With the live scene continuing to flourish once more after two years of effective hibernation, there have been noticeably fewer cancellations and bigger crowds returning to venues, and it is pleasing to report that there has seemingly been a simultaneous fruition of talent on the release front, with a veritable cornucopia of goth/post-punk delicacies to choose from. This month’s rundown begins with some top quality new releases from some of the leaders of the current wave, but there is also the usual healthy smattering of new faces, returning long-lost friends and a few outstanding new collaborations to enjoy in addition. For fans of older projects from the original wave, April saw new tribute albums to both Bauhaus and Tones on Tail/Love and Rockets, and further new live unreleased songs premiered by The Sisters of Mercy, but none of these feature in this month's selection.
1.
The Waning Moon – Talisman
The long-awaited debut EP from the new side-project of
Kentucky Vampires’ guitarist Zac Campbell and Ariel Maniki (frontman of the Cost Rican act Ariel Miniki and the Black Halos), The Waning Moon, finally arrived
this month and didn’t disappoint with four tracks of well-crafted old school
1990’s trad goth rock, in the style of Nosferatu/Rosetta Stone and co. Opener Talisman begins with a lively synth theme
that would not be out of place on a dancefloor-oriented Suspiria or Angels of
Liberty track, although the classic guitar riffs and dramatic “kingdom come”
vocals hint more at mid-period The Mission. Look out for an exclusive interview on this blog this coming week!
2.
Mark E Moon – Blacklight
Lux Vindictae is the fantastic new gothic darkwave EP
from Isle of Man band Mark E Moon, with lead track Blacklight
highlighting singer Mark Sayle’s strong baritone croon and Phil Reynolds’
intricate arrangement: the twangy bass, shimmering guitar tone and synth swirls
create a beautiful sonic tapestry which hints at the band’s range, which is
fully explored over the six track mini-album, with the promise of a further new album later in 2022.
3.
Black Angel – Intoxicated
Matt Vowles’ Black Angel project can seemingly do no wrong,
dropping this month their fourth excellent album The Black Rose, which
is stuffed to the gills with great tunes, superb arrangements and performances
and the usual masterful production. Intoxicated is built around a strongly The
Cult influenced riff and relies as usual on a great vocal performance by Corey
Landis in both his lower and upper registers. Nothing staggeringly innovative,
just 100% premier cru trad goth rock from this project which sets the standards for earworm melodies and professional production values in everything they undertake.
4.
Blood Dance - Burn Slow
There’s a strong Floodland influence on the new single from
Mexico City’s Blood Dance, which features guest artist Bari-Bari of Mephisto
Walz/Christian Death fame. A classic goth bassline, pleasingly familiar guitar
and keyboard infills and a strong melody make this one of the month’s more
catchy releases (although changing the title to the key lyric Death Comes
Singing You A Lullaby might have helped).
5.
Malefixio – La Sombra
Goth overload alert! Fabulous new video single from
Barcelona’s Malefixio, with the promise of an album to follow. Wonderfully
scuzzy sheets of chopped ASF batcave guitar from Jordi, Mauricio’s buzzing
eight-to-the-bar bass over a hypnotic drum machine dancefloor beat, and Eva
LadyStardust’s Xmal-esque echoing vocal gothic punk combine for turkey-trotting
future club classic whose seemingly irony-free procession of deathrock tropes on
the accompanying video hints at a project steeped in the genre’s history.
6.
Lifeless Past – Miles Away
The Dutch gothic post-punk act Lifeless Past's new single Miles Away starts
with a wonderful high-tempo goth rock opening with a strong guitar tone (definitely Intro of the Month!) before
twisting into Diavol Strain influenced contortions for the verse section,
lending their timeless sound a contemporary feel.
7.
Temple Solar – Bitter Love
From Chile comes occult goth rock act Temple Solar, whose City
EP features six strong tracks of original trad goth, such as Bitter Love,
a biker goth epic which rumbles along at a decent pace much in the style of The
Hunters Club but with greater subtlety. The band will be opening for the legendary Euroshima at their Santiago show in May.
8.
Who saw her die? - For The Kill
Louisville duo Who saw her die? show no sign of slowing up
their phenomenal workrate with yet another new release. Featuring their unique
echoing lugubrious multi-tracked vocal over a buzzing eight to the bar bass but
this time with shimmering guitars and synths, For The Kill retains an
Eldritchian sensibility whilst seeing the band exploring a broader musical
palette.
9.
Echoes of Silence - Around
One of the strongest and most consistent albums this month
is Too Late, the 5th full-length set from Rome’s Echoes of
Silence, released on the ever-reliable Icy Cold label. Featured track and album
opener Around kicks off an eclectic album in style, featuring some
positive-punk tribal drumming and a sneering vocal in the style of The Three
Johns or PiL, combining simple heavy metal riffage with punk energy.
10.
A Place To Bury Strangers – Dragged In
A Hole
APTBS have been one of the most critically-acclaimed names
on the US alternative for the best part of two decades and the intensity and
authenticity of their distorted shoegaze post-punk noise rock has not changed
one iota in the meantime, influencing many bands on the current wave scene in
the process. The FX-drenched psychedelic garage punk of Dragged In A Hole,
the latest video of many to accompany new album See Through You sees APTBS
at their most uncompromisingly nihilistic on an all-enveloping JAMC-esque scuzzfest.
11.
Murderbait – Lost
The new album Nostalgia for Cancer from Portland-based
Murderbait is a treat for fans of dark psych, although their unique sound also
includes elements of shoegaze, krautrock and goth prog over tracks that meander
pleasantly for seven or eight minutes with a loose “live in the studio” vibe.
Singer Casey Logan’s hauntingly emotive vocals have a melancholic Jim Morrison
feel at times on an accomplished release which is worthy of detailed
exploration.
12.
Tombs - Ex-Oblivion
Brooklyn band Tombs describe their sound as “atmospheric
black metal”, but there’s an undeniably gothic doom crossover aspect to their
new single, the HP Lovercraft-inspired Ex-Oblivion, a punishing assault on the
senses that harks back to Neurosis’ darker, more introspective material around
the turn of the 1990’s. Not for the faint-hearted!
13.
Chemical Waves featuring Ductape – Kara
Buyu
Operating in similar territory to Kill Shelter, Marco
Cattani’s synth-based project returns with another album of superb wave
soundscapes enhanced by some of the scene’s leading lights, including 2021
breakthrough artists like Mirror of Haze and Ductape, as well as both more
established (Night Nail) and more obscure artists. The Ductape collaboration is
the standout, with Cagla’s dark contralto vocal to the fore in a moody piece
featuring heavily reverbed guitar lines and a stark electro beat.
14.
Astari Nite – Ashtray Ballet
Astari Nite specialise in building epic dark dancefloor
floorfillers in the style of 90's legends London After Midnight, and Ashtray
Ballet is a perfect example of the genre. The Florida act combine the
knowing gothic soundscapes of Clan of Xymox with an emotional vocal which
evokes the camp melancholy of 80’s groups like Soft Cell and The Pet Shop Boys.
15.
Death Loves Veronica (ft Tim Skold) – When
I Was Dead
Veronica Campbell’s latest opus features her strong, breathy
vocal (not unlike Garbage’s Shirley Manson) very prominently on most tracks
including an extended version of this recent single, which has the expected
sparse electro-industrial Numanesque vibe before Tim Skold plugs in to take the
track in an inevitably heavier direction, with his power-chords and string-bending off-kilter deathrock
riffs enhancing a wonderfully swaggering Marilyn Mansonesque chorus.
16.
Night Sins – Kill Like I Do
Kyle Kimball of Nothing’s solo project is back with the
tongue-in-cheek post-punk cool of opening single Kill Like I Do, a great
combination of gothic tropes (including the comically funereal vocal on the
chorus), the grungy riffs, and low-fi production.
17.
Closed Mouth – We Should Know
The prolific Yann Rault returns with a new album of
claustrophobic but beautifully constructed dark coldwave. Using Faith and
Pornography era Cure as a starting point, Rault builds lush but dark dystopian
atmospheric soundscapes with his trademark distant echoing vocals on tracks
that also this time have a more epic prog rock influence.
18.
Curses - Miriam
The 1980’s first wave of goth/post-punk was littered with
songs with a one-word girl’s name title (Alice/Severina/Isobel/Marian/etc) and Berlin-based
band Curses continue the tradition with Miriam, with a familiar epic chorus
which adds some synth glitter to a more traditional goth/post-punk sound, a
track from their new album Incardine.
19.
Dead Objectives –
Wolves Among The Flock
Hailing from the North-West of England, Dead Objectives' gothic punk sound combines an angry political vocal with trad goth instrumentation and should appeal to fans of the likes of New Model Army and The Levellers. There was a strong political anti-establishment element to a lot of the early artists now labelled as goth (before the bats and vampires theme took over), and Dead Objectives hark back to those anarcho-goth beginnings with style.
20.
Sun’s Signature – Golden Air
The very welcome return of Cocteau Twins’ chanteuse Liz
Fraser, whose golden-tonsilled genius sprinkles ethereal fairydust as she leaps
effortlessly between the octaves in her inimitable style on this experimentally
frothy track which opens out into an unexpectedly full and spangly prog chorus
complete with freeform jazz guitar noodlings. Wonderfully uplifting, but in truth few
vestiges of her gothic past remain. Wax and Wane it ain't!
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