After listening to a few new songs at their live show in May I found on Farewell affirmed what I was suggesting: CLAN OF XYMOX abandoned themselves almost completely from the Gothic/Wave sound and bring now their music into the legs of their fans. And that with nice Electro/EBM tunes. The predecessor Notes From The Underground already was much harsher than their acclaimed masterpiece Creatures. And the single There’s No Tomorrow released in 2002 already blazed the trail they are following now.
But that’s no reason for the romantics to coffin themselves six feet under totally horrified. COX are still able to build up this unrivaled dark atmosphere and especially Ronny’s vocals give a deeply melancholic touch to the songs, despite of their danceable rhythms.
But beyond they use everything possible of keys and effects to create fast beats. Guitars move pretty much to the background and set just sporadic accents. As always it’s pretty hard to point out any special song as COX ranges all the time on a high level. The mentioned There’s No Tomorrow is already running every dancefloor. While the first half of Farewell goes into EBM fields (Farewell, Cold Damp Day and There’s No Tomorrow), songs like Courageous or Into Extremes play with Future Pop elements but luckily without getting them out of hands. In between you have a break to quieter and familiar Gothic/ Wave fields with Dark Mood and One More Time, although electronic nuances stay all the time present. At the end Farewell dies away with two quiet tracks Loosing My Head and Skindeep. Overall the quieter songs remind me every now and then to old Love Like Blood.
With Farewell CLAN OF XYMOX prove once again their ability and proficiency to change and to develop themselves, to try something new, to fathom boundaries and to abide themselves though. Maybe they tried to pick up the thread from the early nineties when they started the first trip into more electronic fields, which failed badly. Either COX started this new sashey much smarter and more sophisticated or the musical taste has changed in favor to the band... I don’t know, but it works out very well. Farewell is once again a fantastic album and should not only sell much better but also extend the band’s fan base.