Angel Theory - Black and Blue EP

I have earlier reviewed Angel Theory's latest album 'Fatal Condition' and I thought it was an alright album, even though it didn't go any further than that. Still I had relatively high expectations on the following EP 'Black and Blue' and I was very curious of what I was about to hear. Unfortunately I have to inform you that I became quite disappointed.

The original version of "Black and Blue" is a pretty boring song with a fat bass line. You almost get the feeling that Mr. Charles Fenech thought to himself "God dammit, what a brutal bass line I've created..." and then felt so pleased with himself that he didn't think of the other parts. The track becomes more functional in the remix by Selket, with the given ending "Conviction", but it doesn't become more impressive than that.

There''s more titles to find than the earlier mentioned "Black and Blue" with its remixes. The song "Possessions" in a "Re-claimed" version by TANKT is absolutely meaningless. On the other hand, Angel Theory's cover of "Theme For Great Cities", which originally was released by Simple Minds 1981, is really great. That track probably is the best song on this release even though the B-side "She Echoes" lift itself a little bit higher than the original which barely lifts from the ground.

This review was written 2005 and initially published on Neurozine.com Jan 01 2005