Dance or Die - Nostrodamnation

It really pains me to be the one to have to say it but here goes: Dance or Die are out of date. Obsolete. 'Nostrodamnation' sounds like nothing more than them cleaning out their cupboards from the last ten years. The songs which stand out on here have already been featured on their myspace well before this was released and what new work there is continues on in traditional fashion but time has marched on, it's 2011 not 1998 when they ruled the dark electro world via their masterpiece 'Dehumanizer'. I'm so let down, it feels like the wind has been knocked out of me. I have been wanting a new album from this bunch like no one else but now that I have it, it's like one of their song titles from eons ago: crap. What the hell happened boys, where did it all go so terribly wrong. To their credit, Dance or Die still have a unique sound but I've already heard it, numerous times, since discovering them at the very beginning long ago in 1988.

ANGO and Wagner, if you're reading this, I have no regrets owning your latest but you have clearly stopped evolving and are out of tricks. A bonus disc of remixes, one of which has a minute change in one of the bridges and another which sounds like dated Berlin techno is infuriating. Oh and what's this, an instrumental version of "Free" which in old interviews Wagner stated was already ancient and appeared on your last album in 2001 with female vocals is bullshit, straight up. I expected a lot more out the pair of you, you have after all been a constant in my musical existence for over twenty years now but I don't know now anymore. Perhaps it's time to call it quits or for the love of god not spend a decade, A DECADE, in the wastelands of musical stasis between albums.

You kids reading this, go buy this album, it doesn't sound like anything you own, these are just the ramblings of a very very disappointed long time fan who still plays his vinyl singles while shaking his head at how this has all come to an end. Jun 16 2011