Essential
01/12/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It seems that the further away gothic/industrial/electro/EBM/darkwave--whatever name you wanna give it--strays from its late '70's/early '80's roots in The Cure, Bauhaus, Depeche Mode, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, etc, the less interesting it gets. Fans of both good music and of 'goth' become hard pressed to find music they can enjoy. So thank god for 'Meshwork'. Beautiful, dark, sophisticated electro from Germany at the dawn of it's incarnation as 'EBM'(Electronic Body Music). Hard driving beats, lots of innovative vocoder effects and tons and tons of atmosphere. X-Marks records are always coherent in tone and subject matter. While it's nothing like their early Skinny Puppy rip-off stuff, it's truly one of the best records of it's kind. A godsend to anybody who still expects good songwriting and stylistic distinction from a genre that has become bland, tired and increasingly silly."