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- Summary: Richard H. Kirk returns solo for Cabaret Voltaire's first studio release in 26 years.
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- Record Label: Mute
- Genre(s): Electronic, Industrial, Techno, Pop/Rock, Experimental Rock, Experimental Electronic
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 8 out of 8
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Mixed: 0 out of 8
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Negative: 0 out of 8
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Nov 23, 2020All in all, Shadow Of Fear is a well-rounded release.
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Nov 19, 2020A brash and confident rebirth. [Dec 2020, p.31]
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Nov 19, 2020The music on Shadow of Fear is frequently so forceful and alive that it precludes the sensation that plagues a lot of new music by rebooted “classic” artists: you never feel like you’d be better off listening to one of their old albums.
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MojoNov 19, 2020Universal Energy sucker-punches with an 11-minute masterclass in shapeshifting disco, and Vasto's clanking delirium clinches these industrial shadow-dwellers' influence on everyone from Derrick May to Underworld. [Dec 2020, p.83]
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Nov 19, 2020Side one exemplifies 2020 in that it’s not entirely successful. While there are great ideas bursting to get out, it also lurches mechanically and is difficult to love. It often feels laboured, like Kirk is giving himself a migraine trying to reinvent something because you suspect he feels that’s his job. Flip the record over and the outlook changes. Once he submits to the pulsating rhythms and allows himself to be free then there’s a gold rush.
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The WireDec 3, 2020The way Shadow Of Fear seems to drift between the influence of Kirk’s old dystopia and new surfaces weakens the impact of its first half particularly, where the early 80s industrial model reigns. It takes multiple listens to focus through to the subtler pleasures of the oddly lopsided grooves and how he manipulates the layers of texture that swallow them. [Dec 2020, p.47]
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Nov 30, 2020The eight songs on the new record are all original compositions written and developed over the past six years, yet there’s no mistaking it for anything other than a Cabaret Voltaire album. While not as pulverizing as the group’s early recordings nor as sleek as the techno and house-inspired work found on 1993’s International Language, it blends the various eras of the group into a mostly satisfying whole.
Score distribution:
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Positive: 0 out of 1
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Mixed: 1 out of 1
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Negative: 0 out of 1
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Dec 15, 2020
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