"Dead Son Rising" is a complete album, one of the most complete albums I've heard in a long while. More than just a collection of singles, this album has things like PACE and FLOW from track to track, start to finish. As it ends, it compels the listener to play it again. "Resurrection" draws the listener in as it builds, setting the stage for "Big Noise Transmission", which flat out rocks more than any Numan track since "Crazier". "Dead Sun Rising", the almost-title-track, may be the best of many unabashedly-melodic industrial moments on the album. The lyrics dip once again into one of Numan's sci-fi personas, and the bells in the instrumental break are absolutely gorgeous. "When The Sky Bleeds, He Will Come" works through a slow crawl and then satisfyingly breaks into a rocking-chorus, then does it a couple more times for good measure.
This leads into "For The Rest of My Life" and "Not The Love We Dream Of", a couple of songs about relationships gone wrong which marks a welcome variation in Numan's lyrics. It feels as though he's brought the synths back from Pleasure Principle to compliment industrial noise and a great acoustic guitar riff. Then suddenly, bare piano chords begin "Not The Love We Dream Of" and the track builds with a mournful electronic backbone. We haven't had piano accompaniment to this much raw emotion from Numan since... Telekon?
So much quality already and we haven't even reached the centerpiece of the album, "The Fall", a song Numan premiered live years ago. Fans have been anticipating the studio version ever since, and it doesn't disappoint -- here we have the best version of "The Fall" yet. It's got spine-tingling sounds even before the lyrics kick in, and one of the best, most massive choruses in Industrial Rock. To recover, we're given the atmospheric crawl, "We Are The Lost", which sounds an awful lot like it could have come from Nine Inch Nails' "With Teeth" album, but for a few vocal lines from Numan. This begins the album's shift from Industrial Rock into atmospheric instrumental territory.
It feels like a natural shift as "We Are Lost" builds to a satisfying climax and segues into a reprise of "For The Rest Of My Life". Playing this melody on piano only accentuates how achingly beautiful this track really is. The reprise version simply oozes atmosphere as it builds to the chorus. Finally, the album gives us another brilliant instrumental, the perhaps poorly named "Into Battle". The name is the only thing I can fault this one on -- anyone who enjoyed the best of Nine Inch Nails' "Ghosts" project will enjoy this as well. It finishes with a piano-only rendition of "Not The Love We Dream Of". It feels as this point as though we have been given the modern equivalent of Numan's "Telekon" remastered CD, complete with piano-laden extra tracks. These tracks complete the experience here, just as those made the great "Telekon" a better, more-complete listening experience.
I have no hesitation in declaring "Dead Son Rising" the best of Numan's newer albums. As great as "Jagged", "Pure", and "Exile" are, none of them match the sheer variety and quality of this new album. I'd be remiss not to mention the growing musical partnership of Numan and Fenton. Without Ade Fenton, this project may never have happened -- he and Numan have developed into a true musical partnership. Long may it continue.
Though nothing will ever replace "Telekon" as the greatest Numan album for me, this combines the best of his Industrial sound with a great chunk of Telekon wrenched into the future. I'd call it his best and most complete album since 1981's "Dance", and the best album of the year to boot. Not bad for 'a collection of leftovers'. 10/10
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