Bill Leeb does it again and again, and if you are a Delerium fan but need something a little more peppy, you might want to check this one out.

This music does 'not' sound much like the previous Noise Unit releases. This sounds like what you'd expect to hear under the Pro-Tech side project... If you like this, you'll like Orbiting Catherdrals which is quite similar, but this is slightly more melodic on the whole.

Anyway, this is a very good recording more along the lines of mainstream tencho which is more dance arientated with some quite long tracks. It's still light industrial with plenty of percussive & beep noises - hence 'Decoder'. It's well layered and has some great sections mixed in. Again you can spot where some samples have come from. This is probably the most 'mainstream techno' CD I've heard from the FLA members. One to perhaps play to your club/dance orientated friends to covert them slowly! However, it's not verging on commerical and you can easily recognize FLA's unfluence on this recording.

Notes: At times some tracks remind me of a 'darker' New Order. The last track sounds more like old Noise Unit/FLA and it a touch out of place with the main selection.

This CD is very, very good. There are some really great tracks on this disc. In fact, the whole disc is a good listening experience. I recommend this to anyone with an open mind, you won't be disappointed! If you like Delerium, you'll love this album!

I got this CD during my Leeb-fascination days. I sampled a bit of everything by Leeb and thought Drill was pretty good so it lead me to this. I sold Drill shortly after buying this as I uncovered the true essence of NU. Every track on this disc is pure, hope you like it as much as I.

Definitely more like Delerium's "Karma" (also Lieb's work). The first several tracks entrance you without need for vocals. The end kinda loses steam....You will find several of the tracks reminiscent to "Twilight" (from "Karma") in style....A worthwhile purchase.

This is the best album I've heard with Bill Leeb's fingers on it -- I like it more than the best Front Line Assembly that I've heard. The songs draw you in with a full, layered sound and all the tracks fit together very well. Recommended for electronic music fans.