10. Covenant – Leaving Babylon – (3.5/5 stars)
Leaving Babylon is a double-edged sword for me. To a great plan are there dance grenades like The Last Dance and Prime Movers. But on the other hand also annoying pieces like the experimentally sounding I Walk Slow or super long and inconsequential intrumental Leaving Babylon II which could drop the rating a bit down. "My heart is blackend" is an apt quote from this album, but hope dies last as known.
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9. Blitzkids Mvt. – Silhouettes – (3.75/5 stars)
For a debut album, the rating is pretty good. The songs Blinded, Break Free and Idiot after little listening fast becoming earworms. The whole album is consistently good produced. I hope that the band has not raised the bar too high for their second album.
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8. Ben Ivory – Neon Cathedral – (3,85/5 stars)
For a debut album Ben Ivory has delivered a very good and solid synthpop album here. The song The Righteous Ones is especially dear to me. Powerful, strong construction and perfect for the dancefloor. Unfortunately, a little lack of dynamics in many of the other songs. Nevertheless, it is an excellent album and I'm curious what we will hear from Ben Ivory in the future.
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7. Mesh – Automation Baby – (3.86/5 stars)
Mesh always moves somewhere between synth pop and electro rock. This balancing act makes this album exciting and varied. The text line has stayed with me most remembered is: "I'm just so ordinary, that makes you ordinary too". This album is anything but ordinary, rather a 100% buy recommendation.
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6. Solar Fake – Reasons To Kill – (3.91/5 stars)
Solar Fake obviously have found a formula to a consistently good synth to produce Pop Album. Although on the Reasons To Kill it a few weaker tracks, but in the overall picture, it is a beautiful, almost clichéd album. Soulful lyrics mate here with catchy melodies and danceable beats.
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5. Hadouken! – Every Weekend – (3.92/5 stars)
Hadouken's music style is hard to describe. They themselves say that they are a Indietronic / new rave band, but also musical elements such as Hip Hop, Dubstep, Synth Pop and Electrorock can be found in their tracks. Bad Signal, Parasite and Oxygen I can only recommend to listen.
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4. Depeche Mode – Delta Machine (Deluxe Version) – (3.94/5 stars)
As a long time Depeche Mode fan it's really hard to do a track by track review. How can I be objective enough? Of course I love the album because it's from Depeche Mode, but also every fan knows that there are always some "skip tracks". These tracks aren't bad, but usually not the best and I gave these tracks 3 stars. All other tracks are above the 3 star rating! It's a great album, but DM did it better a couple of times in the past.
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3. Pet Shop Boys – Electric – (4.22/5 stars)
Electric is a rather unusual Pet Shop Boys album, but far better than its predecessor Elysium. It sounds like a strange way, futuristic electric, as it would be from a different time. Only the tracks Vocal, Thursday and The Last To Die are typical PSB pop anthem.
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2. Age Zero – Age Zero I – (4.25/5 stars)
The former singer Jan Weisbrod of the electro rock band Heavy-Current with his first solo project Age Zero. It's a down-tempo electro album with great samples and gloomy lyrics. I personally needed a couple of listening, but now it's one of my favorite albums.
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1. Parralox – Recovery – (4.29/5 stars)
Recovery is as the name suggests a pure cover album of known hits. The selection of the songs I'm particularly pleased because about 80% of all-time favorites of mine are here. Parralox plays the tracks in an interesting way to breathe a new life. Lovers of cover songs should get this one!