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Here - after a good few plays - is my review of Dead Son Rising:

Dead Son Rising is an interesting release for Gary Numan, delayed by several years, briefly abandoned altogether and finally transformed into a dark and varied album, guaranteed to have something for every Numan fan.

Produced and co-written with Ade Fenton, Dead Son Rising has been fashioned from unfinished songs and demos, some of which date back to 1997's Exile. The result is a curious mix, containing some of Numan's most atmospheric and diverse tracks for years, with the finished songs bearing little resemblance to the original demos.

Numan's emotional outpouring on tracks such as "Not the Love We Dream Of" and "For the Rest of My Life" has to rank alongside his classic electro-ballads such as "Sleep By Windows" and "A Child With the Ghost", while heavier stomping tracks such as "Big Noise Transmission" and single, "The Fall" follow the industrial style present on Pure and Jagged.

While instrumental tracks "Resurrection" and "Into Battle" leave little to be desired (you can't help but feel that more could have been done with them) Dead Son Rising has a dark cinematic quality to it, and boasts some of the best production heard on any Numan album to date, with Gary's vocals coming across crisp and clear. The real standout track for me is the epic "Dead Sun Rising" (note the play on words), where Numan returns to his sci-fi roots, exploring similar themes to those on his early albums.

Overall, Dead Son Rising has indeed risen from the dusty corners of the Numan studio and is at last with us, after many a false start. It has evolved into an album in its own right, with echoes of Pure, Jagged and to some extent, Sacrifice.

By Numan standards, there is a great deal of experimentation on the album, some of which works better than others; We Are the Lost", sounds frankly, lost, and the piano versions of "Not the Love We Dream Of" and "For the Rest of My Life (Reprise)", feel like nothing more but padding. But overall, after the muddy, over-complicated and samey sound of Jagged, Dead Son Rising presents Gary Numan in a new light – or dark – and as his first new material for five years, it will no doubt delight those who first caught sight of him at the NIN concerts in 2009 or have discovered him through his appearance on The Mighty Boosh. Who would have ever thought that?!

Spot on review Alex, the instrumentals did nothing whatsoever for me and the track "We Are The Lost" is shockingly bad, some highlights though with "For The Rest Of My Life" one of Numan's best tracks for some time and I really do like "Not The Love We Dream", 2 versions of these tracks definitely there to fill out the album.

Varied like you say, if I was to score it I would say a 6/10

I think I'd give it a 7/10 overall. A couple of the tracks on there for me personally would be 10/10 alone; namely the title track and "For the Rest of My Life". It's difficult to rate as a cohesive album because it isn't really one - it sits somewhere in between a new album and an album of unreleased material!

The DVD isn't bad either, just under 80 mins in total. During the interview Gary states that Splinter will be a very different album in comparison, heavily riff based and groove-driven.

And the promo video for "The Fall" is absolutely brilliant - shot in a disused asylum in Lincoln, it's dark and haunting, and overall quite unsettling. The same goes for Ed Fielding's amazing photography which adorns the cover and throughout the booklet - stunning photos; the best Numan's ever had taken. It also comes with the subtle link back to the Pleasure Principle b-side, "Asylum".

Sadly there does appear to have been a dodgy batch with the deluxe editions - my copy was covered in white marks, as if the glue had come through and worn the ink off. However Townsend kindly gave me a freepost address to return it to with the promise of a replacement.

I just went for the standard CD, DVD sounds excellent, I did by the Conversation DVD and that was an outstanding interview and was around 90 mins I think.

Should have mentioned I liked the track "The Fall" also but "For The Rest Of My Life" is stunning!

I wonder what the reason was for calling the album Dead SON Rising yet the track on the album is called Dead SUN Rising??

Can't say i'm too chuffed if Splinter is going to be a veavier album, that wont be my cup of tea at all.

Deluxe version has arrived!Looks good, will have listen later. I do dislike these slipcases,if it's a good album with regular use it's going to mark the cd fairly quickly.

Edit**
After my 1st listen I'd give it 8/10. Being as I've not heard any of the Numan albums between Strange Charm and DSR it's pretty good! The title track reminds me of I Still Remember (I had the RSPCA picture disc!)

- - HORROR! - -

We must remedy this! Track yourself down copies of Sacrifice, Exile and Pure for starters...

I've had a few plays of Dead Son Rising now. It really is a varied album (in sharp contrast to Jagged). I like it. I agree that the stand-out track is Dead Sun Rising. I don't normally like intrumentals, but I do rate Ressurection. In fact this album works well for the first 8 tracks; it's just a pity Gary ran out of steam and couldn't find any finishing tracks.

8/10

Yes, it all kind of peters out after The Fall.

In the interview on the CD he does say some tracks were finished but not used, as they've been saved for another project that they're not allowed to discuss!

Soundtrack maybe...?

New video interview with Tom Artrocker (part one) now online

http://www.artrocker.tv/tv/article/tom-artrocker-interviews-gary-numan-part-one

Cool - thanks for posting that!