Zeromancer - Bye-Bye Borderline

'Bye-Bye Borderline' is Zeromancers sixth album, following 2009's electro-industrial masterpiece 'The Death Of Romance'.

The album kicks it off with "Auf Wiedersehen Boy", one of the more aggressive an gritty songs on the record. It sets the standard right away. However it's on the next one, the title track where they have you hooked and there's simply no turning back. You're left with the feeling that you just wanna play it over again, and you might be tempted to do so. But when you decide to move on you realize that every song does the same thing, leaving you with only one thought when track 10 is over, let's do it again.

There are however a couple of tracks on here that gets a bit more advanced and breakes loose from the formula that dominates the record. The earlier mentioned "Auf Wiedersehen Boy" is one of them, along with the heaviest song on the record "Lace and Armour" and the beautifully crafted "Ash Wednesday", with it's hooks and turns makes for one of the best songs from Zeromancer's catalogue. The album wraps it up gently with the epic and beautiful "The Tortured Artist" and in known Zeromancer style they go out on the highest note as always.

'Bye-Bye Borderline' takes a leap in a different direction, but not into unexplored territory, drawing comparisons with their 2003 album 'Zzyzx', which was probably the bands most accessible record until now. In the same vein as 'Zzyzx', the focus lies on the extremely catchy songs and the simple, yet effective songwriting.

The industrial sound has been toned down a bit leaving for a more poppy record this time around. This is where Zeromancer really shine. Their understanding for simply, good tunes packed with rock, electro and industrial elements really comes close to perfection on this album. Alex Møklebust's vocal performance is probably his best to date. From the dark, almost screamy parts to the softness when he delicately shreds out words like, "When cheerleaders cry, astronauts die" is sure to send the hairs on your back in an upright position.

There's really not much negative to say. Zeromancer is as steady as they've always been, and they keep adding and removing elements to stay interesting in the scene. It seems they're still kings within the electro-industrial landscape and with 'Bye-Bye Borderline' no one will come close to taking their throne just yet. Feb 13 2013