Album Review- Limbo by Clan of Xymox

I’ve spent some time talking about A Clan of Xymox, the long running dark wave band led by Ronny Moorings and last year’s Spider on the Wall album. Limbo is the newest album and the follow up to last year's Spider on the Wall. In some ways, it is better in that musically, this is a great beginning to end listen, recalling late 80s dark wave and the early 00s dark wave revival. That absolutely presses all my right buttons. But the album lacks the variety and ambition of its predecessor, so while it’s a great listen, it’s not a particularly memorable one. Vocals are pushed into the background in preference of atmosphere. Ironically, I think the albums theme works against it. Five years ago, dystopian themes might propel a dark wave album like this. But with titles like “Lockdown”, “Big Brother”, “Brave New World” and even yes, “Dystopia”, the track listing sounds at worst, like a loony conspiracy theorist, and at best, unimaginative. Still, this far into their career, CoX have nothing left to prove, and it’s unlikely Limbo will be many people’s introduction to the band (though if it is, it’s a very accessible one). But for an audience accustomed to Xymox and their musical descendants, this is a pretty good genre-style record.