Customer Reviews

Devolution

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There's an interesting phenomenon that exists in Germany whereby a small handful of synthpop and EBM bands who would barely show up on the radar in the US, manage to attain major label status in Europe. De/vision is one such band, being signed to Drakkar Entertainment, a subsidiary of BMG.

Yes, yes, YES. This is what synthpop should sound like. A truly superb offering from leading German act De/vision that builds on the momentum established with the last few releases. What we have here are 10 electronic pop songs, beautifully composed and executed. Wonderful melodies and infectious choruses abound throughout, and I promise that if you give it just one listen, you'll come away with a song stuck in your head. The really great thing about this release, in my mind, is that there's a really effective combination of strong songwriting and the band's love of experimenting with new sounds. Listen to the vocal processing on "When the World Disappeared" and you'll understand what I'm talking about. Also, a particular tip of the hat has to go to producer Josef Bach, who took this album and made it shine. If you're a production junkie, you'll appreciate the deftness of his skill.

Favourites on devolution include "When the World Disappeared," with its beautiful, almost aquatic refrain; "Miss You More" with its theme of longing; "You Say...", a simple love song that utilises an electric guitar riff for the melody; and the fantastic capper to the whole album, "The Day's Not Done," which seems to hint at things to come. Only one of the songs present, "Mary Jane," didn't quite do it for me. It seemed a bit pointless compared to the rest of the album. One of the nicer touches on this album is the carefully mixed electric and acoustic guitar found on many of the tracks. It can be a difficult element to add to electronically-based music, but in this instance it's carried well, and serves to heighten the atmosphere throughout.

As a note: when I bought this album, I managed to snag one of the limited editions that came with a second disc of four remixes. The T.O.Y. remix sounds like you would expect it to: dance-floor synth-EBM that, in this case, isn't worth that much attention. The Mesh remix is interesting, and a worthy addition. The remix of "Sadness" by John Fryer is heavier than the original, which was heavy for the album in the first place. I really like Telekommander's remix of "The Day's Not Done." It's a very creative interpretation of the original, and it makes for good listening. All in all, these added remixes aren't really essential, so if you can't find the limited edition, don't freak out about it.

In the final analysis, if you enjoy superbly crafted synthpop, devolution is definitely for you.

I just had to comment on the review that rated this album two stars because it is too embrassing to play for their "dark music" friends. Well, that's one thing I've loved about both De/Vision and synthpop in general. It has NOT always been about depression, darkness, death, and angst. Those are only a few of the wide range of emotions in our lives, and it would be silly (in my opinion) to expect an entire genre to revolve around such a narrow vision. When a band like De/Vision puts out an album like "Devolution", or "Two" which are much more mellow, happen to include songs about love, hope, and other emotions, then it shows much more diversity, talent, and vision. Indeed, a person may have become a fan through the "gothic" or "industrial" scene...this album still has some of those more melancholy, edgy moments (like with the opening track "Sadness")...but it also takes on a lot of other emotions, which is a welcome endeavor for any artist.

I tend to love a lot of different kinds of music, and I don't personally consider it a weakness if a talented band puts out a well produced album that indeed COULD get played on mainstream radio. Unfortunately, I doubt that would happen with De/Vision simply because commercial radio is not about talent, but about money. Purhaps De/Vision has found a way to increase their audience, related artistically to more people, and share their talents more broadly. It would indeed be sad if a band cornered themselves into a position where they only appealed to the dressed-in-black crowd, singing only about depressing subjects.

I think this album is one of De/Vision's best-- it's an album with popular appeal, creative structure, excellent production, diverse stylistic approaches, and maturity. If you just want something dark and dreary that you can stomp around to, I guess there's still the latest Wumpscut album. Five stars to a quality veteran release that reaches new levels of excellence.

I'm still a little bit iffy on this album. Compared to any of the junk we get on the radio here in the US, this album is ridiculously amazing. However, De/Vision is one of my favorite bands ever, so my expectations were extremely high. "Drifting Sideways" is one of the best (if not THE best) songs the band has ever made. It was a wonderful return to their classics like "Dinner Without Grace," "Sweet Life," etc. But unfortunately it's the only fast-paced synthpoppy song on the album. After their previous two albums, I wasn't expecting a bunch of bouncy synthpop, but I feel sort've teased by "Drifting Sideways." It shows that they can still do it! They just choose not to for some reason. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE the album Two, and there are some really good progressive pop songs on Devolution - I just kind've miss the bouncy stuff. "Miss You More," "Digital Dream," "You Say," "Mary Jane," and "The Day's Not Done" are great for what they are. Unfortunately, there are a few songs I don't particularly like much at all: "Sadness," "When the World Disappeared," and "Far Too Deep." "Sadness," the album opener, is just annoyingly chaotic. Overall, this is a worthy album, but not as good on the whole as World Without End, Fairyland, Monosex, or Two (my favorites). And even if all the other songs did completely [not please], it'd still be worth it for "Drifting Sideways," a true De/Vision classic.

De/Vision's second album as a duo is certainly stylistically their most English album ever. Sounds and arrangements reminiscent of groups like Spiller and the Pet Shop Boys are easily detectable, and are largely used at the expense of the pounding bass sounds familiar from most of De/Vision's earlier albums.

Some might think this makes it lighter to listen to. However, Devolution is by no means, lyrically, a cheerful album. If Two is De/Vision's most depressing album (as it almost certainly is) the contrast with Devolution is far more instrumentally than lyrically appreciable.

It would be rash to judge an album either favourably or unfavourably by emotions supposedly represented, as joy is just as worthy an emotion as anger or pain. The reason Devolution is not a very compelling collection of songs has nothing to do with emotions, but instead lies with the existence of some fairly unfinished tracks.

The best track on the album is the Robert Miles influenced "Miss You More", and is the best track by a considerable distance. "Drifting Sideways" is a faster track; this may be appealing when compared to Two on which there were no such tracks, but it is a pale shadow of DeVision's faster tracks from albums previous to this. It is still a reasonable track, nonetheless.

The first five tracks all are worth listening to in their own way. "Sadness" is an interesting track in particular (perhaps the next best on the album?), surprisingly experimental, and "When the World Disappeared" is stylistically like a slow guitar song, although no guitars are used. It is in the last five tracks that the real cracks in this album's worth emerge, however; none of them are memorable, and two of them, "Far too Deep" and "Mary Jane", are actually very weak and barely worth listening - a rarity on any of De/Vision's releases. Many of the tracks, even the better tracks, seem one dimensional, with little development between the start and finish. Since one of De/Vision's past strengths has been strong instrumental development rather than just using a commercial verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus structure, this is particularly surprising. Put another way, this shares the same weaknesses as Electronic's second album Raise the Pressure.

It should be said that this is clearly De/Vision's least compelling album. Far from being up to the standard of Void (let alone Monosex or Zehn), this is not even up to the standard of Two.

Devolution still has its high points. However, from this album and the one before it, it has now become manifestly clear that De/Vision are missing their departed third member.

I was browsing through new music to listen to, and I came across De/Vision, who were described as a German semi-Depeche Mode. Being a huge Depeche Mode fan myself, I decided to give them a try and got Devolution. And I must say, I'm far from disappointed.

Some of my favourite tracks on this album are "When The World Disappeared", "You Say" and "The Day's Not Done" as opposed to some of the dancier club tracks like "Saddness" and "Drifting Sideways". Don't get me wrong - they're okay, but I suspect De/Vision are just much better sticking to the bittersweet songs that they do with such mastery.

I wouldn't quite describe De/Vision as another Depeche Mode wannabe. I must admit, Steffen does sound a little bit like a nasal version of Dave Gahan, but that's where the similarity ends.

If you want great synth-pop, look no further and get Devolution. I can assure you that you'll be blown away. This is an album that I'll definitely be listening to for a long time to come.

Well, after many many many listenings, this album has completely grown on me. In fact, it just might be my favorite De/Vision album. I still don't love "Sadness" or "Far Too Deep," but I don't strongly dislike either of them either. The other songs are so good, they make up for the weaker tracks. "You Say..." has become an absolute favorite of mine. I can't get enough of it. Over time, I've fallen in love with "A New Dawn," too, which didn't initially do much for me. "Drifting Sideways," "Miss You More," "Digital Dream," and "The Day's Not Done" are still as wonderful as they always were. If you are into great synthpop with pop/rock sensibilities, grab this album. Then grab the upcoming new album, "Six Feet Underground." The samples sound nothing short of amazing.

in the late 80's, when "synthpop" was more mainstream i was a huge fan.well now, because of iris' "awakening" and this de/vision release i've rediscovered synth pop. everything about "devolution" is perfect. the production, the songs the music and oh my god..that voice. he's got to have one of the sexiest voices ever. "miss you more" is a stand out track.it almost sounds as if his heart is breaking while he's singing this.the chorus to "Drifting sideways" will be embedded in your head forever after the first listen, you'll be singing(and dancing)to it all day.Although there aren't many upbeat tracks on this cd it is well worth buying it, just to experience the perfection and beauty of it. the day after i bought this cd, i went back to the store and bought the ENTIRE De/vision catalogue except for the live album.. and thats a lot of cd's. So any record that can get you to buy all of a bands cd's, is a record you must get. this is it folks!

Wow, this album is a great listen. Fans of De/Vision should love the new release, as well as fans of Depeche Mode and Camoflauge. I'd highly recommend it to these people. The songs have great lyrics, the vocals are superb, and the production is excellent. The additional disc with 4 remixes is pretty sweet as all of the mixes are solid and enjoyable.

The only reason it didn't get 5 stars is because it isn't a landmark release. Not much new is explored here. I've only listened to is a few times and none of the songs especially stick with me, except the Day's Not Done and Drifting Sideways. That may change with repeated listenings.

But this is definately as good or better than De/Vision's previous releases and I really enjoyed it. I need to take it into a dark room and listen to it on good headphones, but as of right now, I'm glad I got it and will be keeping it my CD player for the forseeable future.

What can you say about perfection? A few years ago when De/Vision came out with "Void", my worst fears I thought had come true. One band member had left and the album was truly a "Void" with only one REALLY good song. Then came the next album called "TWO" which just stunned me at how good it was. Now comes DeVolution, what can i say? This whole album is just fantastic. If there is one flaw, and its a TINY one, it is the opening track "Sadness". The best tracks are "You Say, You Say, You Say", "Drifting Sideways" and probably the best surpise "A New Dawn". If you love Depeche Mode, then you will go nuts over De/Vision. It simply does not get any better than this. When most bands go through change, they fall apart. With De/Vision they seem to grow and just keep getting better and better. Do NOT pass up this CD.

I own just about everything De/Vision has recorded and this is my favorite. Now CD has touched me like this one.