CD Review

The Invincible Spirit – “Anthology 1984-2004”

By Marcus Pan

It's doesn't get much better than finding that an industrial favorite from the 80's is still stomping. The release of The Invincible Spirit's Anthology 1984-2004 showcases many tracks that I have been crunching floors with since I first found my way into the Newark/NY underground via the Pipeline and they are still as unmistakable now as they were twenty years ago.

Including tracks from as early as their 1984 Love Is a Kind of Mystery release and running right up to include an unreleased track, Mon-Key, twenty years later, The Invincible Spirit anthology is just as good as the Croc Shop's(1) that popped out just a month or so previous. Fans who are looking for that mid-80s in your face vocal style (Armegeddon Dildos, Laether Strip, etc.) coupled with the bright keyboards and synthetics as they were first utilized for this sound will find a lot to enjoy on Anthology 1984-2004.

Showdown, from 1990's Rollercoaster Revolution album, creeps in on ominous synthetic feet. What I like about Invincible Spirit, besides it's poppiness and harkening back to original days of new wave, synth pop and industrial, is its rare use of any semblance of vocal and vox effects. It's always very up front and rarely covered with anything to hide its flavor and effect. That gives this outfit much more appeal for me – the obvious electronic synthetic interface combining with its humanistic counterpoint in voice and feelings.

Anothology 1984-2004's X-factor is the closing Mon-Key on track 15. The first new Invincible Spirit track in many years, one can't help but wonder how well they are going to pull off their old glory. Can it be as good as older, classic Invincible Spirit? It opens windily and grows into a thumping bass groove with rap-style vocals and sparingly but effectively applied synth hits. It's fabulous. More modern, but still convincingly Invincible Spirit, it makes you bop and makes your head bounce. Here's to hoping that Invincible Spirit kick out a new full length soon.

As us 80's goths hit our mid-30s and start remembering and missing stomping the Pipeline, Limelight, Green Suede (I think that was the name) or any of the old clubs of our time, we're going to need some of our old staples to return to us as we start going out again. The Invincible Spirit can and should be one of these. There when we arrived, still there when we left – and still here now to welcome us back.

Contact Information:
Endless Records
Post: Im Krimmelsbach 7, D-57319 Bad Berleburg, Germany
Phone: +49 (02751) 444124
Fax: +49 (02751) 444125
E-Mail: contact@endless-promotion.de
Web: www.endless-records.de

(1) Referencing Croc_Shop.SEA, reviewed in Legends #146.

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