So... Starting off with an intro not credited to a particular artist, you get some Eastern female vocalist scatting over a vague synth line that eventually becomes 'Strangelove'. Kirk's cover of 'Behind The Wheel' uses a thin synth line to play the only recognizable portion of the original song. The bass motif and some of the rhythm motifs are similar to the actual song, but they are played with such strange sounds the version sounds totally off. It's not a great cover and it drones on for 7+ minutes. Yikes.
Executor's cover of 'Nothing To Fear' is also rather lackluster. They speed the beat up quite a bit, but it comes across weak and empty. Delta Signal covers 'Oberkorn' listed on the jacket as 'Oeercorn'. Of the tracks thus far, it's the best rendition. Unfortunately, it gets bogged down by length. All of the tracks thus far have clocked in over 6 minutes.
Next up is Audio Science and they actually have two covers on this record. The first is 'Little 15' and they actually deliver an interesting track. There's enough variation and change to make it interesting rather than just a drone. The second cover they do is 'Strangelove'.
The Scaras perform 'Get The Balance Right' and for some reason, I think this cover is exactly what trance should be. They actually include vocals as well! That's a huge plus. Reverse Pulse covers 'Flexible' and it starts out sounding like the background music to a horror film. There is a vocal track but it's deep in the mix and barely audible. Ultravision is up next with 'The Things You Said'... Not a track you could easily screw up. Already deeply trance-like, all they had to do was play the song and keep a deep groove. Instead, they speed it up and turn it into a tinkle. Not happy.
Interfaith is up next with 'Fools' the Alan Wilder track. Clocking in under 5 minutes, this is probably the most accessible of all the tracks on the album. It's not a bad cover. The final three tracks are mislabeled on the disc. Track 10 is actually Latex Empire's cover of 'Master And Servant' while Audio Science's second cover, 'Strangelove' is 11. Axis_01 finishes the disc with a 6 plus minute version of 'Pimpf'... A song I think is already too long on the Depeche Mode album. It's made virtually unbearable here.
Although this album credits different groups for covering these various songs, the reality is this is probably one artist who did an entire tribute album and just made up band names. I've tried to look up these groups outside of this release and none of them have produced or released anything else. If you have any information on these bands, please correct me and let me know. Right now, I'm thinking some dude in a recording studio decided to cover his favorite DM tracks and produced this absurd record.
Some of the tracks have value, but overall, they sound weak and without any of the depth and soul of the original versions. They are marginally thin and vacant. I can't in good conscience recommend ever picking up this release. I'm sorry. I just can't.
My final words: A HUGE THUMBS DOWN FOR A TRIBUTE!
TRANCEMODE EXPRESS - 1.01 A TRANCE TRIBUTE TO DEPECHE MODE
01. Intro
02. Behind The Wheel - Kirk
03. Nothing To Fear - Executor
04. Obercorn - Delta Signal
05. Little 15 - Audio Science
06. Get The Balance Right - The Scaras
07. Flexible - Reverse Pulse
08. The Things You Said - Ultravision
09. Fools - Interfaith
10. Master And Servant - Latex Empire
11. Strangelove - Audio Science
12. Pimpf - Axis_01
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