Search - De/Vision :: Antiquity

A pleasant (but short) surprise

Daniel Ambrus | Louisville, KY United States | 01/31/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"i picked up this title mostly for the pretty cover, affordable price and the sense of adventure; i had no idea what to expect, nor even what genre my selection fell into.



I am glad to say this album surprised me in a very positive way. Their sound, on this particular album at least, is best described as Depeche Mode with more synthesizers and worse vocals. Not surprising considering this is supposed to be De/Vision's collection of 'oldies' from the early 90's (hence the title: Antiquity), a time of huge success and popularity for DM. However their rendition of the DM sound (clean male vocals, synthpop but not too cheesy) is quite well done and does not sound as dated as you might think.



The vocalist will never be as gifted as Dave Gahan and this is painfully evident on 'Gold for the Poor' in particular; but the band do give something special in some of their synth arrangements that are longer and more involved than most of the Depeche Mode you may have heard. There's even an instrumental track. Being a fan of electronic music, this aspect of De/Vision appeals to me personally. Some of the songs are individually excellent if you can get past the singer's less than impressive voice, and i would call it a highly enjoyable 36 minutes of music overall.



yeah the whole thing is barely over a half an hour; but fear not, it is a half an hour well spent! I am glad i took a chance on this album. You will be too if you are a fan of melodic synthpop inspired gothic music, or if you're a fan of other genres and looking for something different. This is highly accessible.



4 stars for a good, albeit short, listening experience and less than perfect vocals."