<p><span><span>- English group Cabaret Voltaire started out in Sheffield in 1973 - nearly fifty years ago. They evolved from tape loops and experimental electronic music to early industrial sounds through to post-punk moody synth and underground dance sounds.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>They are seen as an influential band of the era, but as with many others from that tile, they gradually petered out, eventually becoming the solo project of <strong>Richard H Kirk</strong>, the only remaining founding member.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Although there has been the occasional live performance over the past twenty years, there have been no new recordings since 1994 - until now, with the release of the fifteenth studio album under the Cabaret Voltaire masthead. Titled <em>Shadow of Fear</em>, it avoids the biggest pitfall that often entraps performers releasing material after a very long break - namely, sounding like reheated leftovers or an attempt to re-enact past glories.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Shadow of Fear is fresh enough to stand on its own feet. You won’t need to know Cabaret Voltaire’s old stuff to enjoy this new stuff. While it all fits under the broad electronica banner, there's a good variety across the album’s eight tracks. It starts out with some mid-tempo tunes which slowly build in atmosphere. While the samples and loops of spoken word that are used create a sense of foreboding, the music in the opening few tracks is fairly standard fare.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Some glitchy aspects are introduced in the track <em>Microscopic Flesh Fragment</em>, but it is the second half of the album where things really pick up. <em>Papa Nine Zero Delta</em> moves into uptempo techno territory, and the ever-so-slowly building energy of the extended, eleven-minute-long dance club sound of <em>Universal Energy</em> is probably the album’s highlight.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>A series of tunes here would fit in well with a roof tent rave party, before the album winds down again with a mid-tempo closing track with the sort of funky feel and sampled sounds which could have from the classic <strong>Brian Eno</strong>/<strong>David Byrne</strong> album <em>My Life in the Bush of Ghosts</em>.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>There’s a lot to like about Shadow of Fear, although it would be going too far to say it is ground-breaking or provides something overly unique. Nonetheless, if you’re into house, dance, techno, electro style sounds with some interesting audio add-ons to embellish it all, it’s certainly worth a listen.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>- Andrew Bartlett.</span></span></p>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=24543764/size=large/bgcol=fff…; seamless><a href="https://cabaretvoltaire.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-of-fear">Shadow of Fear by Cabaret Voltaire</a></iframe>