Palais Ideal - Pressure Points [Cold Transmission Music 022]

It's roughly been about a year since Richard Van Kruysdijk and John Edwards presented the first album outing of their conjunctional band project Palais Ideal and now they're back with second shot, scheduled for release on May 25th, 2k19 via the German label Cold Transmission Music. Produced and mixed by studio legend John Fryer, known for his work for and with the likes of Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins and many more, the bands new outing "Pressure Points" caters a menu of twelve new songs including the dark'ish opener "Interference (Intro)" which leads straight into a world of warped, atmospheric (Neo)Cosmic sounds before "The Programme" fuses a stoical, yet driving drum machine rhythm section with fuzzed contemporary Indie / PostPunk guitars and vocals evoking memories of bands like Sisters Of Mercy in us whereas "Love As A Virus" speeds things up even more, bringing forth a twangy, upbeat UK SynthPop twist for the dancefloor before "Context Collapse" shifts gears once again whilst providing a floating, partly even krautsy vibe as if La Düsseldorf had turned their heads towards Indie after all these years. With "Louder Than Words" Palais Ideal are harking back to classic PostPunk-informed Alt.Pop territories, "Die Stadt" is an instrumental, (Neo)Cosmic-infused soundtrack for lucid, neon grey dreams, "Catharsis" leads to havoc on the dancefloor due to its catchy attitude and sing-a-long chorus before the "D-List" brings on quite a funky crossover between proper wall-of-sound Rock / Metal and well-positive SynthPop-vibes for primetime sets in underground Indie joints and basement parties. "Everything Will Be OK" picks up on a well-familiar main motif and drifts off into spaced out, instrumental, yet dancefloor-friendly (Neo)Cosmic realms once again, "A State Of Confusion" opens on a marching, military tip before giving way to more melodic elements, "Shot By Both Sides" is muscular IndieRock in its purest, most energetic form and the final cut "A Fractured Smile" looks inside your soul in an unsettling manner, touching on the dark secrets buried deep inside everyones minds. A highly recommended sophomore album that defo tops the bands firstling by far. Good stuff. Get.