Reviews
5/X/00
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ASTRAL GREY "Dreams Make Girls Blue Here"
/ (p)99 Cydonia Productions
This american band, that consists of 4 members, was created in 1997. The
first two years were devoted to forming of a stable line-up, rehearsing and
playing in local clubs and pubs. In 1999 the guys finally thought it was
high time and without hesitation recorded their debut EP with an idiot name
"Dreams Make Girls Blue Here". What they wanted to say with this for me
still remains a secret, but a fact is a fact: the CD is the the first
release by the newbie label Cydonia Productions. I would say, if they go on
releasing such stuff, they are unlikely to live through.
Well, back to the CD. It represents a 26 minute long mini-album, that
consists of 5 songs. The only plus is the design - quite stylish, though not
original at all - horrible evil forest in deep blue. There is a double
layout booklet inside, and on it's inner side there are photos of the
musicians with secret "you-should-know-who-we-are" faces. I would mention
music last of all, because in the best case you won't notice it at all, and
in the worst you would think: "why I wasted 25 minutes of my precious time
listening to this american bubble-gum?" "Music" implies primitive
middle-tempo gothic (?) rock (a question mark means I haven't notoced
anything gothic there , though the "secret" appearence of the musicians on
the photo gives a hint they are "kinda goth", then the music they do should
be considered gothic as well) without a trace of originality and any special
spark. Total horror. Of course, there is no use to speak about "hits".
Although, the back cover and the booklet kindly invite us to visit official
Astral Grey site for mp3s and additional information. In case you've got
nothing to do, you can go there. It should be more exciting than listening
to this "work of art".
Sergey Merenkov
GLAMPIRE "The Heraldic Universe" / (p)00 Glampire Musesick
Cool stuff! This album was born in nowhere land, where guitar goth flirts
with bubble gum glam rock, and electronic new wave of the 80's copulates
with post-punk. A hard-to-classify mix of all the above mentioned styles
seasoned with cyber dressing plus slightly paranoid androgine vocals with
Robert Smith-like intonations - everything (including recording and
producing) was a fruit of impetuous imagination and concentratd brain effort
of one single human being, that calls himself Glampire and dwells in the
hostile land of America. "The Heraldic Universe" is one of the most unusual
and talented goth debuts of 2000, so the conclusion will be: hurry up, there
where I bought this album still were some CD left.
Anton Obozny
GOTHICA "Proserpina" / (p)98 Demo
An ideal name for a band, GOTHICA - so simple and so exquisite, isn’t it? At last such idea came to someone.
This demo arrived from Italy, and, despite the specific name of the band and the sleeve design (pre-Raphaelites, huh),
I had very serious apprehensions for the music they play, because it was written in the press-release that at the moment
they were recording the “Night Thoughts” album, which would be distributed by the Swedish label Cold Meat Industry - that’s hopeless, I thought, there will inevitably be spooky tambourines and pipes. But luckily I was mistaken: GOTHICA appeared to be a very gothic ethereal neo-folk. Being the second demo of the band (the first one titled “GOTHICA” was released in 1995), “Proserpine” is a solid musical canvas. The core of the collective is made up by two people, Roberto del Vecchio (keyboards, vocals, bass guitar and percussion) and Alessandra Santovito (vocals, keyboards, percussion and ethnical instruments). They are assisted by a small orchestra: flute, oboe, violin, guitar etc. Sometimes they remind ATARAXIA, sometimes, DEAD CAN DANCE. Alessandra is a very good vocalist and she can use her voice very professionally, from time to time singing at the front, attracting all the attention to the vocals, or performing monotonous chants, that accompany the hypnotizing whispering vocals of Roberto. In fact, the abovementioned songs are interwoven on the demo, an energetic neo-folk track with leading female vocals is inevitable followed by a monotonous ambient-ethereal song with leading male vocals. To tell the truth, I liked songs with Alessandra singing much more, some of them are 100% dark ethereal hits, so I’m looking forward to listening to their debut CD, hope it will be even better.
coroner
http://mir.spaceports.com/~gothica
MARA'S TORMENT "Across For Show" / (p)98 Rik MacLean
MARA'S TORMENT is a project of a man called Rik MacLean from Toronto
(Canada), founded by him in the beginning of 1997 and developing
successfully since then. One might say Rik's music can't be called
life-asserting and joyous, though he is a man with a sound sense of humor,
for only such individual can expatiate in his biography page on who's is the
best guy in "Star Trek" series and what music journalists like to read on
bands' homepages.
"Across for show" is Rik's 2nd album, released by him, as well (Baby Bat Boy
Productions - another 'serious' name for a firm). A successful release, in
an absolutely crazy artwork and in quality content. The content is the
following - slow melancholic electronic ambient, at times mixed by mid-tempo
light dark-electro tracks, not letting the listener get bored or moreover
fall asleep at melodic synthesizer modulations. The average length of each
song is about six minutes and the songs are rather diverse. The disc
contains an energetic nameless 'hidden track' as a bonus.
The given disc will be not only up to ambient fans taste but also to
dark-electro fans, who might find it rather interesting. To crown it all,
the release is suitable for a broad audience of melancholic listeners and
those sympathized with them.
Sergey Merenkov
http://www.corpusnet.com/torment
MARA'S TORMENT "The Barrier Of Skin" / (p)99 Rik MacLean
The 3rd disc of Canadian project MARA'S TORMENT appeared to be even more
interesting than the previous one. This time Rik MacLean decided to put his
electronic ambient on the background and put melancholic, thoughtful and
peaceful electro, with interesting rhythms and remarkable melodies forward.
One should note, that it didn't influence the overall atmosphere of the
album - the same light melancholy covering the listener during 67 minutes of
playing time, but it did a lot of good to the rhythmic and tempo of the
album. If previous disc can be advised to melancholic fans, the third
creation of Rik will suit 'light electro' fans, and it's not negative, but
rather positive, as the music has become more diverse and interesting for
the broader audience, than just quality ambient fans. Undoubtedly progress
and real success of "The Barrier Of Skin" makes us hope, that Mr. Rik's 4th
album will be more interesting and more diverse, than all his successful
predecessors. Time will tell, whether my forecasts are right or not and it's
going to be very soon, because the 4th and yet untitled album is on the way,
ready to see the light probably this year, so there's not much time left for
us to wait...
Sergey Merenkov
http://www.corpusnet.com/torment
A MURDER OF ANGELS "While You Sleep" / (p)99 Middle Pillar Presents
One of the first releases by Middle Pillar Presents label was a joint
project by Bryin Dall (LORETTA'S DOLL, 4TH SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE AND THEE
MAJESTY)and Derek Kush (DREAM INTO DUST). If the names of the main projects
of these two individuals tell you something, then you must have understood
the style they play; if you have not, I inform you, it's dark ambient.
Blood-red cover, evil black forest, headstones and crosses - the design says
there will be no compromise. You should listen to such a Cd in total
darkness, what I actually did. I won't say I am too impressive, but it
provided unquiet sleep. The album is called "While You Sleep" not without a
reason, it is really a soundtrack to dreams, or, better, to nightmares -
door creaking, wind rustling in the trees, water trickling in the dungeon,
sounds of something creeping and awful snuffling, that haunts you and it is
so horrible you have not got the guts to look back and to face it. Sounds
of Lovecraft: monsters crawling under the ground, you can only hear them,
cause their appearence will drive you insane. It's really scary music that
creates an atmosphere of evil. If you listen to it, like me, in total
darkness, then human voice, normal quiet human voice that appears in the
middle of the album in "Melting Across the Night", will make you shudder and
send shivers up your spine. It's one of the most powerful and gloomy albums
I've ever heard.
coroner
http://www.middlepillar.com/mpp/mpp998/index.html
THE RAINE "The Raine" / (p)00 Demo
Did you ever think why THE CURE gained such gigantic popularity, compared to other early gothic rock/post punk bands, with whom they started? It is common knowledge that SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES, BAUHAUS, SISTERS OF MERCY had no less hits than they, but their popularity is nothing against that one of THE CURE. I think their success was firstly due to their fairly pop sound, which enabled them to have so many fans not only in the gothic scene, but also among vast masses of people. Why am I asking? Because, in my opinion, an American band THE RAINE is a decent shift for old geezers THE CURE. The trio THE RAINE plays very pop ethereal gothic rock with male vocals which, if served right, can be consumed by a very large audience. At writing the band is recording a demo and plays in gothic clubs, but I think there’s a good future in front of them.
coroner
TAPPING THE VEIN "Undone" / (p)99 Selfreleased
The term "gothic music" is vague indeed - everyone has his own criteria of
gothic music. If I didn't know TAPPING THE VEIN were considered a gothic
band in their native Philadelphia, I would never guess it. Yes, their music
is dark enough and with it romantically depressive, but if to parallel, one
can characterize TTV as a mixture of SNEAKER PIMPS, GARBAGE, GUANO APES è
PORTISHEAD - you know what I mean - a kind of alternative electronic
pop-rock with female vocals. Plenty of electronics on the one hand, and on
the other - a powerful rock basis plus trip-hop elements and remarkable
hysteric and melancholically melodious female vocals. To my mind, if
professionally promoted, TAPPING THE VEIN could possibly become alternative
scene stars like GARBAGE or GUANO APES. As the band lacks promotion, they
have to be content with a cult status of a local gothic scene. On the whole,
that is a superior disc (unfortunately too short - only 6 tracks, total
running time: 24 minutes), but I'm still not sure of its being really
gothic. Actually, it's not that important whether it's a gothic music or
not, but it's strange why the band presents itself as gothic formation. But
if style frames make no difference to you, I assume TAPPING THE VEIN has a
chance to become one of the major discs in your collection.
coroner
VEIN "Glorious" / (p)00 Selfreleased
This album arrived from Minneapolis, USA. VEIN (as far as I understand, it consists of one person with a few session musicians) plays melancholic infernal gothic rock. The influence of the classics like THE CURE, CHRISTIAN DEATH and SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES is evident, although there are a few post-industrial fragments. In general, all tracks are quite good; each performs a mature musical creation with backing whispering vocals and sad gothic music, but the album on the whole is not a candy to listen: each and every track sounds spooky, just try to imagine how the entire albums sounds - very dull and boring. From my point of view, there are good musical ideas, but they should be diluted with dynamic and rhythmic songs. It would do nothing but good.
coroner
http://vein.lordsofdarkness.com
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