Reviews: gothic

(deathrock / (dark)wave / postpunk)

Spiral of Silence – dEcAdEnT

Spiral of Silence consists of a group of musicians who have been playing together for more than ten years. This Belgian band first started in 1991, than called Theatre of Pain. Their music was in the new wave / cold wave vein of Joy Division, but there are also some goth rock influences. After the suicide of one of the band members they changed their name to Spiral of Silence…

In My Rosary – First Exit

At the end of 2001 I read somewehere about this mini album from the German formation In My Rosary. There has not been a lot of publicity about it as far as I know. It is a limited edition of 111 copies, released by a small Finnish label. You can see that ‘First Exit’ is a homemade cdr, but that has its charms…

Gotterdammerung – Morphia

It was a surprise to hear that this Dutch band had released a new cd, because I had nott heard from them for some time. In the early 90’s they released a few demo’s and later an album (Body and Birthmark) and a ep (Rearm) through the well-known German label Dion Fortune Records. They then played music inspired by bands such as The Sisters of Mercy…

Eternia – From Dungeon’s Luxury of Doubt

The Nature of Gothic is an English label specialized in releasing gothic rock music. It is based in Whitby, the same place where the famous festival is held every year. So far the label proves to be a lover of traditional gothic rock/batcave music. Recently they released an album from the Dutch band Götterdammerung…

Erato – The Irreplaceable One

Erato is a Belgian wave / gothic band that has been around since 1993. They have had some changes in personnel and sound over the years. The band describes their own music as ‘bat rock’, which calls to mind an association with the bat cave sound of the 1980’s. This is only partly true. Erato’s music is a blend of 80’s wave and goth rock with electronic influences…

Etoile Noire – Sleeping Black Eyes

Etolie Noire, which means ‘black star’ was founded in January 2000 by Ferruccio Milanesi (bass) and Pasquale Scotti (vocals). Those are not the least names in the Italian dark music scene, because both are active in various other projects, like Argine, Anima in Fiamme, Nadir and Amok. Later they were joined by Augusto Maiolino (guitar) and Alessio Sica (drums)…

Engelsstaub – Anderswelt

After a break of five years the German formation Engelsstaub is back! They started in the early 90’s, their first album was Malleus Maleficarum (’93). In the course of time the sound of the band developed and incorporated various influences, like ritual and medieval styles, with elements from classical and world music…

Endraum – Blauhauch

The limited edition of the new album Blauhauch comes as a nice box, containing a bonus cd (with older songs, the complete maxicd Appell an die Muse, two live tracks and a cd-rom video of the wonderful Appell an die Muse song) and a poster with the lyrics. This band has always been very aware of esthetics…

Descendants of Cain – Promo

An English band with a 4 track promo cd, of which two tracks are taken from their debut album AtzILUTH, and two songs are unreleased so far. The Descendants of Cain are not the most original band I’ve ever heard, but their traditional goth/wave music is performed rather well…

In My Rosary – A collection of fading moments

This cd presents the best songs from In my Rosary, taken from their four albums and the mcd “Strange E.P.”. All music was released between 1993 and 1996. It also contains three previously unreleased pieces. In total you get 19 tracks for a friendly price. The band consists of Ralf Jesek, the musical mastermind, and Dirk Lakomy, who is responsible for the lyrics and the artwork…

Hungry Lucy – Apparitions

Recently I received an advance promo copy of this debut album from US band Hungry Lucy. With such a bandname you can expect anything, but it turned out that this band has a rather pleasant sound, somewhere between gothic, pop and triphop. I think that fans of the Projekt label and “Heavenly Voices”, but also Portishead and Massive Attack will like this release…

One for Jude – Figures

One for Jude is a French band, ‘Figures’ is their first full-length album. They released a mcd earlier, from which two tracks are present here in a re-recorded version. Their style is not so easy to describe, One for Jude makes a rather pleasant mix of pop and 80’s wave, with some folky elements. Most songs are quite laid back, acoustic and atmospheric. Sometimes a gothic guitar can be heard…

Will – Déja-Vu

Will is the legendary side-project from Rhys Fulber (Frontline Assembly) and Chris Peterson (Frontline Assembly, Decree). Cop Records has released “Deja-vu”, a retrospective album that collects the material from Will’s two previous releases (1988-1992): “Word*Flesh*Stone” and the mini album “Pearl of great price”…

Sound, The – Propaganda

For a lot of 80’s wave I still have a weak spot, and in particular for The Sound. I can’t explain why, but their songs sound just as good and powerful as they did when I first heard them. It took some time, but lately some classic Sound albums have been released on cd, although their best one, “From the Lion’s Mouth”, is still not available…

Spiritual Bats – Sacrament

From Italy come the Spiritual Bats, a formation specialized in ‘old-school’-gothic rock. On this mini-cd called “Sacrament” you find 5 tracks, inspired by the classic gothic heritage. This means no big musical surprises are to be found here, but everything is well-performed. The band is active since 19992 and got good critics with their previous album “Confessions”…