Noyce™ – Love Ends (CD Album – Focile Art Tribe/In-D Records)
Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, wave-pop, goth-pop.
Background/Info: Düsseldorfer (Germany) formation Noyce™ is not releasing new albums on regular basis although the band driven by Florian Schäfer remains pretty ‘hot’ especially in their homeland. They now finally strike back with “Love Ends” revealing twelve songs. Among the tracklist you’ll recognize previous EP-title songs “Fall[Out] and “Sense Of Despair”. Notice by the way John Fryer and Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand) mixed several tracks from this opus.
Content: Noyce™ took their time to accomplish this album, which is a great and mature composition. It’s not that easy to define the sound of the band, but they clearly mix different elements together, which in the end are always polished with a ‘pop’ touch. Guitar and electronics are in perfect balance, but you also will notice violin playing injecting a more sensitive and melancholic flavor.
+ + + : The songs have been masterly accomplished and I think we here can speak about the ‘opus magnum’ of the band. The work is blending delicious melancholic atmospheres with elevating choruses. The tracks have been meticulously and progressively built up, which often resulted in a truly climax. “The World Is Quiet” and “Love Ends” are the perfect apotheosis for this album. Somewhere in between beautiful melancholia and harder, pumping passages (cf. “Fall[Out] ”) the work also reveals symphonic arrangements and even a cool experimental cut (cf. “Die Ungeliebten”). The songs are diversified and that’s an essential element you also will notice in the vocals’ production. Florian Schäfer sings in German and English language accentuating this diversity. Last, but not least I also have to mention the great artwork of the digipak format.
– – – : “Love Ends” definitely is one of 2017 major albums so I don’t really see minus points.
Conclusion: Noyce™ has released the ‘perfect’ album, which can’t be compared to any other formation, but strives for an original sound with strong lyrical themes.
Best songs: “Love Ends”, “Fall[Out] , “The World Is Quiet”, “Brave New World”, “Propaganda”.
Rate: (8½).
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