eMusic Review 0
After the numb isolation of Low, hearing David Bowie proudly proclaim “I will be king, and you will be queen” in “Heroes” now-iconic title track is not unlike watching a time-lapse spring thaw. The second installment in Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy, “Heroes” is just as warped, fractured and neurotic as its predecessor, but where Low was almost suffocating in its minimalism, “Heroes” expands its sonic palette substantially, making room for Robert Fripp’s hyper-processed and appropriately manic lead guitar. If Low‘s prevailing mood was spookiness “Heroes”, if not exactly optimistic, at least makes room for the possibility of rescue. “‘Heroes,’ I think, is compassionate,” Bowie said in an interview at the time of the album’s release. And even at its bleakest — particularly in the twisting, tortured “Sons of the Silent Age” — Bowie still croaks, “Baby, I’ll never let you down.” The album’s opening assault is riveting, a collection of bent-metal music powered by a proto-industrial grind and centering around Bowie’s coming-unglued delivery. “Blackout,” in particular, is a sonic typhoon, Fripp’s needlepoint guitar scraping against sheets of steely synth. Bowie is frantic and mangled in the cogs, howling “Get me to a doctor’s!” like a man mid-breakdown.
Like Low, the second half… read more »
![Electric Warrior [Expanded & Remastered] album cover](http://images.emusic.com/music/images/album/117/482/11748295/300x300.jpg)
