"At midnight, in the month of June, I stand beneath the mystic moon." (Edgar Allan Poe)
June was traditionally a month when the music scene in the
Northern Hemisphere began to wind down towards the summer festival season, with
the university towns and their lucrative circuit of gigs closing down for the
academic year, but on the goth scene it has always been a time for significant
releases (Juju, arguably the quintessential genre-defining album, came
out in this month forty years ago), and 2021 is proving to be no exception,
with a plethora of emerging and more established artists on the current scene
releasing new music this month.
This was originally planned to be the Goth/Post-Punk Revival
blog’s second quarterly review for this calendar year, but this is already the
third batch of highlights, an acceleration purely dictated by the sheer number
of quality releases already this year as we reach its midway point. From dark pop to full-blown gothic rock,
the sub-genre niches continue to develop with ever-evolving soundscapes to
entice the listener, and this month’s round-up may be the best yet.
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1. Then Come Silence - When You’re Gone
Goth/Post-Punk Revival’s favourite current band is back with
a brand-new song part-premiered in the stunning live-streamed show from the
dungeons of the Swedish Royal Palace earlier this year. When You’re Gone
should become a staple on the playlists of alternative (and not just
exclusively goth) radio stations around the planet, with Alex Svenson’s strong
baritone vocal over a melodic post-punk soundscape with the dark duelling
guitars of Hugo Zombie and Mattias Ruejas Jonsson providing an edge to a track
which is very much in the vein of our 2020 album of the year Machine.
This Belgian post-punk band is young, original and brave – three
words not always associated with bands in the genre. After the success of debut
full-length album Image, the five-piece return with a more challenging yet
ultimately rewarding set of generally more stripped-back tracks where raw emotion is very
much to the fore. Stand-out track Vision has a typically subtle, tight
and complex song structure with a wonderfully off-kilter chorus and dramatic
climax that recalls the heady musical days of 1981, when angular chord changes
and dramatic climaxes were ten-a-penny.
Even in these mask-dominated times, I can imagine the
open-mouthed horror of elder goth gate-keepers at the inclusion of APHND in
this run-down. Doomgaze, goth grunge, stoner metal, or however you categorise
them, the band fronted by ex-Type O Negative sticksman Sal Abruscano is peerless when on top form (as on this new single) when it comes to surprisingly
uplifting doomy minor-key melancholia. So what if it has more than a hint of
classic early nineties Alice In Chains, turn this up, listen to the affirmative
mental health message of the lyrics, close your eyes and imagine that
liberating weightless feeling of crowdsurfing over a moshpit. Glance skywards,
and you might just see the late, great Peter Steele nodding along to this
appreciatively.
If Type O Negative represent the past of guitar-based goth,
Detroit duo Vazum are very much its present and future. After a series of
well-received earlier gothgaze releases with other musicians, main man Zach Pliska recruited bassist and
vocalist Emily Sturm for a couple of lockdown EPs last year celebrating
Hallowe’en and Christmas with a dark twist, taking the band’s sound in a unique
and thrilling new direction which reaches its apotheosis with the release this
week of new album V+. Combining the cool, churning, driving beat of Curve with the clashing
and occasionally cacophonously discordant guitars of Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Loved 2 Death is typical of the distinctive, full-on yet mildly
disturbing Vazum sound.
Also moving up to the A League with their latest release is another US act Nox Novacula, who mix a strong female vocal with a slightly
raspy deathrock guitar sound in a deliberately fuzzy mix, giving the impression
of a grungier, more muscular Ghost Dance, on their new album Ascension. The
title track is a great gateway to what is an impressively consistent album as a
whole, with both power and melody lending the overall sound an anthemic feel.
Veterans 1919 are back with a great new album, Citizens
of Nowhere, with UK scene regular (and album producer) Simon “Ding” Archer
replacing the equally experienced Karl Donner on bass. The recruitment of the
comparatively youthful Rio Goldhammer had brought a new energy and political
conscience to the reformed band on recent albums, and teaser single Singing to
the Universe’s radio-friendly chorus might have led some scene observers to the
conclusion that the band was aiming at a more mainstream alternative audience. However,
on tracks like TV Love, sole founder member Mick Reed’s punishing
syncopated tribal beat remains the dominant sound, reminiscent of those early
single releases which brought accusations of Killing Joke plagiarism, with
typically fine creative guitar work from Sam Evans, who keeps the spirit of the
late Mark Tighe alive within the group whilst never attempting to merely
imitate him.
The rise and rise of Bristol-born Matt Vowles’ Black Angel project
continues unabated with a third consecutive killer album entitled Prince of
Darkness. The overall sound might be so “old school” that the desks have
inkwells, but Vowles successfully resuscitates the corpse of 80’s goth with a
knowing blend of high production values, skilful songwriting and exquisite
performances, like The Sisters of Mercy’s chart-friendly Steinman productions
of the late 1980’s. Serene is typically lush, with Corey Landis’ measured vocal
multi-tracked over a lilting dark melody that creates a film noir ambiance,
drawing the listener in ever closer.
After debuting their new line-up with the single Into The
Blood at the start of the year, Belgian trio Ground Nero are back with an
even more perfect exposition of their self-proclaimed “gothic wall of sound” in
new song Promise. If there’s a better intro to any track this year I have
yet to hear it, with the wonderful deep, ringing tone of main writer Nomad’s
guitar blasting the eardrums from the opening chord, with other trademark meandering
riffs in the middle-eight. Bassist Phil keeps the beat metronomic to better
showcase the excellent lower range of the (still) mystery new singer (although
eagle-eyed viewers may have a better idea having seen this video!). Having
scored this blog’s album of the year in 2019 with Divergence, Ground
Nero will be strong contenders again this time around when they work these
full-blooded new songs into a full set.
Ashes Fallen have been on the scene for a few years now, but
have significantly upper their game on new album A Fleeting Melody Out Of A
Fading Dream, with James Perry’s vocals much stronger than on previous releases
and the ubiquitous Gordon Young’s crystal sharp mastering adding extra layers
of depth to the overall sound. Lead single Vampira gave a glimpse of the
increased production values which have added an extra gloss the band’s overall
image, style and sound, moving them closer to Black Angel territory.
With their Sisters-referencing name this band (a kind of
Oakland supergroup featuring members of Otzi and Cruz de Navajas amongst
others) were always onto a winner in my eyes, and there is some of the charm of
the early Sisters’ habit of building a song round simple and repeated riffs, although
in truth the overall sound of The Knife is more reminiscent of punkier
female-fronted bands like Brigandage and Xmal Deutschland which can surely only
be a good thing.
Naming bands after my all-time favourite songs is clearly
becoming a thing, although there’s not an obvious Magazine influence on this band
from the beautiful Norwegian coastal town of Molde. New single Closed Eyes
is typical of their modern wave sound which they appropriately describe as
“optimistic melancholy”, with vibes of The Cure, Holygram and fellow countrymen Mayflower Madame along the way.
Another one for fans of The Sisters of Mercy, Hallowed
Hearts take the mood and (why not?) the melody of all-era goth classic Marian
as the basis for the stark upbeat gothgaze of new single Supernova, the
lead track of the New York band’s excellent five track EP, which also features
their take on a song well-known to fans of The Sisters’ 90’s incarnation, Pink
Floyd’s Comfortably Numb.
Argentinian duo Dresden follow-up their successful 2020 debut
EP La Revelacion del Vacio with another EP Ignis Era, whose lead
track Inevitable is drenched in the archetypal 2020’s heavily
reverberated Cure-esque guitar tone popularised by Antipole, embellished here with
mid-tempo goth rock which contains all the usual elements, from breathy
low-in-the-mix vocals to occasional swirls of synth.
Little Mouse is the first track pre-released from Oakland
band Esses’ forthcoming LP, Bloodletting For The Lonely, which has the unbeatable
deathrock credentials of being produced by the legendary Skot B and being
released on Poland’s Bat-Cave label. Little Mouse is exactly the kind of energetically shouty unsettling deathrock punk one would expect from the band, with all the
loose edges mercifully left intact.
Back to the East Coast for another band who put the punk into
post-punk. Vertigo is the opening song of 149’s self-titled debut EP and
from the opening riff which borrows heavily from Killing Joke’s Pssyche,
the track is a thrillingly low-fi electropunk ride. The rest of the
EP fulfils the promise of the opener, albeit a little less breathlessly,
allowing for a little more light and shade into a sound that is definitely
zeitgeist-capturing.
Fans of trad goth rock will lover this new track from Scandanavian goth'n'roll scene
veteran Rob Coffinshaker’s current project, with the Swede in fine crooning
form over another song which leans heavily on Steinman-era Sisters. Retro? -
yes, uncomplicated? - yes, shamelessly unoriginal? – yes, but there’s a great foot-tapping chorus, some classic
riffing and a timeless feel to a track that is quintessentially goth.
It wouldn’t be a proper Goth/Post-Punk Revival blog round-up
if it didn’t contain an excellent new release from the ever-prolific New Mexico
one-man band Slow Danse With The Dead. Although the usual melancholy,
semi-deadpan vocal is very much on display on Forget Me Not, the minimalist
misery-goth sound has been fleshed out with some plaintive echoing guitar in a
pleasing new direction from a project which never fails to deliver.
Ósýnileg is the second single of the year from
Icelandic ice queens Kaelan Mikla, whose journey towards global dark synthpop
world dominance continues with a frankly somewhat dull and saccharine-coated
song which has more in common with the production heavy likes of Strawberry
Switchblade and Dubstar than their own raw and energetic early efforts,
although the main repeated one-finger synth motif means that the sound is still instantly
recognisable as Kaelan Mikla.
If Kaelan Mikla’s crown seems to be slipping somewhat, into
the breach storm UK act New Haunts with their debut for seminal label Cold
Transmission Records, Still Dark Sky. The title track is effortlessly
cool dark electro, mixing a breathy and occasionally pitchy Alice Sheridan vocal with a
deceptively simple haunting melody over an eminently dark and danceable beat.
20. Dark – In The Shadows
Hamburg-based alternative dancefloor champion Dark is back with another killer synth riff and accompanying beautifully shot video with In The Shadows. The very epitome of the current club-based electro-goth sound, In The Shadows again features an ultra-bass male vocal over a 160 bpm backing, carrying on the great work of last year’s debut EP Nightmare.
