When Xymox was known as the Clan of Xymox in the mid-1980s, the Amsterdam group's Euro-gothic music was very underground. But things were different in the early 1990s, when Xymox was making an effort to escape its obscurity and be more commercial. There were those who labeled Phoenix as the work of a band that had sold out, but while eerie, high-tech tunes such as "Smile Like Heaven," "Written in the Stars" and "Mark the Days" are slicker and more pop-minded than Xymox's mid-1980s work, they're far from bad. The gloominess and overtly European qualities that had characterized early Xymox remained, though Xymox was definitely thinking in terms of the pop-rock audience. Phoenix may not be the most original CD in the world, but that doesn't prevent it from being consistently enjoyable.