1 songs for assholes

2 xxx for president 

3 Dance another Day

4 Bubblegum Reality

 5 Arrival Openmind

 6 Here from Mars

 7 Alienstar

8 Leave me

 9 Love behind your Sky

10 Emotion

11 Reload

12 The 77th Divinity

13 Dance another day - remix by Tilo Wolff

debut-album - release date 19th April 2004 - mastered by Michael Schwabe (Monoposto, Düsseldorf).

preview - review  by dalia "gryphon_spirit" di giacomo____   

Neospastics are New Wave/Synthetic Rock, without the claim to be hard. I could say they are still in a kind of cocoon, with the potential of a nice butterfly. They are always melancholic but too soft to tell the truth, sometimes  predictable, nonetheless with a certain tension of guitars and drums. Always very genuine. In some songs there are some thin Manson influences but even slight weaker Deathstars ones, combined with softer versions of Rock/Grunge and Nickelback tunes, and though the general image remains a bit weak though dark, they could be indeed a suitable "door" to Dark Goth Rock and New Wave/Rock for the young generations and for all who don't like heaviness. Great positive point: Neospastics are many times club, but fortunately never disco. 

New Wave has many faces, among which the synthetic/slightly gothic one with soft guitars, decadent dark melodies, rock attitude (cause New Wave IS rock) mixed with poppy, club tendencies. A thing that sounds simply terrible to extreme metallers, but well... it's not to them that Neospastics address their musical message. So "Plasticlove" is for all goth/rockers who like a modern softer Rock, decadent (yes decadent i repeat), synthetic and nocturnal, young and dark, but not necessarily hard, on the contrary sometimes feeble or naive, always very melancholic. More emotional, softer, used to pungent bass pizzico, related to depression, they have a right to existence. And even more when they are able to arise emotions somehow. On the other hand Neospastics, newcomer band from Switzerland, could dare much and much more, could be a lot  more resolute and massive, though some songs were written a couple of years ago. But as debut album, "Plasticlove" is at least not under our pass mark, and surely it will represent another occasion for all gothic-, new wave-, soft rock-, synthetic- (attention this doesn't mean "electro") fans, who don't like too stressed guitars, but  want anyway a certain push without too much electro. There is a "plastic love" for you all, somewhere!! In Neospatics's music there are traces of many influences that appear smothered by their disarming attitude. In some songs we can detect Manson influences, Deathstars, even PL, or Nickelback or traces of Modern damned souls, united with a certain "affair" with pop : but everything is so soft and with total different vocals from these points of reference. I personally have found no traces at all concerning TON, but well: tot capita tot sententiae...

And indeed the points which leave me perplexed are actually:

a) vocals. Not that Pablo Kissner doesn't sing well, on the contrary. Moreover a certain capacity to transfer emotions is only possible thanks vocals too, but imo they are not (still) strong like they should be, or, on the other side, still not enough whispering and evil (with the exception maybe of track 8). They remain there, in a kind of agreeable limbo but without a strong connotation. 

b) hardness and shocking flare. Not very shocking, not wicked, a bit like their music, that in spite of all positive contents carried out, doesn't dare that step more. Neon modernity in darkness, artwork rather imaginative, at the threshold of innocence/not innocence, a bit original too, but i think we are far from being twisted and wicked: in few words Neospastics are another "door", really suitable for young goths, modern rockers and the young generation in general. But they still have to show off all their potential. Let's hope well for the future.

Soft rebel is the opener Songs for Assholes that delivers already a sense of great youth, maybe for its school choir, for its effective simplicity and catchiness. More synthi xxx for President, which has a poppy proceeding really suitable for young people, but very simple and not innovative at all. Still is incomprehensible why the band offers this track for a pre-listening, considering that this song doesn't provide the best profile of the band.

And now it comes: the "second best" song of the album imo: Dance another Day, the more you listen to it the more you understand that it has not that much to envy if compared to other dark rocking tracks. On a Rock base inclined à la Nickelback, we meet gothic feelings with the right harmonic content and depth, catchy but not simple, melodic. Tensions of guitars and an intriguing piano can share emotions but also a pushing desire to make some gothic headbanging among doom stings and rhythmed tunes. A song that could be appreciate by goths, with a certain soft spot for British influences, but also by melodic rockers. And at the same instant, you really begin to wonder why they are sooooo soft: damnation! Cause this track has really something very attractive! But we will meet this song again...

Bubblegum Reality is for me the best song of the album, with the right melancholic feeling, embedded in a cadenced enough resolute rhythm, with a choir that could be a school one, stop-start moments, resolute drumming, vocal modulations. Catchy and rockin' could be considered just a weaker version of Deathstars, obviously with all similarities but also differences of the case. And once more i would have preferred an even stronger aggressiveness from the band.

Here from Mars is lively with a catchy looping, though always melancholic and melodic like all tracks. More haunting, more evil, more cadenced is Alienstar, that would deserve anyway more aggressive and detonating vocals. Leave me, attracted towards insanity and evil marks, where an influence of the Deathstars/Secret Discovery stream is clear to be found, delivers more resolute guitars and vocal effects, and in general a more profound, mature voice (like it should be indeed). 

Absolutely Gothic and atmospheric the intro for Love beyond the Sky, that has such a big potential, with this interesting and fascinating theme of "sharing dreams", but unfortunately remains undeveloped in part, because of the weakness of the refrain. And the stronger plenum of instrumentation which enhances the sound background in the second part of the track, unfortunately doesn't make it harder: a mysterious atmospheric scary gothic becomes nothing more than a dark soft balladesque song, anyway the final with the obsessive repeated loop -"i dream to love for you"-, so similar to the intro concerning temperament, is a cool way to save in extremis the interest for this song. 

Emotion, though considered very seriously by the band, is really flat, catchy yes but only due to its simplicity, totally tasteless and even a bit useless if i may say. And surely not much better is Reload. The 77th Divinity, though nothing sensational, has finally a groovy club appeal, and a certain string depth. 

Spotlights again on Dance another Day, but this time remixed by Mr Tilo Wolff (Lacrimosa). New vocal effects, echoes included, no...lots of new electro synthetic effects without neglecting strings too anyway. The song is completely enriched and sometimes even unrecognizable: it has becomes a club/radio hit!! The band is, in general, unrecognizable and empowered: if all songs would have been treated this way, receiving this "make up", maybe  the goth/new wave world would have acclaimed the new miracle. Though the original version still maintains a fresh genuine beauty.

Consequently i can say that Neospastics are surely a promise for the dark community: let's not forget that this is "only" a debut album, that has its quorum of interesting stuff in the "cocoon". They are not heavy, sometimes simple and too soft, but genuine and imaginative like young people is. Salt in the soap can always be added in future. But you! young people already attracted to darkness and soft rock but still you fear your choices! You  could give anyway this band a try and dream a bit on these melancholic notes, cheering a bit up, maybe...: you are not alone in tasting this bitter vision of life. You can always dance today.

Rating: 6.5/10

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