Published on Jan 5, 2006
“Goth Electro” is exactly what this album is,
unfortunately.
This record is a tribute by the underground goth
community to Depeche Mode, a band that has fueled the musical
careers of so many of these anti-socials. Though DM has become a
major influence in shaping today’s synth-goth music scene, it is
not essentially a “goth” outfit per se. Its tunes, dark and
burdened with discomfort, are never too dismally suicidal or
manically depressed to be actually called “gothic.”
But this collection of songs is gothic, and that’s
the problem with it. The fabricated bleakness of these alternate
interpretations of DM classics is twice as gothic, but not half as
melancholic or affecting. The excessive gloom is simply wasted on
desecrating the great DM numbers that inspired these covers.
With the exception of a few, most of the bands on
Goth Electro have tried to “gothify” DM numbers, and have
completely destroyed the true essence of what the originals are.
For example, the beautifully simple “But Not Tonight” in all its
humanness is turned into a goth-fest, with its dismally
over-produced vocals that fade in and out, and lack the kind of
yearning on the original song that is made so human by Dave Gahan’s
vocals. The same is with the semi-upbeat “Get The Balance Right;”
the overly dark version doesn’t do any justice to the original at
all, and makes listening to it a painful experience.
There are quite a few bands on this record that take
this desecration to another level altogether. For instance,
“Everything Counts” and “Lie To Me” sound horribly remixed, with
unnecessary adornments in the form of classy club-beats and synth
embellishments added to them, which completely engulf the
earnestness of the originals. “Enjoy The Silence” suffers the worst
insult of all on this record; first, it has been turned into a
cheesy 90’s techno number in the manner mentioned above. In
addition, its magnificent words are never sung on this version.
Amid the brutal electro-barrage, all this rendition has that even
nearly resembles the original is the unforgettable tune that plays
— in a seedy 90’s trance-music fashion — throughout the duration
of the song, and is the only form of recognition of this badly
raped track.
In this album of terrible covers, there are a few
tracks that do offer some saving grace. The cover of “Policy Of
Truth” by DISOWN, laden with guitar hooks, transforms a techno cut
to a rock number, and though still gothic, sounds refreshingly
different from the rest of the album. The covers of “Stripped”
(Shiny Toy Guns) and “Never Let Me Down Again” (Switchblade
Symphony) are different form the rest of the album too, since there
is no untoward attempt to douse these tracks into unwanted
gloominess.
Covering a track is an art in its own and a great
cover changes the appearance of the song, without destroying its
essence; a cover is just a re-interpretation, not a surgery.
Goth Electro is a great example of how an album of covers
should not be done. This album is not recommended, especially for
DM fans, as not listening will save them some humiliation.