The title tracks of this new Cold Cave album suggest something dark and sinister. Terms like death, churches, things burning, villains and alchemy; whoohoo be prepared! What a surprise then to find vibes that are predominantly cheerfull and for the dancefloor. Opener ‘The Great Pan is Dead’ is more in your face than you ever dreamt of. Its fast paced drums and euphoric synthwork makes your face crinkle and your teeth grind.
That very first track is the fastest and also the only one that doesn’t sound exactly like New Order. See what you think, but I reckon ‘Blue Monday’ could have been present here and you would have thought you found a New Order bootleg worth a few hundred bucks on Discogs. Does that sound like an offense? It isn’t. Take ‘Confetti’: the vocals are New Order, the electronic drums are New Order, so is the bass and so are the synths. The same goes for ‘Icons of Summer’ although you find a bit of early Depeche Mode here too. But if you’d think it is New Order that’s not really a problem because they rule big time.
So lucky us there’s no originality added by Cold Cave who were so good at playing New Order songs at their friends’ weddings they decided to start writing their own songs. New Order songs. Well done ones.
