Reviews: gothic

(deathrock / (dark)wave / postpunk)

Collection d`Arnell Andrea – The Bower of Despair

The first thing that you will hear while listening to this new album by Collection D’Arnell Andrea is the prominent role for the (rock) guitar. The Bower of Despair is very much a gothic rock record. The ethereal wave aspects are still to be found in the songs but the 80’s gothic rock influences can not be denied…

Dust Fear of Lover – Drop-out

The second cd-r I hear of Dust Fear of Lover, an Italian band with a dirty retro sound with postpunk and gothic rock influences. Claustrophobic , raw and lo-fi music, reminding of early Jesus & Mary Chain, with a great deal of distortion. Perhaps no coincidence that a succeeded J&MC cover is present on this album (‘Head’)…

V/A – Strobelights vol. 2

Already the second edition in the Strobelights series. As with the first cd you will get club classics and forgotten tracks in the gothic, deathrock, batcave and post-punk genres. This time well-known acts like Sex Gang Children, Mephisto Walz and Play Dead have contributed a track. A bit more modern sounds are produced by the melancholic rockband Passion Play…

Weegs, The – Meat The Weegs

This band really plays some crazy punk music. Although The Weegs might be put in the same corner as bands like Sixteens, Vanishing and The Phantom Limbs, their music is really different. On Meat The Weegs you will hear some dark (post-) punk music fused with electronics. Raw guitar sounds and screamed vocals are combined with electronic rhythms and melodies…

Sixteens – Fendi

From the same US scene as Vanishing, The Phantom Limbs, Black Ice and Swann Danger comes Sixteens. This bands produces contemporary electronic deathrock. Their music refers to early Christian Death, even though their sound is very electronic. Haunting melody lines and screamed vocals leave no doubt about the gothic influences in the sound of Sixteens…

Vanishing – Still Lifes Are Failing

This is the second full-length release of the American (now Berlin residents) Vanishing. The band is slimmed down to a duo but I believe that they are looking for a new synth player. Still Lifes Are Failing is released in Europe on Fatal Recordings, the label by ex Atari Teenage Riot front woman Hanin Elias, and in the US on Gold Standards Laboratories…

Mephisto Waltz – Insidious

Nostalgia is the first feeling I get when I listen to Insidious, the new album by Mephisto Waltz. Death rock, classic goth-rock, gothic ethereal punk, no matter how you call it, it reminds of the gothic origins at the beginning of the 1980s. But this album is so much more…

Zadera – …Something Red

Strobelight releases see the light on a steady basis lately. Zadera is their newest discovery. This German band mixes post-punk and gothic rock into a sound of their own. Characteristic of this sound is the tranquil mood which evolves into rocking and loud bursts of energy. At times Zadera is reminiscent of X-Mal Deutschland, although a bit more typical goth rock…

Human Disease – Our Flesh Deception

Human Disease is a deathrock band from Italy. Unlike many other deathrock bands nowadays their sound is less rock orientated and is more arty and theatrical. Thus, very much like Christian Death in their prime. Many songs are rather tranquil with some energetic moments. Even the few more rocking tracks (‘Nativity’ and ‘Disolved in Flesh’) are rather tranquil…

Jacquy Bitch – Haine

t the moment many new deathrock, batcave and post-punk releases see the light. From France comes Jacquy Bitch, a band with a cult status. Their music is a combination of old style batcave guitar music with a modern touch.

Trisomie 21 – Happy mystery child

Trisomie 21 is back. After several years of silence the French brothers Philippe and Herve Lomprez have made an impressive return. Happy Mystery Child sounds mature, accessible and up-to-date, though you can still recognize characteristic T21 elements like the wave guitars, the moody electronic foundation and the typical vocals…

Cell Division – Tsunami

ell Division could be described best as a modern gothrock band. The band fuses modern sounding electronic drums and effects with a wave/gothrock like guitar based sound.

Gotterdammerung – Kin-burst 9104

A few years ago legendary Dutch goth band Götterdämmerung reappeared with the strong album Morphia. After that a rare vinyl was released as part of an art installation by bandmember Marc Bijl. Now a new album is announced for this winter. Until that there is this wonderful compilation album…

Williams, David E. – Hope springs a turtle

It took eight years, but finally the world is a new David E. Williams album richer. Again you can expect a diverse mixture of musical ingredients. Arty pop, classical/symphonic arrangements, avantgarde electronics. Of course the deciding factor are the humourous, cabaretesque lyrics by Mr. Williams, dark and twisted tales of ‘no more mr. nice guy’…

Gothic – Grim

When a band is called ‘Gothic’ I become a little sceptical, to say the least. This Italian act, founded by James Jason, has been active since the late 80’s and has created a long string of demo’s.

Ego Likeness – Water to the dead

Ego Likeness from the US has an energetic sound, gothic/electronic/rock crossover combined with triphop/ethereal influences. Most striking element are the powerful female vocals. Due to this combination of elements Ego Likeness make me think of acts like Collide (who they support on tour), Garbage and Curve, and will probably also be appreciated by fans of the Cruxshadows…

Sound, The – The BBC recordings

In recent years the albums of The Sound were (finally) reissued in nice digipacks with extensive liner notes and bonus tracks. But the fans craved for more. They were already treated to ‘Propaganda’, the ‘lost first album’. Now they are really spoiled with ‘The BBC Sessions’, A double album with 23 tracks recorded live in the period 1980-1985…

Ordeal By Fire – Untold Passions

At first I didn’t really like this album. The sound of Ordeal By Fire is very raw but the songs are mostly tranquil and atrmospheric. I thought the raw sound of the music didn’t really fit the atmospheric aspect of the songs. Throughout the songs there are burst of energy with a prominent role for the voice…

Frank The Baptist – Beggars Would Ride

The debut album by Frank The Baptist (Different Degrees of Empty) was a surprising gothic rock record, as the band has an original sound that has hints of 80’s wave and 60’s fuzz rock. Beggars Would Ride is the second album by the band. And, to be honest, it is more of the same…

V/A – New Dark Age Vol. 2

Strobelight Records keep putting out records with gothrock, deathrock and related music in high speed. This is already the second part in the New Dark Age compilation series. Again you get two cd’s filled with good (and a few somewhat less good)groups in the above mentioned genres…