Power on to Zero Hour

Personnel: Alan Vega (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Liz Lamere (vocals, keyboards, drums).
Includes liner notes by Roy Trakin.
After the dreary Deuce Avenue, Alan Vega returned to form with Power on to Zero Hour, which may seem a bit ironic since even more than Deuce, Power is cold, electronic, and dissonant. As futuristic as some of Vega's albums may have seemed before, this is the one that seems the most mechanical, primarily because Vega has stripped whatever human properties his music had before. Even his vocals, usually by turns manic and delicate, have a chilly, mechanical feel. Throughout the music is fuller than the spare minimalism of Suicide (or his early solo work), even though the album is a duo work from him and musician Liz Lamere, who also worked on Deuce. Here, however, the collaboration, while not as arresting as some of his other albums, is a bit more successful, mainly due to better songwriting. The hyper-kinetic "Sucker" is just one of many tracks that share a hopped-up drum and bass rhythm meshed with a catchy chorus. Vega also incorporates hip-hop rhythms; "Jungle Justice" even lifts the beat from Ice-T's "Lethal Weapon." Still, the relentlessly cold atmosphere tempers some of the musical inventiveness. Not a bad release, but not necessarily Vega's high point either. ~ Victor W. Valdivia