Camouflage are a German synth-pop band who have been around for nearly thirty years. You will hear echoes of Kraftwerk, OMD and Depeche Mode in all that they do and their eighth studio album ‘Greyscale’ is no exception.
That is not to say that theirs is a dated sound, far from it. The single ‘Shine’ kicks off proceedings and it has a touch of the bombast about it. It is a cracking track. ‘Laughing’ follows and is a good example of how they have updated their sound. The beat would not be out of place on a Massive Attack album and the production is fat. It also reminds me a little of something Trent Reznor might come up with.
‘In The Cloud’ starts off with a phone hanging up and the vocals sound like a telephone line initially before cleaning up for the bulk of the song. It has the boy Gahan all over it, in a good way and it’s a subtle track that packs a punch.
‘Count On Me’ is unconditional love, “I can always count on you, as you can always count on me”. There is a keyboard melody here that is so DM, I wonder what they would think? The title track that follows is a downbeat flute-led instrumental number which I really like. It would be nice to hear more tracks like this. ‘Still’ keeps the mood sombre and thinking about it the other person singer Marcus Meyn reminds me of is David Sylvian.
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‘Misery’ is intriguingly upbeat and even has the feel of a single about it. ‘Leave Your Room Behind’ takes me back to the eighties for sure, and I mean that as a compliment. ‘End Of Words’ is more Sylvian and epic in nature. A live favourite in the making I shouldn’t wonder and it kind of hits hard in the solar plexus, if you know what I mean? Final track ‘I’ll Find’ has a lick of Ultravox ‘Vienna’ in the mix without the stadium chorus. There is one word that comes to mind when describing this album. Solid.
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