Eighties pop music, for some a reason to hate for others a reason to love. I can digest eighties pop music very well and don’t mind listening to it if it's played on the radio. Atrocity has already made one album consisting out of eighties songs in a metal jacket, which was a huge success. It took them a while to decide when it was the right time to launch the follow-up, but here it is.

The main questions with the release of these kind of albums are “Do they pull it off?” and “Does the band bring a unique twist to the songs or are they just a carbon copy of the original?” The answers to these questions are quite simple. Yes, Atrocity does pull it off and yes they do give the songs a twist!

A big compliment on my behalf for merging two totally different genres together and making it a success. Atrocity incorporates divers typical metal elements. They don’t stay close only to their death metal (though their death metal isn’t typical to say the least) influences, but also incoporate some gothic elements (like on “The Sun Always Shine On TV”) or even some more modern metal influences like on “Keine Heimat”.

Of course “Smalltown Boy” isn’t a suprising cover, but they do it in an excellent manner and I must say that this is the best cover I have heard of this song. I also like the song “Fade To Grey” a lot, especially the down-tuned start of the song. I also like the way they have covered “Relax” with Alexander his growl giving this a menacing edge. It almost sounds like this song is originally written for a metalband instead of a popband.

I can disect every song, but I’m not planning to do this. Just pick up a copy and let it entertain you. After a couple of songs you’ll instantly get in a feel-good-mood. I just have one point of critique and that’s the song “Such A Shame”. I think that this is by far the weakest song on this disc. It starts with suprisingly weak vocals of Alexander. The vocal lines on this song are a bit too difficult for him to make it work. I have to admit that I’ve a weak spot for Talk Talk (yes, I have a broad taste regarding music) and so maybe I’m a bit biased. Besides this, I cannot wait for Werk 80-III!