Into the second half of the countdown for 2020 we go, with five more musical offerings more than worthy of your consideration which showcase the broad spectrum of music covered by the contemporary goth/post-punk label. Whilst the spartan bedit misanthropy of "miserygoth" and the punishing beats of synth-driven hard handbag darkwave EBM may seem to have little in common, they share a sense of the "other", a fascination with the darker aspects of the soul and an obsession with a time in the late seventies early eighties where the nihilism of punk clashed with the narcissism of glam and the modernity of the futurists to create a new musical and cultural aesthetic which has stood the test of time.
25 Rosetta Stone - Shock
Last year’s Seems Like Forever re-established Rosetta Stone
as one of the top players on the goth scene, with Porl King’s “greatest hits”
from his Miserylab project reworked and beefed up under the RS banner for
Cleopatra Records. Cryptology, Rosetta Stone’s new album of 2020, came
as a real surprise to all but the band’s closest followers when it was rush-released in the middle of the year. Although inevitably lacking some of the strength in
depth of its predecessor, whose tracks had been written over the best part of a decade, Cryptology was more homogeneous in its
approach and had several standout tracks, of which the heavily Red Lorry Yellow
Lorry influenced Shock is one, with the more minimalist (and therefore
more Miserylab) Smoke and Mirrors also outstanding.
24 Deathtrippers - Reach
The sky’s the limit for this Leeds project who play
uber-cool dancefloor-friendly gothgaze darkwave not unlike (the sadly-defunct) Holygram but with
their own unique twist. Deathtrippers issued only two new tracks in 2020,
Alive and Reach on separate compilations, but both bristled with
a rare drive and energy and hint at great things for a project whose profile is
still somewhat lower than their talent merits. Definitely one to watch. Reach,
on the Goth City Wasteland compilation, appropriately has a bit of a The Sisters of Mercy vibe with the buzzing bassline and reverb guitar riff (think Train), and purchasing
the Wasteland compilation also has the advantage of contributing to a refugee
and asylum-seeker charity.
23 Suffering For Kisses - Ashes
Seattle artist Tony D’Oporto’s Suffering For Kisses
have been one of the main proponents of the “miserygoth” strand of the genre over the past
couple of years, with the singer’s trademark deadpan delivery of lyrics of lost
love over an often hyper-minimalist backing creating a real sense of desolation
and despair, yet somehow having an uplifting effect on the listener. Gloom
doesn’t get much more lugubrious than this, and the funereal Ashes was
probably SFK’s "lowlight" of the year.
22 Dark - Nightmare
From Germany comes Dark, a new Hamburg-based project championed
by Yami Spechie which exploded onto the scene only in the summer but
immediately made waves with the hugest, hardest and darkest dancefloor beats
since the heyday of EBM in the mid-1980’s, so powerful they make Front 242
sound like Erasure in comparison. Nightmare was *the* track for bedroom
DJ’s to spin on their never-ending Twitch livestreams, with its spookily strict
beat and baritone vocal creating a real earworm of an alternative club anthem.The ensuing
mini-album showed that Nightmare was no one-off, making Dark one of the coolest
new discoveries of 2020.
21 Altar de Fey – Mercy’s Kiss
Veterans of the deathrock scene Altar de Fey continue
to raise the bar for those new to the genre. Their 2020 EP release And May Love
Conquer All release bristled with Kent Cates’ graveyard guitar, chilling
chord changes, Jake Hout’s typically histrionic vocals and a punky energy
whilst maintaining a high quality of musical and lyrical craftsmanship on one
of the most pleasing releases of the year, expertly produced by bassist Skot
Brown. Lead track Mercy’s Kiss had an intro that more than nodded in the
direction of genre kings Der Himmel Uber Berlin (who sadly didn’t release
anything in 2020) before bursting into a chorus with both a lyric and a melody
that Wayne Hussey would have been proud of.
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