Gary Numan - Dead Son Rising



If you’re a Gary Numan fan, this album’s been a while in the making. After a few stuttered efforts at full LPs in the last decade in the form of ‘Jagged’, ‘Hybrid’’s remixes and ‘Pure’, which simply tried too hard, the anticipation towards ‘Dead Son Rising’ wasn’t exactly one of baited breath. That was until The Fall’s video landed in August. Its bombacity certainly proved that Numan still has something under his belt, and so came Dead Son Rising.

The Fall starts the second half of this record with such power that you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d changed record. After Not the Love… it’s just the energy boost you needed. Both halves of this record have a few things in common though. Firstly, they’ve got a distinctly electronic side of Nine Inch Nails about them. It’s a kind of industrial sound that Trent Reznor and co took from Numan as their own trademark and after playing together two years ago, and splitting up, Gary’s taking that title back. Album opener Resurrection could be something at the beginning of Transformers, and Big Noise Transmission may as well be the title of one. Listening to ‘Dead Son Rising’ is something different in this respect. In the last few years, Gary Numan’s become relevant again. Having collaborated with everyone from Little Boots to Battles and even appearing on The Mighty Boosh, he’s now managed to put together an album of comprehensive proof that he’s more than Are Friends Electric and Cars.

There’s nothing of the calibre of those two legendary tracks, but the godfather of electronic music definitely has good cause to go out and prove to doubters that Dead Son Rising is worthy of their time.

7/10

By Braden Fletcher