November, the month of mists and decay, always brings a bountiful harvest of new releases hoping to avoid being lost in the pre-Christmas rush and instead be uppermost in reviewers’ minds when selecting the year’s highlights, and this year has been no exception. In addition to the welcome official release of a fabulous Red Lorry Yellow Lorry live set from 1985 and a more recent gig recording by fellow Leeds act Salvation, the global underground dark music scene continues to flourish in its various sub-genres, and this month’s selections (largely by well-established acts) represent another eclectic mix of talents, all worthy of future exploration.
1) Reptyle - Timeworn
The Bielefeld goth rock band are back with a new album and a new singer whose range and tone is pleasingly similar to The Cascades’ M W Wild. The overall vibe is of a more tuneful Fields of the Nephilim, with familiar arpeggioed guitar sounds dominating a multi-layered trad goth rock effect.
2) Vampyrean - Blood Countess
The new album from ex Nosferatu main man Vlad Janicek does what it says on the tin, with the project name and song titles a clear indication of the vampire goth rock within. No major surprises, but tracks like Blood Countess are simply professionally done if somewhat derivative trad goth.
3) The Necromancers Union - Crossing The Line
Matt Vowles’ Black Angel project has brought Cult-influenced light goth metal back to the fore, and The Necromancers Union plough a similar if rockier furrow on their new release. They specialise in powerful 80's/90's goth rock that's well-played and well-produced, with Crossing The Line a prime example.
4) Rhombus – You Depend On You
One of the most reliable acts on the UK goth scene over the past decade, Rhombus stick with the tried and trusted alternating male/female vocal style on their classic 90’s gothic rock sound, with shades of the slightly off-kilter passages beloved of late 80’s US act Caterwaul. Bandcamp link
5) Temple - Ritual
From Portland, Oregon come Temple, playing a new wave deathrock that combines the energy and drive of punk with some angular riffage and tribal bass and drumming on Ritual for a powerful overall effect on their new release on the always reliable Swiss Dark Nights label.
6) Lucida Fila – Stigmata
After the Iggyesque The Passenger dark groove of previous single Sinister, Mexican trad goth act Lucida Fila are back with another track from their excellent Screams of the Damned album, the more lyrical Stigmata, filmed in the Real Under, again showcasing their guitars/synth/over-the-top baritone/bass/drums line-up to full effect.
7) Diavol Strain - Herz der Niemand
Trailing the excellent new album finally released at the end of the month, Diavol Strain rock their more restrained, Xmal Deutschland-influenced sound on the stunning yet disturbing video for Herz der Niemand, featuring guitarist Ignacia Strain’s wonderfully inventive guitar work alongside Lau’s chugging bass and foghorn vocal.
8) Dolorio & los Tunantes – Cara & Sello
The first album for five years from the eclectic Chilean band features a suitably bewildering variety of styles, as on lead track Cara y Sello which features an almost funky Magazine backing with added slaloming deathrock guitar, with an alternative arthouse refreshingly gothic trope-free chic reminiscent of les Rita Mitsouko.
9) Black Veils - See You At My Funeral
This Italian band play an intense driving style of post-punk that is typical of their nation’s current act, and the echoing death rock guitar on See You At My Funeral adds an extra dimension to what could otherwise be a somewhat generic sound.
10) Noktva – In Deep
Italian band Noktva have arrived with a splash thanks to a fantastic guitar sound on their breakthrough album, with the pulsating beat of the lead post-punk track In Deep rattling along with the power and energy of Modern English’s 16 Days.
11) Shadowhouse - Nowhere To Run
Shadowhouse is a Portland Oregon based post-punk act who construct a wonderfully-layered sound which has echoes of the melodic intensity of 80’s legends The Chameleons, with a soaring, chiming guitar sound pushing songs like Nowhere To Run ever forward.
12) Smurno – Sklo
Sierpien Records have a great reputation for unearthing impressive new (to western ears) post-punk projects, and their release this month of the debut EP from Ukrainian band Smurno (originally released earlier this year) is a typically enticing example
13) 7 Rainbows In Exile – What Dreams Are Made For
From Serbia comes 7 Rainbows In Exile, another post-punk project which harks back to the reverberating brilliance of bands like The Sound and Comsat Angels, with simple but powerfully effective guitar lines, no-nonsense eight-to-the-bar basslines and distant vocals combining to impressive effect on an album (Twilight Gymnastics) released by Brazilian label Wave Records.
14) Klammer - Broken Dreams In A Crashing Car
The Leeds post-punk band are back with a new single on a new label, but with their Gang Of Four influenced syncopated instincts intact The chorus’ straighter new wave guitar lines are a pleasing counterpoint to the jerkier verse on Broken Dreams In A Crashing Car from a band which never fails to impress.
15) SDWTD - Black and Blue
Black and Blue, the latest offering from the New Mexico based miserygoth project has a Cure-esque gloomy yet up-tempo intro before broadening out into a potentially more positive vibe thanks to a somewhat unlikely xylophone solo, although the customary deadpan vocal brings the usual sense of impending melancholy which the growing legion of SDWTD fans.
16) Aux Animaux - Haunted
Haunted is a particularly apposite title for this excellent slice of synth-based spookwave from Stockholm based solo act Aux Animaux. Over a well-crafted swirlingly atmospheric backdrop, a plaintive guitar riff accompanies a breathy, ethereal female vocal to create a dancefloor filling triphop delight with a suitably chilling accompanying video.
17) Anne Marie - Into The Light
There’s every chance that Anne Marie’s excellent album Illusion States will be largely overlooked, partly because of an uninspiringly sketchy album sleeve that gives no clue as to its contents, but also because of an artist name for which several others are already well-known, on the goth as much as on the mainstream scene. Which is a real pity, as Into The Light demonstrates, a beautifully sculpted ethereal treat which features spangly Cocteau Twins guitar arpeggios and vocals before bursting into a spacier chorus. Another great Swiss Dark Nights discovery.
18) Aspect Noir - Malefactor
Yet another Swiss Dark Nights artist, Aspect Noir could not be more different from Anne Marie despite also featuring female vocals. There’s a rudimentary low-fi appeal to their Kas Product-style goth punk on Malefactor, featuring simple guitar and vocals in unison throughout in a song whose raw energy offers something different from the scene norms.
19) Velvet Vega – My Desire
This is getting embarrassing, yet another Swiss Dark Nights treat. My Desire is a full-on 90’s-style dark disco classic, an electrogoth stomper in the style of Dark’s Nightmare crossed with the brilliant cover of The Sisters of Mercy’s Poison Door by Years of Denial on the recent tribute album on Unknown Pleasures.
20) Ghastly Shadows – We Belong To The Night
Staying in the world of the alternative club scene, Ghastly Shadows’ We Belong To The Night has probably the most nagging, catchiest earwork of an opening classic 80’s synth riff you’ll hear this year, with the John’s breathy, spoken vocal the perfect complement to the metronomic beats and sequenced synths.
Bonus selection: Loop - Halo
Loop were an incredible breath of fresh air in the mid/late
80’s when the goth scene’s rich creative seam seemed to have reached an end, along
with the likes of Spacemen 3, with a thematic introspection and guitar-based
musical heritage that appealed to the similarly long-haired black-clad goth
audience, and their influence on scenes as varied as shoegaze and grunge cannot
be overestimated. This month’s comeback single Halo is not a million
miles removed from dark-psych drone-based pedal-drenched classics like
Collision, and although like many of the releases featured here (in this most
eclectic of months for new music) not falling strictly speaking within the formal
genres normally covered by this blog, will nevertheless still appeal to many
fans of the current scene.
No comments:
Post a Comment