Ladytron – Velocifero

I think this was the first brickwalled CD I had ever heard. I felt like I was straining to hear the music through distorted noise. I would get fatigued in trying to listen to it. The songs were good; not as good as "Witching Hour" [their best for me] but the sonics dissuaded me from listening to this one very much.

Is it just me or does the black vinyl have a distinct dark purple look to it when held at an angle? Mazzy Star did the same thing, only more obvious, with their last LP.

Is it just me or does the long, drawn out guitar-based outro on 'Predict the day' have a very strong whiff of New Order's "Sunrise" albeit slowed down? Same chords, same riff, same brooding menace etc etc.? Answers on a postcard as they say.

Doesn't grab you immediately like 'Witching Hour', and there's no single stand-out track that floors you, but the album as a whole is fantastic. Addictive, slick and filled with great hooks and melodies, but never stupid or annoying like most pop music.

More polished then their other albums, but not that that's a bad thing - just different. This is easily just as good as the same albums repeatedly making the top ten end of year 'best of's.