In Strict Confidence- Holy

Written by Shaun Hamilton

Artist: In Strict Confidence
CD Title: "Holy"
Label: Metropolis Records
Reviewer: Shaun Hamilton
Date: 2/16/04

In alot of the forums and chats I've heard alot of bad news surrounding this one, accusing it of sounding Future Pop,EBM,synthpop,etc. But of course with my rather rogue opinion on so many different subjects, I tossed this one out of mind and put the CD in. I have to say alot of the accusations are false, though ISC has calmed down just a little bit. It still does sound very far from any of the accused sounds though, and even adds in a bit of metal here and there for added effect. I'd say imagine a continuation of "Mistrust The Angels" combined with a little bit of "Cryogenics" mix of new wave, dark wave and hardcore industrial. Definitely carrying on in the tradition of recent ISC releases, and with a few new touches in the song structures, such as a more flow through feeling versus some of their more dance-oriented material. And to top it all off, they got the woman with the golden vocals who created the term "heavenly voices", none other than Antje, formerly of Chandeen. This woman's vocals are so warm, so passionate and so erotic sounding they could melt windshields in the middle of an Icelandic suburb! And her vocal work on this one is no exception at all! Add to that the German equivalent of David Bowie, Ion Javelin, and you've got one killer mix of material that is essential to any ISC fan's collection. So, like Public Enemy once said "Don't believe the hype"! Give this one its credit with your own two ears.