When it was played on modern rock radio stations in 1988,
Camouflage had everybody duped with "The Great Commandment." With its chilly synths, robotic percussion, and gloomy vocals, the song was a
Depeche Mode doppelganger. Similarly,
Camouflage's debut album
Voices & Images is the sound of young men who couldn't stop playing
Depeche Mode's
Black Celebration in their tape decks. However, they are somewhat talented plagiarists. The icy, computerized rhythms in the anti-racism track "Neighbours" and "Helpless Helpless" have toe-tapping appeal, and "Winner Takes Nothing" regurgitates
Duran Duran as new romantic cyborgs with
Marcus Meyn's
Simon Le Bon-esque singing.
Meyn enunciates every word in his songs with a heavy seriousness, as if lyrics such as "we had fun while we played/hide and seek" have profound meaning. The dancey synthesizers of keyboardists/programmers
Heiko Maile and
Oliver Kreyssig Xerox the eerily seductive high-tech boogie of mid-'80s
Depeche Mode, but they're nowhere near as inventive or edgy.
Voices & Images should've been an EP. Once the sixth track, "Winner Takes Nothing," is finished,
Camouflage's
Depeche Mode infatuation loses its novelty. ~ Michael Sutton