Welding together dance beats, slick melodies, and moody vocals, Assemblage 23's Tom Shear crosses the catchy synth pop of Depeche Mode with the dark grooves of industrial on Defiance.
Always danceable, always a little disturbing, tracks like "Opened" never lose their pulsating momentum, while grittier numbers like "Drive" skillfully echo New Order by pairing bittersweet synthesizer swells with relentless electro groans.
"Cocoon," one of the slowest tracks on the album at 81 beats per minute, is spare, scary, and dreamy.
"Maps of Reality" is just the opposite -- fast, on the edge, virtually out of control.
Defiance might seem a little repetitive to average rock & roll fans, but for listeners looking to return to the gray emotions of '80s, late-Cold War synth pop, Assemblage 23 is unbeatable.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OpenedTom Shear | Assemblage 23 | Play | 05:52 | 13 MB | 44 MB |
| 2 | DriveTom Shear | Assemblage 23 | Play | 05:08 | 11 MB | 40 MB |
| 3 | BlindhammerTom Shear | Assemblage 23 | Play | 05:20 | 12 MB | 39 MB |
| 4 | CocoonTom Shear | Assemblage 23 | Play | 05:55 | 13 MB | 40 MB |
| 5 | DocumentTom Shear | Assemblage 23 | Play | 05:12 | 11 MB | 41 MB |
| 6 | Fallen DownTom Shear | Assemblage 23 | Play | 05:43 | 13 MB | 44 MB |
| 7 | HorizonTom Shear | Assemblage 23 | Play | 07:30 | 17 MB | 57 MB |
| 8 | LightTom Shear | Assemblage 23 | Play | 04:25 | 10 MB | 32 MB |
| 9 | Maps of RealityTom Shear | Assemblage 23 | Play | 04:28 | 10 MB | 35 MB |
| 10 | LullabyTom Shear | Assemblage 23 | Play | 05:24 | 12 MB | 36 MB |
| 55 mins | 125 MB | |||||
| 55 mins | 414 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Assemblage 23 | Primary Artist |
| 2 | Steph Dumais | Artwork |
| 3 | Tom Shear | Composer, Engineer, Instrumentation, Mixing, Producer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |