New Order: Bernard Sumner (vocals, guitar); Peter Hook (vocals, bass); Gillian Gilbert (keyboards, synthesizer); Stephen Morris (drums, background vocals). Recorded at Jam Studios, London, England; Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland; Amazon Studios, Liverpool, England. BROTHERHOOD is a document of growth for New Order's ever-expanding sonic landscape. Packaged in the stark, utilitarian style that was the Factory label's trademark, the album belies its minimalist presentation with a sprawling, intricately crafted collection of pop gems, inspiringly diverse, yet uniformly infused with the band's trademark sincerity and off-kilter melodic sense. The album opens with the deceptively straight drum hits of "Paradise," which quickly adopts an intense double-tracked vocal and with it, an air of danger that offsets its soaring melody. New Order developed into masters of intellectually stimulating dance music, an elusive combination of qualities. The album's biggest hit "Bizarre Love Triangle" exemplifies this rare mixture--atop a throbbing, heavily sequenced dance beat is played out a drama complete with consistently engaging musical shifts, dramatic lyrical turns, and a chorus that's instantly memorable and nothing short of gorgeous. The wistful vulnerability of "All Day Long" dissolves into a sprawling, regal affair and the supremely sweet "Every Little Counts" show yet another dimension to New Order's sonic richness.

• Genre: Pop
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 10/06/2009