Defiance

Assemblage 23 | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 22, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Metropolis Records
• ASIN: B00006L886
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,625 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #82 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Goth & Industrial

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, August 14, 2004

By 

SlipKnighT09 (Delran, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Defiance (Audio CD)

Tom shear is a Genious. Everytime i see that all the music, lyrics, mixing, and producing are all done by this one guy it amazes me. He paints pictures with words which are brought to life by the mesmorizing music and it all comes together into one memorable masterpiece. I love his song structures/progressions and I really like his lyrics, they really impact me/cause me to reflect. This cd has a more elevated and positive mood than failure and its still just as good in my opinion. Each song takes me into another world, and at some points i can only describe how i feel listening as a spiritual experience. Each track is distinctly memorable and i lose myself in each one. I'm jus getting into the industial scene and im really liking assemblage 23.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maps of reality, December 19, 2002

By 

Erica Anderson (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Defiance (Audio CD)

This is my first Assemblage 23 cd. I really wanted "Failure" 'cause of the song "House on Fire" but I found this album and that was good enough for me. I first heard Assemblage 23 on Metropolis' recent compilation cd, and I was automatically hooked. Tom Shear's vocals are absolutely amazing and heartbreaking to listen to especially on songs like "Blindhammer" and "Opened". I love the lyrics. All the songs on this album shares the same theme of love, loss, despair and hope that I hear on albums by VNV Nation, Funker Vogt, Apoptygma Berzerk, and Icon of Coil. The only song I will have to go out on the limb and say that it didn't float my boat was the ballad "Cocoon". Personally that song was a bit too slow for me and for this type of music of EMB/synth-pop. I definitely love the more upbeat (tempo-wise) songs. Unlike VNV, Apop, Funker Vogt, and Icon of Coil, I have noticed how much more polished Assemblage 23's music is in comparison to VNV and Apop. Tom Shear's vocals doesn't have that rough edginess that VNV's Ronan Harris possesses. And the songs are slower than say Funker Vogt or Project Pitchfork. Nothing wrong with that though. I just find A23's more polished sound quite interesting when I compare Tom's music to other favorite Metropolis acts. EBM has quickly become my favorite genre considering how many cds I have bought that were signed to Metropolis Records. Assemblage 23 definitely didn't let me down.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not another Failure, October 22, 2002

By 

Shantell Powell "The ShanMonster" (Kitchener, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Defiance (Audio CD)

After the success of Failure (heh), Tom Shear of Assemblage 23 returns with Defiance. The album, although not particularly innovative, does good things with old-fashioned synthpop/EBM. This is the sort of music which should do well in clubs, and the listed BPMs can only help to make it DJ-friendly.

The musical influences are obvious on this CD. In "Horizon," the synthesized horn section is strongly reminiscent of early Depeche Mode. Similarly, the hammering sounds in "Maps of Reality" sound right out of Depeche Mode's Construction Time Again album. In fact, it was at a Depeche Mode concert where Tom Shear was inspired to become a musician.

Although Assemblage 23's influences seem to be primarily synthpop in nature, Tom Shear does claim in interviews to have been heavily into punk. I don't really hear as much of this punk background, except perhaps in the percussion of "Light," which, ironically, has a heavier sound than most of the other tracks on the album.

Like most industrial and synthpop, the lyrics are mostly downbeat even while the music has an up-tempo. Songs are about loss, failure, mental disorder, and, in "Lullaby," defiance. Some of the tracks seem personally-directed. When I read the lyrics of "Maps of Reality," I can't help but think of Tom Shear's messy experiences with Gashed Records (his last label).

Although the lyrics thematically don't differ from many other EBM bands, there is a bonus. The writing is clever, and the metaphors incisive. Whereas bands like Project Pitchfork and Front Line Assembly rely on cliched and doom-laden Dr. Seuss-style rhyming couplets, Assemblage 23's poetry at least makes use of a more challenging vocabulary.