Gothtober-Gary Numan :"Savage"

In many ways Numan is the forefather of the brand of dark wave/ future pop or whatever else you want to label what goth kids are dancing to these days. In his day it was a darker take on what was being called new wave. Numan did not go back and try to re-create the sounds that made his hits grace the radio. He has chosen to take a stark look at the world around him and translate it into his own vision of musical science fiction. Numan's voice sounds great on the lighter shade of "Bed of Thorns" which sounds surprisingly hopeful. This album shows what he learned from his time spent with Fear Factory as there is a more industrial slant to it. I am a fan of the exotic eastern scales echoing in the background.

A cinematic ambiance colors "the End of Things".  The only changes I can detect in his voice is a softer almost Billy Corgan like hint to the more melodic moments. Not that Numan was ever a powerhouse. The effects are an expected part of his sound. We continued to get bogged down in the atmospheric with the space ballad "And it All  Began With You". Which is well recorded, I don't feel it really makes the most of what Numan does best. There is a "Wicked Game " where is voice falters going into the head register for the higher ooooohhh in you. The harder distortion on the beat of "When the World Comes Apart" really works well and the more industrial tinged moments are some of the album's best. This album has a more serious tone and none of his more quirky 80s moments.

"Mercy" has some heft to it's beat and the vocally float very gracefully over it. This darker sound of the future continues to explore the skeptical glances of religious concepts on "What God Intended" . There is more focus on the tender side of the song when it comes to "If I said". There is a better dynamic balance on "Pray For The Pain You Serve", that also comes with an aggressive edge thanks to some of the industrial undertones. The vocals to "Broken" don't come into the song until four minutes into the song, which is otherwise a dramatic sweeping display of synths that sounds like something from a soundtrack. The album closes with another post-apocalyptic power ballad. I'll give this one a 9 as the ballads tend to kill the momentum and I don't how like they sometimes remind me of Smashing Pumpkins. Otherwise with this album is in motion it's pretty great.