Velocifero

When Velocifero was first pulled into the CD player in my car’s dash, I really didn’t know what to expect.  Ladytron is a band that has stunned me more with each album they release, just picking up speed as they go.  As the motor pulled their most recent effort into the player, I thought to myself how their last release, Witching Hour, is the pinnacle of what Ladytron can do.  I thought to myself that after observing their maturation over various releases, there was no way they could beat that album.  I thought wrong.

The album starts with a song called Black Cat.  It’s entirely in Bulgarian, so I have to admit that I don’t have much of a feel for the lyrics (I’m a bit rusty on my Bulgarian…)  The beat, however, is to die for.  Writhing with intoxicating melody and beautifully harmonic voices that I can’t understand but still mean everything, this track slayed me.  I had to stop the disc, as it was not car music.

I arrived home and placed the disc in the stereo.  Volume cranked, that intoxicating melody came roaring through my home like a tidal wave of ***.  After Black Cat is a track called Ghosts, that’s equally as gorgeous with sing-able lyrics.  The entire album is a pulse pounding, dance forcing ride through dark European night clubs.  This is an atmosphere only Ladytron can create.  Everything falls to slow motion, time itself slows.  This is why it’s not car music…altered realities while in control of a car can be deadly. 

Velocifero literally translates to “Bringer Of Speed.”  Over the course of the album, reality fades away and there is just the beat.  Just the dance.  Just the speed.  Truly intoxicating, truly unreal, this album carries on the ever-progressive discography of Ladytron in excellent fashion.