Verging On European Electro Pop
From the cd cover I expected Hearts of Black Science to be a heavy metal band, not Swedish electro pop! From Gothenburg, the duo describe their music as "melancholic and sometimes dark pop melodies, yet uplifting and positive at the same time". After achieving success on Myspace with a self-financed release, this is their debut album, created in an isolated underground power plant in 2006 and released on Club AC30.
The first track, 'Snowfall', begins with light, eerie synths and proceeds to be a chilled out electro tune with dark verses and an uplifting chorus - true to the band's description. Unfortunately the next track continues in a similar vein, as does the rest of the album, and couldn't be anything more than background music for me. A track that stands out is 'Revolvers' which starts with a promising grungy guitar riff sounding a bit like Massive Attack's heavier stuff, but some of the synth sounds just don't fit, and - I hate to say it - make it sound like cheesy European electro pop.
Hearts of Black Science are said to take reference from Doves, Ladytron, Mew, Air and Depeche Mode, and I can spot similarities with the latter. But I don't think the sound they have brings anything fresh to electro music, and relies on eighties synth sounds to the extent where it sounds old and out of date rather than cool and retro.