With Velocifero, electric-rock band Ladytron have created an album that sounds darker than their previous releases while at the same time having the greatest pop appeal of them all. Of all four of their studio albums, this would be the one with the right sound and the right hooks to bring Ladytron some much deserved commercial success.

Made up of DJs Reuben Wu and Daniel Hunt and vocalists Mira Aroyo and Helen Marnie, Ladytron have created a huge cult-like following for themselves by touring extensively around Europe and North America while also making stops in places like China and Latin America. In 2007 the band was picked up by industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails at the request of the band’s leading creative mind and vocalist, Trent Reznor, and opened for them during their tour of the UK and Europe.

It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that touring with NIN helped to influence the darker sound of Velocifero. Alessandro Cortini, who worked with NIN on their 2008 release Ghosts I-IV, worked with Ladytron on the production of this album. French electric artist Vicarious Bliss also aided in the production of Velocifero.

Ghosts is the first single released off of this album and a perfect choice at that. It is by far the most infectious song on the album with its soft and haunting sounding synthesizers layered on top of a distant sounding but hard-hitting percussion beat. The chorus is short, simple and catchy and something that you wouldn’t mind having stuck in your head all day long. And trust me, that’s exactly where it’ll end up.

But after the album hooks you in with some of Ladytron’s most singable and danceable tracks to date like Ghosts, I’m Not Scared and Runaway, the songs, although still sounding great, begin to stop standing out. Predict The Day is so bass heavy that I think every other element of the track loses itself in the pounding beats where as in the next track, The Lovers, it sounds as though vocalist, Marnie, is drowning in the all of the synthesizer. But the band ends off the album with one of the most perfectly balanced and darkest songs on the album, Versus, where Hunt, one of the band’s DJs, sings alongside Marnie. His deep voice, which is reminiscent of Joy Divison’s Ian Curtis, makes the song one of the most memorable ones on Velocifero.

This is one of Ladytron’s most well-rounded albums incorporating just the right amount of electric, pop, and rock. It’s a good album to start with if you’re just beginning to introduce yourself to them, and it’s nowhere near a letdown for any current Ladytron fans.

TRACKLISTING

Black Cat
Ghosts
I’m Not Scared
Runaway
Season Of Illusions
Burning Up
Kletva
They Gave You A Heart, They gave You A Name
Predict The Day
The Lovers
Deep Blue
Tomorrow
Versus