We’ve finally reached this year’s Goth/Post-Punk Revival Top
20 of 2020, and all the remaining projects are to be congratulated on putting together music of such high quality that selecting just the one track for this countdown
was a real dilemma, and in many cases the identity of the chosen song changed
several times between draft and publication. Just the first two tracks alone
show the diversity of sounds available within this broad third wave of the
goth/post-punk scene, but all selections share a commitment to musical
perfection which was evident in so much new music this year.
20 Slow Danse With The Dead – One Tear Drop
New Mexico-based solo project Slow Danse With The Dead
released an almost bewildering range of releases in 2020, from work-in-progress
to quality compilations like the self-titled (and quickly sold out) cassette
release. Firmly in the “miserygoth” genre, SDWTD’s lugubrious baritone vocal
and maudlin lyrics take the listener on a journey deep into the soul. Songs
like the funereal He Speaks Too Much recall Suffering For Kisses at
their best, whilst One Tear Drop has the simplicity and raw edges of mid-period
Joy Division.
19 The Black Capes – Welcome To The Necroclub
Greek goth rockers The Black Capes promise unapologetically
metallic goth rock with a capital “G--- R---”. Lead singer Alex S Wamp has a
voice deep and powerful enough to dominate proceedings, and the excellent
production on the album helps to elevate its sound above the genre norm. For
the single release of Welcome To The Necroclub, The Black Capes recruited
additional vocal support from Brandon (Sonsombre), Abbas (The Kentucky
Vampires), Nikolaou (Cold Remembrance) and Veronica (Death Loves Veronica),
further raising their profile on the goth scene.
18 The Secret French Postcards – Kiss Away
More exquisite perfection from Swedish band The Secret
French Postcards, whose album Colours whilst not spectacularly
different from their previous releases, served as the best statement yet of their
musical vision. Drenched in sumptuous guitars and with the velvet tonsils of Olli
Ohlander weaving dreampop tales of love and loss, each song, like Kiss Away
featured here, is perfectly executed and brilliantly produced by Pedro Code.
Fans of melodic post-punk bands like The Chameleons will love the reassuring warm
embrace of the goth lite aesthetic of one of 2020’s most consistent albums.
17 Shadow Assembly - Plaything
After his 2019 collaboration Ghostcrawl with Brandon Pybus (Sonsombre), Michael Louis worked with a wider variety of vocalists this year for his second album under the Shadow Assembly banner. This enabled him to paint with a broader musical palette, in particular on standout track Plaything featuring the ethereal vocals of Marselle Hodges on one of the strongest melodies of the year (warning: you’ll be humming this chorus for months). One YouTube commenter said that it sounds like Kate Bush fronting Rosetta Stone….now there’s an idea for a collaboration!
16 Byronic Sex & Exile- Eternity
If Andrew Eldritch was the undisputed Leeds Godfather of
Goth in the 1980’s, that title has surely passed to the ubiquitous Joel Heyes,
whose excellent one man goth act Byronic Sex & Exile released the
stunning Cu Foc album in 2020. Whilst not entertaining his many social
media followers with tales of workplace woes or medical mishaps, the organiser
of the Goth City festival is a keen student of Transylvanian history and
culture, which was the inspiration for this BS&E album. Final track Eternity
was a heady mix of Black Sabbath and Bauhaus at their most
bucolic/acoustic, with that goth torch song vibe that Nick Cave has tried and
failed to accomplish over his lengthy solo career. Heyes’ candle-lit one-man
bedsit performances were one of the lockdown musical highlights, and live shows
in 2021 will be unmissable.
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