Mari Chrome - Toxic EP

I was pleased to find that the latest digi-single release from Mari Chrome's debut album was "Toxic". Of all the tracks I heard on the album, this was the one that shouted "ANTHEM!" to my DJ-attuned ears. Recognising that their biggest potential audience is in their homeland, they've recorded a German version of the vocal, unsurprisingly titled "Toxisch", and also delivered a remix, to which both versions of the lyrics have been applied. Or in other words, from one new vocal take and one remix, they've spun out a 4-track EP. Could have been worse, I guess. They could have dumped a couple of "instrumental" versions to up the track count a couple more.

The German version of the song sounds good enough. There's no impression that the song has been forced into a new language against it's will, despite the syllable count varying at times. But have we been treated to anything special? No. The "Alternate" remix I found to be quite disappointing. Despite the introduction of an EBM style bassline and some rock dynamics, the resulting mix just doesn't have the impact of the original. In particular, the magic of the chorus is simply buried too deeply in amongst all the new sounds introduced. Songs like this can sink or swim on the back of a single decent hook, but this is more "bore us" than "chorus", more "filler" than "killer". They've killed off the best bit of the song.

My final mark for this release does not represent my respect for the original version of the song, which would have scored a 7 or 8 on it's own. In these days of pay-per-track downloads on Bandcamp, there's no need to pay four times (actually, it works out a Euro off if you have to buy the whole thing) for what is ultimately one song. The album version is all you need. Dec 05 2012