Sometimes it’s good to have a (voluntary) job like this. This album is actually filled with some great electronic sounds. Calling a CD “The best of…” is always a bit tricky, but this compilation has got some known and (maybe) unknown artists who create good electronic music. There’s danceable industrial by FRONTLINE ASSEMBLY, with ‘Everything Must Perish’ from their latest release “Epitaph”, the directness from FUNKER VOGT in ‘Subspace’, the greatly built up dance track ‘Bloody Pleasures’ from BLUTENGEL and the melodic Rammstein-like UNHEILIG (with ‘Komm Zu Mir’), that show what the heavy side of electronica has to bring. The club edit of ‘Judgement’ from L’ÂME IMMORTELLE is the first song in which a female voice takes the lead part. It’s also the first song in which it’s shown that electronic music doesn’t have to be hard and surely can be filled with a lot of beautiful emotion. ‘Damn The Line’ from ABSURD MINDS shows they definitely have got more wave influences in their music. This song is already an underground hit in some of the gothic parties in the Netherlands. The Sputnik mix of ‘Satellites’ from S.P.O.C.K. brings us back to the dance floor (and shows that the dance scene isn’t too far from EBM – it’s a bit like a commercial song from Underworld). NEUROTICFISH (with ‘Velocity’) makes you look inside any Apoptygma Berzerk cover, because it could have come from the same mind and mouth. ‘Velocity’ makes us stay on the dance floor even longer. The well-known ICON OF COIL keeps us there with their input. ‘Situations Like These’, again, has got similarities with the earlier mentioned Norwegian band but sounds less polished. ‘Brüder’ from MELOTRON (featuring Dennis Ostermann) doesn’t take us too far from the earlier atmosphere that’s been created by the two earlier bands. However, the use of two voices gives it a somewhat darker edge. Thanks to the Skulker graebbi Mix of ‘Skulk’ from ECHO IMAGE, Icon of Coil is the only act that’s present two times on this compilation. Another headliner of the Wave-Gotik-Treffen 2002 in Germany on this record (next to Frontline Assembly) is SILKE BISCHOFF. They are present with the obscure, beautiful (more ambient) ‘Love Never Dies’.

IN STRICT CONFIDENCE goes on with an almost typical gothic dance track. It’s got that beat you will know only too well if you ever been on a gothic wave party. That they build a ‘Zauberschloss’ completes the picture. From a song title like ‘Poltergeist’ you could expect something different, and it is. HOCICO’s got dirtier vocals and a repeating heavy beat with some strange sounds above (and below?) that. This song brings us back to the heavier (industrial) music. Then you might expect that ‘Crackhead’ by PLASTIC ASSAULT is also an attack on your ears and… it is, although it’s not as heavy as you might expect at this point. The voice is distant and distorted enough to keep this song inside the heavy family. XPQ-21 opens the second CD with ‘Hey You’. This band was a surprise at the latest edition of Eurorock in Belgium and this song surprises as well. It’s got an eighties wave feel to it, but combined with freaky soundscapes. Next song, ‘Elite Electronics’, shows that POUPPEE FABRIKK sounds as strange as the pronunciation of their name. Screaming voices and a catching beat create another danceable song. RE/WORK brings us back to the atmosphere of a typical gothic wave party, but they got that Apop influence in their music as well. ‘To Our Remains’ makes it believed that there is a whole other story behind this song. ‘Requiem’ by TECHNOIR has got beautiful, clear female vocals. This song has a heavy beat in it, but sounds more ambient through the subtle add of violin in the music. The controversial German FEINDFLUG show that the dreadful consequences of the second world war can lead to some amazing industrial. The absolute devastating power hymn ‘Stukas Im Visier’ is an absolute killer on any dance floor. In the end, this 2 CD compilation is a good one for anyone who’s curious about this type of music or for those who don’t have enough money to buy the original records. The people who put this CD together made a beautiful effort by putting these 20 songs together. It’s a good projection of what’s happening in electronic music nowadays.