Rotersand – Welcome To Goodbye

Absolutely fantastic Rotersand release. Welcome to Goodbye showed that the band wasn't just another generic synthpop group, floating in the stagnated waters of modern electronic music. Thus instead of regurgitating the exhausted formula, the band moved closer towards the sound mastered by electro groups such as SITD, Covenant, VNV, Icon of Coil, and the like. By this i mean that the new sound is much harder and even quite dark at times, but avoides breaching into the "terror-ebm" style. Instead, the vocals are clean and beautifully sung; the beats are pounding and dancy; the hooks are plentiful and the choruses are extra-catchy. The emotion that bleeds through on tracks like "Dare to Live", "Almost Wasted", "By the Waters", "Undone", and "Alive" still make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, while pounding, deadly tracks like "Storm" and "Exterminate Annihilate Destroy" make you want to get up and stomp around like a good little rivethead. Regardless, 80% of the tracks would do quite well in clubs, as well as over a good pair of headphones on a rainy day. There is a little bit of filler on the album though, but i don't think it really detracts from the quality. These songs would include "The Last Ship (Pt 2)," "Would You Buy This?," and "Angels Falling" (though with regards to the latter, i have never been a fan of short instrumental tracks found on synthpop albums, with or without vocals - e.g. VNV Nation).

So to conclude, this is a brilliant record in which a broad spectrum of industrial fans should find interest. This is especially true if you are a fan of any of the bands i have mentioned throughout this review.