Informatik - Playing With Fire

Informatik's newest long player 'Playing With Fire' released in March 13 (I know, I have been slack and apologies to Informatik for that) throws my mind back to the early 2000's era without feeling like I am listening to a retro album. In 1994 Da5id Din and Matthew Crofoot formed Informatik and quickly released an album in '95 and then released steadily as the years went by with a few line up changes throughout that time.

Informatik have changed up their style gradually here and there over the time of their releases, from trance to synthpop to club and back again and now this album sees a big guitar/synth influenced album. 'Playing With Fire' gives us a more rock feel than previous albums. 10 tracks at 52 minutes will keep you involved from start to finish.

"No Sympathy" opens the album with a driving guitar stab, dark vocals and a big chorus followed by "Something To Believe In", "How Long" has a Depeche Mode ('Faith And Devotion' era) feel to it and then the big guitar kicks in and we are off on a catchy big chorus.

"Brave New World", "Stay" and "No One" have a more meaningful feel to them with "No One" having a big anthemic drive to it.

"Juliet" is probably my favorite track due to the content and the way the story is interpreted as well as the big dirge of deep synth underneath it. "Miles Away" starts quite oddly compared to the other tracks with a quirky synth run but then gets in to the guts of the track and rolls along well til the quirky synth rolls back in it all makes sense.

"Just For Nothing" picks the pace up and throws us into the final track "World Of Wonder" which, as the longest track, encapsulates the all the tracks before it leaving us with a positive message and an even more positive feel to what you've just listened to.

Through the ten tracks, the vocals are deep, soulful and uncomplicated and after the second or third listen, you find yourself singing along. Whiles there's nothing remarkable about the album and it does have a throwback feel in sound and structure if you've been interested in the genre since the late 1990/2000's, it's a strong enjoyable album that will sit well in the collection among other guitar driven synth albums.

'Playing With Fire' is an album well worth listening to. You will tap your feet to the percussion and occasionally throw your fingers across your air guitar as there are great riffs and synth moments all through the tracks. A few head bangs here and there will leave you with a smile on your face at the end. Jan 02 2014