CLAN OF XYMOX FAREWELL ALBUM METROPOLIS RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 5, 2003 REVIEW: OCTOBER 14, 2003

You have to admire Ronny Moorings' tenacity. Here is a man who has created his own sound and pretty much his own style but refuses to be bound to it. When Clan of Xymox re-emerged from the shadow of a broken Xymox in 1997, a lot of people questioned his ability to return to form. How wrong they were. "Farewell" is further proof that Clan of Xymox are a force to be reckoned with almost twenty years after they exploded from their native Amsterdam.
With "Farewell" one gets the impression that Moorings has left a lot of things, and indeed, a lot of people behind. This is a closure of sorts, a passage of time, an end of an era. The unique combination of electronics and rock elements is intact but the melodies are unmistakably those of this Dutch legend. Go to track two "Cold Damp Day" and get lost in the hard-hitting beats, powerful atmospheres and hooks, hooks, hooks. The fifth track on "Farewell" fittingly entitled "One More Time" transports us back to "Medusa" and updates the technique. This is the finest Clan of Xymox song I have heard since "Louise" back in 1986. Wonderful usages of all the trademark sounds with a modern and mature approach.
I really hope that this is the album from Clan of Xymox which pushes them into the public eye on a massive scale as it is their best work since "Hidden Faces". I know a lot of people don't want it to be so, but there is a finality to this record which demands it. For too long have people ignored what I have known for a long time: Clan of Xymox are truly an original act. We'll miss them when they are gone.

PETER MARKS