Feardrop
"Ce ne sont finalement pas les jeux sur l'équilibre fragile du rythme et des noyaux mélodiques qui peuvent totalement définir les années de recherche de Jonathan Forde dans delphium. Plus ou moins contrastée, sa musique a construit sa couleur et ses rugosités grâce à ces constantes remises en combat des deux forces, de l'abrasion qui naît des frictions. Et c'est la séduction vitriolée qui reste la seule véritable gagnante. Rythmes lourds et cassés, souvent impressionnés par un breakbeat rouillé et plombé, basses et synthétiseurs granuleux, important frauduleusement une lumière impure, pour la première fois cette dualité n'impose pas ses reliefs dans la musique de delphium. Si l'on excepte les premières minutes de l'album Nowhere left to fall, qui comme les tours d'un poste frontière, rappellent les règles en vigueur sur la plus grande partie du territoire, on s'introduit ensuite par un parcelle presque vierge, où la pulsation se manifeste sous une forme naine, quasi absente. Ce sont les champs de drones, d'harmoniques ne rompant pas avec le spectre sombre de delphium, des populations presque anarchiques de discrets mouvements métalliques, des grésillements hertziens comme une primitive expression insectoïde : le champ vivant d'une toundra qui s'étend. Il s'agit bien des travaux les plus ambiants de delphium, d'une progression au ras du sol et contre un vent glacé, loin d'un minimalisme auquel Jonathan Forde échappe obstinément - si ce n'est à celui de la forme. Dans le champ de vision, d'écoute, la vie est très présente, pourtant réduite, les mouvements incessants, malgré leur économie d'envergure. Splendide inspection du terreau de sa musique, qui culmine dans une vague cosmique vers le milieu du disque (rompant à son tour par une partie de relief accidenté plus coutumière de ses exercices), Nowhere left to fall est pour delphium un moment de grâce.
A noter également la sortie de Good morning heartache, un E.P. CD sur Moloko+, reprenant plusieurs excercices rythmiques du morceau titre". (Denis Boyer) (Feardrop n°11, été 2004)

Staalplaat
Delphium - Nowher Left To Fall (CDR by Hibou Records)
"Since a couple of years Delphium is active on the front of forceful electronic rhythmical music - loud and aggressive but also dubby and ambient at times. For this new, the fifth release, Delphium does things a bit differentely. Instead of having a couple of seperate tracks, there is one lenghty track, sixty four minutes in total, but it's divided in twenty five subsections -each with their own title - which are hard to tell apart. It seems to me that Delphium, aka Jonathan Forde from the UK, is in a more monotonous mood than before. Emphasis lies here for a great deal on the use of metallic percussion, which are fed through a bunch of synths and sound processors, occassionally filled up with pounding bass and/or a rhythm machine. This is Delphium in a more loud and aggressive mood and less in an ambient and/or dubby mood. At times a bit hasty put together, me thinks, but especially in the fewer softer moments quite a nice release. Massive blast..." (FdW) (Staalplaat, Vital weekly n°402)

Black
"Das mittlerweile 4. Album des Drum’n’Bass Bastards aus England, mischt den gebrochenen Beats diesmal noch mehr dunkle Schwere bei, aber leider auch noch mehr atmosphärische Klischees mit synthetischen Streichern, Frauengesang und Industrialsounds. Manchmal hört es sich schon nach 1994 im Gothicclub um die Ecke an (das Cover mit Totenköpfen über einer gezeichneten, verkommenen Straße steuert da auch nicht unbedingt gegen dieses mich beschleichende Gefühl an), wenn, ja wenn da nicht die zackigen Beats wären und die unorthodoxe Herangehensweise an den Groove. Sich schüttelnde Beats und rasselnde Rhythmen, heulende Synthetik, die in dunklen Echos schwimmt, manchmal so komisch daneben liegende Basslines, die einen immer mal wieder aufhorchen lassen, Subbässe, die sich über hektische Elektronik schleppen. DELPHIUM hat’s schon drauf. Sphärische Instrumentals und groovender Breakbeat. Nur die Finger vom Pathos nehmen sollte er. Das haben wir nun schon zur Genüge gehört." (TÔ) (Black #32)

Feardrop
"C'est sur le jeune label français Hibou que Jonathan Forde alias delphium vient de se poser, qu'il propose un nouveau voyage en terre grise et qu'il opère ses nouvelles manipulations douloureuses entre séduction et venin (mais devrait-il en être autrement ?). Dans cet univers, ce sont toujours les basses qui ont le plus beau rôle, appuyées par de puissantes machines rythmiques roulant en breakbeats concassants ou en lourdes éclosions acides. Pour habiller cette machinerie, et c'est là tout l'art de delphium, les effets et les mélodies sont convoqués, illustrant le dilemme interne, le combat incessant entre la lumière et l'obscurité - c'est souvent la seconde qui est gagnante. Dans les vrombissements, les échos, les rares interventions synthétiques, les quelques voix féminines qui voguent sur certains morceaux (Sara Ayers et Pixie), on ressent l'héritage digéré des expériences de Cabaret Voltaire ou Coil sur la musique populaire. Et dans son appropriation, delphium s'est tracé un chemin qu'il est pratiquement le seul à visiter, aux bordures épineuses et à la végétation irradiée". (Denis Boyer) (Feardrop n°10, été 2003)

D-SIDE
"Aussi inclassable qu'atypique, la musique de Jonathan Forde, alias Delphium, n'a de cesse de se renouveler et de surprendre l'auditeur par surprise, le plus souvent au sein d'un même album. Il en va de Dead on the Inside, son nouvel album réalisé pour le jeune label français Hibou, comme de ses prédécesseurs, et au fil des douze titres de Dead on the Inside, on est ballotté entre dub industriel, foisonnement d'insectes électroniques, techno tribale déconstruite et musique orchestrale, le tout dans un chambardement orchestré par des voix féminines menaçantes. Décidément réfractaire à tout assagissement, Delphium gagne au contraire en inquiétante étrangeté au fur et à mesure que les années passent... A ce rythme-là, Jonathan Forde n'est pas près de se retrouver Dead on the Inside !" (Jean-François Micard) (D-SIDE magazine, n°17, juillet-août 2003)

Independant Electronic Music
"The long awaited new Delphium album changed my view of this band again. Jonathan Forde runs Delphium solely for the 10 years. I was familiar only with his "Snowhill-X" EP released by Drone Records, but he also had some tapes, more vinyl records, and 3 CDs released by Moloko+, Fario and Outsider labels. For this new album, the new label was born - Hibou Records, it's the first release in their catalogue. The main goal of "Dead On The Inside" is that it combines very successfully brave club-oriented rhythms like drum'n'bass/clicks'n'cuts, industrial soundpalette and gothic atmosphere - it's hard to imagine these heterogeneous entities melted together, but the final work is quite expressive and completed. Some tracks using female voices and vocals that resuscitate the dead city atmosphere captured on the sleeve by the french painter. All tracks are surprisingly manifold, changing in tempo - the mood is varying from paranoid claustrophoby of "Bug Fucked" to majestic dark mass in "A Look At Tomorrow". Each piece has its own object of note: the positive/negative emotion contest evolving in "Green Lane", raw metal guitar work in "Deepwoundsbleedthorns", shizoid jazzy inflexions of "No Return"... But the common features are dark orchestral samples and groovy bassline - for what we love all Delphium works".

Gonzo Circus
Delphium - Dead On The Inside - (HIBOU)
"Zeker drie jaar hebben we erop moeten wachten, maar de vierde Delphium cd (de split met Mimetic Kino meegerekend) 'Dead On The Inside' is eindelijk een feit op het kersverse Franse label Hibou. De Brit Jonathan Forde die achter het project schuil gaat heeft altijd een hang naar het duistere gehad en giet dat meestal in een mal van mysterieuze, duistere ambient met industrial en drum 'n' bass invloeden. Deze aanpak is op de nieuwe cd nog steeds van kracht, maar het klinkt nog dreigender, angstaanjagender en vooral venijniger. De diepe ambient wordt soms overstemd door knallende drum 'n' bass-partijen, gotische orkestraties, zware muterende baslijnen en tribale ritmes. Het zou zo een jamsessie van Steroid Maximus en The Third Eye Fondation kunnen zijn. Prachtig filmische onheispellendheid!" (jwb) (Gonzo Circus 57, juni-juli 2003)

Immanence
Jonathan Forde interviewed by Gavin Lees, March 2003 (have a look at the "articles" page)

Matière Brute
"Pour sa première sortie, le tout nouveau label normand, Hibou records, nous propose le quatrième album du musicien anglais Jonathan Forde, plus connu sous le nom de Delphium. Cet album se présente comme une série de titres éclectiques, appuyés de temps à autres par des voix féminines. Le tout est néanmoins dominée par une sorte de drum & bass dénaturée par une cohorte d'effets analogiques et soutenue par des mélodies synthétiques tourmentées qui lui font prendre des atours très dark ambient. Quelques interludes aux atmosphères industrielles et claustrophobiques enferment plus encore l'auditeur dans ce petit théâtre des horreurs. Delphium est véritablement dans son élément et ne vous en laissera pas ressortir indemme. Dead on the inside n'a pas usurpé son nom". (YH) (Matière Brute 2003)

Immanence
Delphium - Dead on the Inside, Hibou Records
"Dead on the Inside is the fourth full-length release from the British act Delphium, and the first release for new French label, Hibou. It has been a few years since Delphium’s last album, Nobody Sees the Monster in the Light of Day (released in 1999 by Moloko Plus), but thankfully it has been worth the wait. Prior to hearing the full album, I had experienced a few tasters in the form of compilation tracks; “Bug Fucked” has previously appeared on Re:mote Core’s “:1” compilation and “A New April” recently appeared on This.Co’s “Thisconnected”.

After a short, spoken intro, it is “Bug Fucked” that kicks off Delphium’s latest offering in perfect style. With its “Everybody In The Place” drum loop and thundering bassline, it sets the tone perfectly for the no-nonsense, hard-edged style that they have adopted for this album; it grabs our attention and doesn’t let go until we have well and truly lost ourselves in the music’s groove. This is then followed by pitch-black ambient piece, “Them There Black Hills” which erupts with muted flares of raw noise and eventually contorting itself into “In My Final Days”. Like all the pieces on offer here, it is not an uplifting track; a dirge of slow-breaks, bass and noise, it sounds like a mechanical funeral procession, all the time offset by a furious fluttering of processed guitar.

The next track, “Thrash + Grunt” is possibly my favourite of the whole album. Starting in an almost cringe worthy synth-folk style, it suddenly pulls itself together with a tight breakbeat and a dark, but catchy string melody, all underpinned by sharp, biting electronics that lend it an IDM tinge and create an effective backbeat to the main loop, giving the track an edgy tempo. Following this, we have “A New April” which is the first track of the album to contain vocals from American singer, Sara Ayers who lends an ethnic texture to the song, perfectly complimenting the ominous soundscapes underpinning the main beat and acidic gurgles. She also contributes vocals and lyrics to the track “No Return” which is probably the closest Delphium have ever come to a pop song: a floating ethereal melody slips effortlessly over an engaging breakbeat and simplistic, yet effective bassline. While this may sound rather flat and unexciting, it works remarkably well, especially at the song’s chorus, where the break stutters and becomes more cut-up, giving the listener that “deer in the headlights” feeling as Delphium outsmart us and toy with our expectations.

Delphium have now found a full-time singer in Pixie, who contributes to one track on Dead on the Inside, the deep-bass mover, “Deepwoundsbleedthorns”. Although it is only a spoken-word role, her contribution nonetheless gives the song an added dimension and a refrain, of sorts, to further the pop sensibilities that the band are experimenting with on this album. The titular closing track, however, completely erases any glossy sheen that we may wish to attribute to the album, being as it is a nightmarish noisescape of heavy drones and screeching bursts of processed metallic strings. It re-emphasises their aggravated stance as well as showcasing their gleeful tendency to mess with the listener’s perceptions and expectations.

Dead on the Inside is, I feel, Delphium’s best, and most coherent, release to date. There is an overarching mood through every track that holds it all together and makes it much more enjoyable as a full listening experience. The vocal elements were a welcome surprise and added a lot of depth and warmth to the tracks in question. Admirers of Delphium’s previous work will adore this, as should anyone with a liking for bleak, obscure soundscapes and pounding drum ‘n’ bass beats, a la Dystopia-era Silk Saw or early Venetian Snares". (Gavin Lees) 25.03.2k3

Staalplaat
Delphium - Dead on the inside (CD by Hibou Records)
"It's been a while since we last heard from our man Delphium. We have to hark back to Vital Weekly 235 when we reviewed his previous CD on Moloko+. I have no idea why there are such lenghty gaps between his releases, but maybe it's better to have quality over quantaty. All of the elemnets found on his previous CDs (and even more 7"s and other vinyl), are present here. Sampled drums from records, sauced with his own blend of orchestral samples, dark synths and bass playing. Like I wrote before, I don't know what I should appealling of his music, as it contains all sorts of things one would normally see my digust, but maybe it's naivety of the music of Delphium. He doesn't want to make the perfect beat, the perfect drum & bass, breakcore or what have you got, but rather he wants to shred your ears to pieces with monotonous blasts of ongoing noise, that happen to take the ideas of drum & bass and breakbeat but loaded with orchestral samples and heavy guitars (like on 'Deepwoundsbleedthorns' which also carries far away female vocals). There are three tracks with female vocals, which are among the most worked out on this CD. Maybe it's even a pun on real popmusic. Seeing that this CD was already recorded three years ago, I wouldn't be too surprised if these pieces are the forecasts of a new musical direction and the other nine tracks a close down of his older style, because it carries too much similarities with his previous releases". (Staalplaat, Vital weekly n°365)

The Ceiling
DELPHIUM- Dead On The Inside CD (Hibou, France)
"This most recent Delphium CD was at one point shelved with a track here and there slipping out (including on our own Ceiling imprint), but happily the album has now been released. This release finds Delphium at their most pleasantly tuneful (collaborating with Sarah Ayers), or rhythmically abrasive, yet the entire release is ultimately very accessible". (The Ceiling mail order catalogue, May 2003)

Drone
Delphium - Dead on the inside (Hibou hib00, 2003)
"Endlich ein neuer longplayer vom DELPHIUM, hier weitaus aggressiver als bisher, wobei die dunkle Grundstimmung geblieben ist. Rauhe und mitreissend trancig-dubbige Stücke.
More agressive and powerful than before, this new album from DELPHIUM, although the dark basic-mood is still there.. raw trance-dub-industrial pieces". (Drone mail order catalogue, May 2003)

Industrial.org
"France has just witnessed the birth of a new label named Hibou with their first release being "Dead on the Inside" by Delphium. This fourth full length is said to offer up a mutated and complicated mix of "basslines, orchestral weirdness, analog urban waves and tribal grooves" while still keeping a bit of an ambient and industrial edge. The disc has 12 tracks total on offer and will set you back €13 postage paid. Hibou are also putting out the call for those interested in either wholesale lots or label trades and as an aside, they have a fairly extensive distribution section worth taking a boo at". (2003-04-24)

Ambientrance
Delphium - Dead on the Inside (Hibou - 2003)
"A new label is born, and the first offspring from French Hibou Records is the electro-industrial-esque darkness of Delphium, aka Englishman, Jonathan Forde and a few friends... like Sara Ayers, who contributes a few words.... first in spoken opener, * (0:05). The beat-riddled instrumental spray of Bug Fucked may emit throbbing bass and booming kettles, but it's hard to tell exactly what transpires. Cavernous clatter, insectoid electronic chittering and misty echoes roll from In My Final Days, followed by Thrash + Grunt whose low symphonic blurts are studded with twisty beat-patterns, the two never quite gelling.
Take a moody Look at Tomorrow through slow-moving orchestral drones... still edgy even w/o rhythms. Sassy-though-murky Deepwoundsbleedthorns growls and writhes, whilst being pummeled with half-buried percussion and echoed upon by looped vocals from Pixie. Ms. Ayers' voice then rings out over No Return's scattered drum-spatters and buzz-rippling electrons. Moaning bass strings entwine with higher strands to Invoke the Spirit (7:32) of beat-free cinemascope eerieness before the title track grunges up the closing moments with tantalizing swirls of gritty radiance. 12 tracks/51 minutes. Overall a raw, and I'm sure sincere, effort of hits-n-misses, which will be something to build upon... C+" (Ambientrance 05.21.03)

Industrial.org
Reviewed by: moron
Delphium - Dead on the Inside (Hibou)
"Delphium is somewhat of a weird bird, one moment a busy electric chicken spazzing about to broken breakbeats and weird synth mutterings while at other times a rather plain pidgeon offering little but rehashed techno derivatives in the form of lackadasical commercial flotsam. I've mostly enjoyed what I have heard but the output trend seemed to be doomed towards that boring and mediocre so this release is a welcomed kink in that downward slide. Welcomed because it offers hope even if not fully realized.

The 12 tracks here take up about 50 minutes and include enough influences to seem like a collaboration if not outright compilation. The tech step and jump up rhythms have a strong showing still but mostly dissappeared is the awkward off kilter stilt work of earlier efforts which means that little effort is required to get into these tracks (with accordingly less reward). The dancier bits don't suck exactly, there just doesn't seem to be that much effort put into them with the same extended hammerhead type break running out of breath as it tries to keep up with the far more interesting (if still monolithic) synth work. A 30 second dose in a car commercial would have you bobbing all over the place but after several minutes the lack of development is no doubt a tad disappointing to the otherwise hard working synth lines. What is a surprise however is that the many of the crappiest mainstream 12" white label influences have been traded in for of all things a large dose of ambient and textural work. By the third track the release suddenly goes in for a costume change which is a oddball mix of dark ambient and glacial digital hardcore that I rather like. The straight up beats aren't that far behind however and by the 5th track we are back into more traditional territory with some simple string work, a filtered whoosh and canned beat box beats trying to paste together what has become a troubled relationship.

There's some hate sex and emotional bounce back after that which mostly cements in the irrefutable existance here of a core dilemma: Delphium seems to either have intense dislike for or absolute fear of drum programming. Almost every rhythmic track seems to offer up but a single loop with all other efforts focussed on melodic phrasing and the odd texture. Repetition and minimalism are just dandy and can offer loads of intensity but the problem here is that the two aspects are so disproportionate to each other that anything beyond the most cursory glance shows off the seams like the most half-assed photoshop cutup job stripping out the groom from a failed marriage snapshot. Sometimes less is more and on "Dead on the Inside" if some sneaky gremlin had muted the drum tracks without Delphium's knowledge we would have a disc full of emotive and poignant pieces like the swells and tines of "A Look at Tomorrow" and "Invoke The Spirit" instead of the mediocre C- that most of the material garners. This CD should have been much better, rocking even but as much as I want to whole heartedly embrace the sounds of summer offered by it I can't convince myself that that canned margerine is actually a gifted slab of creamy butter. I just hope that somebody will help Delphium find his way back to the trick and joke shop before the next release". (2003-04-11)

Ad Noiseam
Delphium - Dead on the inside (Hibou)
"Delphium is back with a fourth album, this time mixing his infectious rhythms with mid paced crunchy dark drum'n'bass as well as interesting tones and drones. A varied, well composed and very solid album from this essential act. Recommended". (Ad Noiseam mail order catalogue, Spring 2003)

Aquese Recordings
"The 4th Delphium album was released by French label, HIBOU on March 3rd 2003. The title for the album is " Dead On The Inside ". American vocalist Sara Ayers contributes to many of the tracks as does new permanent Delphium vocalist Pixie. Soundwise; well, its 100% good tracks with 100% good production and actual proper songs. Tracklisitng is as follows: "Bug Fucked", "No Return", "New April", "Black hills", "Final Days", "A Look at Tomorrow", "Thrash + Grunt", "Deepwoundsbleedthorns", "Green Lane With delphium", "Invoke The Spirit" & "Dead On The Inside". The sound is angry and maybe more abrasive than the last album". (Aquese Recordings, March 2003)