Neuroactive – Morphology / Redux (Album – Alfa Matrix)
Genre/Influences: EBM, Electro-Pop.
Format: Digital.
Background/Info: Finnish Neuroactive last year released the album “Minor Side-Effects”, which saw the band getting back to the original line-up “Minor Side-Effects”: Jarkko Tuohimaa, Vesa Rainne and Ville Brusi. Thirty years after the band’s set up they have now revisited their very first album “Morphology”, released in 1994 by Cyberware Productions.
Content: The tracklist is somewhat different than the original album. The songs have been seriously boosted, some passages being recorded while the work has been remastered. “Morphology” doesn’t exactly suffer from the weight of time, but remains a great work driven by a mix of EBM and cold Electro-Pop with ghost-like vocals on top. Sometimes into minimal passages (cf. “Wrecked”) and also featuring sensual parts (cf. “Logic”), the album is first of all featuring some of Neuroactive’s biggest hits ever like “Burning” and “Obsession”.
+ + + : I first thought ‘oh no’: not again one of these bands re-releasing their back catalogue. But I invite you to take the original album and once you’ve listened to a song you go to the redux-edit. The result is unbelievable! Thanks to technology, but also thanks to the band, which had the will to improve the sound and recording of their debut opus. It sounds like a different work and yet the tracks are exactly the same, but I’m wondering how contemporary “Morphology” sounds. “Burning” and “Obsession” both remain great songs, but I was more impressed by the harder and EBM driven “Manipulator”, which also has an elevating chorus.
– – – : I definitely prefer this ‘old’ work instead of Neuroactive’s last album. “Morphology” had something magical and visionary resulting in great hits.
Conclusion: Unbelievable to see how an album of nearly thirty years can be still accurate today; great Electronics from Finland!
Best songs: “Manipulator”, “Burning”, “Obsession”, “Wrecked”, “Logic”, “Clone”.
Rate: 8.
Artist: www.facebook.com/neuroactive.band
Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix Read the news on ‘Morphology / Redux’.
About Neuroactive
Neuroactive formed in Finland in 1991 around Jarkko Tuohimaa, Vesa Rainne and Ville Brusi. Tuohimaa has run the project through its later line-up changes.
The debut album “Morphology” appeared in 1994, followed by the maxi single “Neuron” in 1995 and “Phonic Trace” in 1997. A Different Drum issued “Parallel Lifeforms” in 1998, “Put Your Trust In Me” in 1999 and the compilation “Neurology 1994-2000” in 2000.
Later albums include “Transients” in 2001, “Wonders Of The World” in 2002, “Space Divider” in 2004, “N-Gin” in 2005, “Antidote” in 2009 and “Electra” in 2014. The original line-up returned for “Minor Side-Effects” in 2020, ahead of “Morphology / Redux” on Alfa Matrix in 2021.
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