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Rating: The Covenant (not to be confused with the eponymous Norwegian black metal band) are a Swedish trio that, along with their colleagues Apoptygma Berzerk and VNV Nation, can rightfully be placed in the elite of the genre ambiguously referred to as future pop.
The evident reminiscences inherited from the '80s synth-pop of Depeche Mode are reinterpreted by our guys in an electro-goth/EBM key.
"Synergy: Live in Europe," recorded in 2000 during the "United States of Mind" tour (probably the band's most representative work) is an excellent compendium of the good achieved by the trio in their early years of activity. Completely leaving out the debut album, the raw "Dreams of a Cryotank" (from 1994), the recording gathers tracks from "Sequencer" (1996), "Europa" (1998), and the aforementioned "United States of Mind" (2000), understandably giving more emphasis to the latter, the album that the tour was aiming to promote.
"Synergy" thus serves as an ideal best of the Scandinavian band, succeeding in the aim (unusual for an electronic music performance) of combining the reproduction of synthetic sounds with the energy typical of a live event.
The pieces are revisited in the light of the experience gained over the years and reedited with more modern sounds and more mature arrangements, so much so that at times they appear even better than the studio-recorded versions. However, one shouldn't expect a cold and mechanical execution, thanks mainly to the charisma of vocalist Eskil Simonsson (really on fire that night in Bochum), who not only delivers a flawless performance from every point of view but also reveals himself as a true stage animal, never satiated in urging and stirring the audience into a frenzy.
Behind him, at their respective consoles, Joakim Montelius and Clas Nachmanson, two war machines spewing beats and sounds unceasingly: The music of the Covenant is the Kraftwerkian locomotive that derails from the alienation of a world dominated by technology to reach the excesses of a nightclub. Saturated with techno culture, Covenant's music is a never self-indulgent music, serving to entertain both minds and bodies, the former stimulated by the captivating sound constructions and the intelligence of the melodic passages; the latter amused by the incessantly pounding rhythms, varied, pressing, and continuously evolving.
Compared to other artists in the scene, the Covenant demonstrate a deep knowledge of the tools of the trade, while a refined class and uncommon elegance complete the picture.
What more could one wish for? Perhaps a hint of originality. Because if there's one thing to point out to our guys (the only one), it is the criticism that their music seems excessively indebted to the art of Martin Gore and company, especially due to Simonsson's (beautiful) voice, very close in timbre, tone, and expressive intensity to that of the unparalleled Gahan: his vocal performance almost evoking at every single moment the daunting ghost of Depeche Mode, an essential point of reference for the music of our guys.
It starts with "Tour de Force" (from the latest album) and continues with classics like "Feedback" and "Flux" (both from "Sequencer"). There's no need to dwell on the setlist: the tracks, old and new, flow hard and catchy, boredom doesn't reside here, that's for sure, and vaguely more introspective moments ("Helicopter," for example) are mercilessly devoured by the rush of driving and animated tracks with decidedly catchy refrains (the incredible trio "Go Film," "Tabula Rasa," and "I Am"), culminating in the rousing "One World One Sky," a grand finale with all the trimmings, a true stadium anthem, enriched by a fleeting quotation of the Chemical Brothers ("Hey boys, hey girls, here we go!") to emphasize the love, never hidden moreover, for dance in its most flashily carefree form!
Time for encores: back on stage, overwhelmed by the clamor of a longing audience, with battle horses like "Wall of Sound," "Stalker," and "Babel" (especially the first, blatantly inspired by the syncopated and bombastic moods of the famous "Personal Jesus" by DM, reveals the inextinguishable magic of a sound conceived and forged to move the body and stir the hearts!): a trio, this one, called to conclude in the most fitting way possible these over 70 minutes (indeed 14 tracks presented!) that will hardly disappoint fans of hot beats, and that confirm the value of a band that ends up being a mandatory step for lovers of those sounds that answer to the name of future pop.
For those who know the Depeche Mode discography by heart and never get enough...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Tour De Force (04:31)
you burn the ground to hold your position
you ran away if I came too close
you kept track of balance and pressure
all the dreams and desires
I want some more
red
black
green for the jackpot
take you down
I want to take you down
I want to take you down with me
we had the motion we had the grace
we had a sense of time and place
we wrote the rules we played the game
and it would never be the same
it was the beauty while we played
we played to win but no one did
we grew old we moved ahead
from dance hall days for higher stakes
you spun the wheel to keep my attention
you danced away if I missed a beat
you were queen of present and future
I was king and cavalier
on our tour de force
03 Feedback (04:15)
I consume the wind that makes you cold
And drink the blood of the bleeding souls
To check your fear and hide the noise
Of howling wolves that steals your voice
I confuse your mind and feed your dreams
To read your thoughts and keep them safe
From harmful truth and the hopeful lies
Of the tempting demon that hurts your eyes
I will protect you from your visions
To save you from illusions
I will protect you from ideals
To save you from defeats
I consume the wind that makes you bold
And suck the blood of the living souls
To make you numb and hide the noise
Of the howling wolves that is your voice
I seduce your mind to fear your dreams
And read your thoughts to keep you blind
From harmful truth and the open skies
Of the outside world before your eyes
04 Flux (06:16)
No haven will embrace you
No harbour keeps you safe
Your comrades will desert you
No tower reaches heaven
No fortress stands to last
Your desires makes you weak
No science will be mastered
No truth is absolute
Your children won't lament you
No wisdom can be trusted
No glory lasts forever
Your wishes won't be granted
Like torches in the aeon flow
Even suns flicker and die
Forgotten as the ages grow
Eternity is not for you
05 Helicopter (05:45)
Twenty years ago I rode
By helicopter to the sky
I laughed at gravitation
For a moment I was free
They say I never landed
You know they may be right
It looks better from above
With some distance in between
To leave is never easy
Perhaps it shouldn't be
But return is even harder
Yes return is harder stil
I often dream of flying
Far above the city streets
I beat my wings and leave
For Cairo or New York
I can go to many places
But there's no one there to meet
And the sky is a lonely place
Just me and the silent clouds
07 Go Film (04:55)
I find myself inside a church deserted by the priests
As shadows shift from grey to red I notice there's no floor
Transparent air suspends my weight as if I had no mass
Suddenly the moon comes out from the clouded skies
Wet and cold from shifting daydreams wakeful in the sleep
Windowpane observing some commotion down below
Waiting for the noise to come to blur the weary mind
Watching as a pastime and I'm the fallen star
Go film - we can all be gods
Go film - we will all be heroes
Go film - we are all immortal
Go film - we will all be safe
Go film - we are all illusions
Go film - and we can never touch
I will shine again with burning light when I return
In and out from foreign shores I've gone astray in time
Born to search for something I have never ever seen
On an endless quest to hostile ground and unknown lands
Then the scene go back to where it started and I fall
As shadows shift from red to grey I notice there's no floor
And gravity awakes me as it throws me to the ground
A million tiny grains of dust obscures me from your eyes
08 Tabula Rasa (05:44)
I feel too many affectious obstacles
Water must be allowed to seek it's own level
I don't seek to strive on others' expense
And the expense is mine as they judge my ways
I'm waiting for the rain to fall for days
I'm longing for the flood to sweep this all away
To grind the mountains to the level of the valleys
To cut the trees to the level of the grass
To asphalt the land in the name of equality
Let us grow in mutual respect and care
I will transgress the laws and change the orders
To live within an environment of my choice
So don't force your will or taste to rule over mine
Don't stand in the shadow of my hammer
09 I Am (05:19)
I am the rhythm and the noise
The voices in your blood
The rhythm and the noise
The rhythm and the noise
The rhythm and the noise
I am the voices in your blood
I am the logic and the lust
The poison in your breath
Logic and the lust
Logic and the lust
Logic and the lust
I am the poison in your breath
I am the rhythm and the noise
The voices in your blood
The logic and the lust
The poison in your breath
I am the rhythm and the noise
The voices in your blood
The logic and the lust
The poison in your breath
''(Break)''
I am the shepherd and the wolf
The fire in your chest
The shepherd and the wolf
The shepherd and the wolf
The shepherd and the wolf
I am the fire in your chest
I am the water and the stone
The hammer in your hands
The water and the stone
The water and the stone
The water and the stone
I am the hammer in your hands
I am the shepherd and the wolf
The fire in your chest
The water and the stone
The hammer in your hands
I am the shepherd and the wolf
The fire in your chest
The water and the stone
The hammer in your hands
12 Wall of Sound (06:02)
We are born alone and lonely we remain
When we learn to speak we speak to hear a voice
As the years go by we learn a thousand words
Then we try to talk to curse the silent sky
Like diamonds in the ground
We are waiting to be found
In silence we are bound
By the wailing wall of sound
Want to break the shell and cut the puppet strings
With our primal screams that echoes back inside
Want to pierce the noise and make our voices heard
To the distant shapes that wonders who we are
We must put aside the weapons of our minds
Cross the no man's land come with empty hands
Overcome the fear to drop the last defence
Speak forbidden words reach out beyond ourselves
13 Stalker (04:19)
In transit you pass among the strangers of the world
Paying tribute to the thief who stole away your shadow
You look into the bedrock and listen to the bells
Calling liquid lust
Call for solid white
I see the stalker in your face
The secrets of your skin
I keep the wisdom that you need
The password that you want
I feel the stalker in your mind
The fire in your veins
No hope to be released
I'm a multitude of travel to the other side
Through the broken wall I saw your fellow man
To the west of the horizon there's a bitter world
And if you try to sense the smell of your face
For you found the keyhole
But you lost your backbone
No courage left to join the march of endless time
You saw the sleep of habit on those who walk in trance
To their catatonic aimless lives
So let them start the engine grinding mountain dust
And reproduce your ego too much is not enough
You dig holes through the earth to meet the king of worms
To steal away his wisdom and learn to decompose
You chant like fifty indians to charm the prince of eagles
To learn the art of seeing and the tounge of the winds
So don't you try to fool me for I watch your every move
We are kindred spirits like two voices in the wild
14 Babel (05:54)
I want to go to heaven
So I build myself a tower
A lonely pillar on the plain
For no one else but me
I want to taste the clouds
Between my sharpened teeth
Find out if I'm a demon
Or a saint in disguise
I want to close the doors
Behind my bleeding back
And dance among the shadows
For future glory's lost
I want to be religious
To walk among the chosen
And wear the mark of cain
Feel safe without regrets
''(The version with this last verse is on Sequencer:Beta)''
I want a shining armour
To burn my hate and fury
Until nothing still remains
But pure thoughts of peaceful minds
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