Product details
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| 1. 2808 |
| 2. Doomsday |
| 3. My Eyes |
| 4. Guilt |
| 5. Fugue State |
| 6. Me And You |
| 7. Innocence |
| 8. In The Way |
| 9. Scorpions |
| 10. Crush |
| 11. Must Be The Feeling |
| 12. Reaching Out |
| 13. Promises |
| 14. Departure |
Review And the verdict? Judging by Welcome Reality, Nero's work is more likely to be heard alongside the rest of the chart-dance canon on commercial radio, rather than stations like Rinse or at scene-driving club nights like the capital's ever-influential FWD>>. On one hand, this is no bad thing - only the worst kind of snob equates commercial success with lesser-quality material. But there are times here where the sheer mindlessness of Nero's music makes Pendulum sound like Squarepusher.
Doomsday, for example, rumbles away like a forgotten hard house tune crossed with a facsimile of The Prodigy's Breathe. Elsewhere, there's My Eyes - My Ears (And What Are They Doing to Them?) might have been a better title - features synth sounds probably last used by a 1980s keytar-wielding Eurovision hopeful. Breakthrough track Me and You, which topped the UK Indie Chart in January 2011, includes a riff that apes The Human League's Love Action, but still suffers from the bombastic beats and hammered keys present everywhere else.
But Welcome Reality isn't purely one-dimensional, and is saved by glimpses of the talent that's guided the pivotal pair this far. Their first number one single, Promises, includes a La Roux-like vocal from regular collaborator turned third member proper Alana Watson, and is sensible enough to highlight instant-hit catchiness amidst the trademark (and somewhat tired) wobbles. Fugue State, meanwhile, is a valiant attempt at creating the sort of towering electro-house that French duo Justice are known to churn out. It's a slice of variety that, alas, is served up all too rarely.
Welcome Reality lacks the finesse and creativity being made at the more interesting end of dance music in 2011 - by the likes of SBTRKT, for example. Ultimately, despite its makers' impressive credentials, this debut long-player is destined for the homes of listeners with more Basshunter in their collection than Burial.
--Lou Thomas
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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