Review: Lights of Euphoria – Gegen Den Strom

Lights of Euphoria
Gegen Den Strom

Metropolis

It’s common nowadays that if your album isn’t good enough to stand alone, you should add some remixes from artists that people like. Lights of Euphoria were smart enough to do that for the limited-edition North American release of Gegen Den Strom (Against the River). The 12 tracks with remixes from Punto Omega and State of the Union don’t manage to break through the clutter of mediocre electronic music and monotony on the latest release for the German act. By adding five more songs, a total of 17 for the US edition, they manage to make it bearable. Rotersand remixes “The Night,” bringing in some depth and groove to the original. “Feel the Pain (Hecq remix)” adds a completely different direction with IDMish minimal, distant crunchiness. Glis remixes “White Wall” for more poppy dance-floor goodness. “A Moment of Past,” the final track and a Lights of Euphoria original, manages to do something different with robotic beats and cleaner vocals. Lights of Euphoria had more going for them before the genre evolved into this future-pop/techno-trance hybrid.

This review originally appeared in Modus Operandi, April 2005, Issue 196.