ORANGE SECTOR - Masquerade
Songs: 14 Time:  54:38
OK, so this isn't exactly the newest release, but I've been sitting on this CD long enough.  Orange Sector use to be one of those bands who followed in the EBM footsteps of Nitzer Ebb and Armageddon Dildos.  After a pair of hard edged, beat enforced releases, the group stepped their music in a new, more synth-pop direction.  Next up, with the aid of Sevren Niarb (X Marks the Pedwalk), Orange Sector released a remix EP that took some of their lighter, less impressive tracks and beefed them up.  Finally, in late 1998, Orange Sector settled in their new musical home and Masquerade was released.  Once again teamed up with Sevren Niarb, Orange Sector seemed to have taken what they learned from Sevren and instituted it into their new sound.  Falling somewhat back into the EBM category, yet incorporating some of the agile sounds of their synth-pop days, Orange Sector have grown stronger than before.  Songs such as Fascination, Find Your Love, and Dead Or Alive could have easily become Euro dancefloor smashers.  Even more impressive was their break beat experiment on Ghosttown. Add to that Sevren's remix of Fascination and you're already well on your way to a great release.  Iron Mike has a sound that throws me back to the early days of A Split Second but with vocals that are reminiscent of mid-period Ebb.  I can (almost) forgive the lyrics about Mike Tyson.  As a whole, Masquerade is a really good album that for whatever reason, seemed to have gotten passed over awfully quickly.  If you can track down a copy of this CD, check it out.  It's really engaging and has grown on me tremendously over the past year or so.
 
ZOTH OMMOG                     Orange Sector is:
Norsk-Data-Str. 3                    M. Bodewell / L. Felker
61352 Bad Homburg
Germany
Fax ++49 (0)6172 946 969

1)  Prisoner            2)  Dead or Alive    3)  Fascination
4)  Behind the Glass    5)  Masquerade       6)  Find Your Love
7)  Danger              8)  Iron Mike        9)  Body Control
10) Ghosttown          11) Our Own Disease   12) Scars of Love (Hardfloor mix)
13) Fascination (Fire rmx) 
14) Dead or Alive (303 mix)