contempt
"what do you expect from the band with the name like that?" this question prevented me from taking seriously anything released by this project. after I have been repeatedly told that "it kicks ass!" and is "cool" I somehow managed to overcome my fear and suppress my aesthetic feelings and listen to this disk.
the music of a23 creates mixed feelings - it is obvious how tom shear is striving to merge sweet synth-pop with electro elements - on some tracks he manages to achieve that, while others fail miserably resulting in the "faceless", "soulless" sound ("skyquake", "pages") that is torn between the influences ("sun" that visibly changes from vocals that is blatantly covenant-like to melody that could be easily mistaken for beborn beton) and resembles scattered jigsaw puzzle.
after careful consideration i suggest listening to only certain tracks on this disk that would please any synth-pop fan - catchy, clean, danceable with unprocessed vocals and steady dancefloor beat. the ones that get into this list include "purgatory" with its simple steady beats and light "happy" synths with chorus that is incredibly addictive (forget that covenant exists, otherwise you will be poisoned by the striking resemblance); "surface" - very fast-paced pulsating club hit; "anthem" - pleasant melancholic melody and dancefloor appeal (once again - forget that fictional exists for the duration of the song).
overall "contempt" has several decent songs, that are created out of nicely arranged bits and pieces taken from other bands and put together with some creativity.