SCREATURE – Old Hand New Wave

Tags

45 Grave, Christian Death, deathrock, deathwave, Eva O, Fuzz Guitars, goth, gothic, Old Hand New Wave - Screature, Origanal Rock N Roll, postpunk, punk, Rock It USA, sacremento, scarlets remains, Screature, Sonic, SUICIDE, the cramps, The Fuzztones, The Horrors

Screature return with their new album on 19th January 2018 ‘Old Hand New Wave‘, The album opens with The New Eve – a magical sonic shockwave giving a much needed injection into the deathrock genre. Wow! Waiting For A Light – a fuzztastic funeralistic bop which will have you bouncing on the dancefloor! Love it!

North Of Order – slamdancetastic . Yeah! Gone Cold –  a well woven wall of sound as guitars and keyboards speed walz to the protruding two finger vocals with a hint of Eva O. Epic! Hit The Void and the handbrake is gently applied to the sonic rocket fired by Screature. This is a delightful dirge will blow the dust well and truly away. Love it! Induction with the tempo still in second gear, The power of this song will blow you away. Wow! Metapsychosis – a brutal aural assault that will leave you windswept! Last Scene Alive – Another subsonic speed walz, lovely jagged guitars clash with the punked up vocals. Lovely! Movements- Lovely stabbing guitars, a hint of ‘The Cramps’, pumping keyboards and the trademark Screature vocals make this infectious like a raging fever! On Fire! Torn Passage –On this album Screature show their true depth of musical talent with this track being more postpunk, sounds like the Screature singer, ‘Suicide’, ‘The Horrors’ were mixed in a blender to produce the perfect sonic smoothy 😉 Another Mask brings the curtain down on what is easily the best album from Screature so far and for me one of the albums of 2018. Makes me want to catch a plane to USA, as top of my list for bands I want to see live in 2018! Your life will not be complete until you hear this masterpiece!

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JAPAN SUICIDE – Santa Sangre

Tags

Blade Runner, cactus world news, deathwave, Editors, gothic, Gothic Italy, Interpol, Into Paradise, Japan Suicide, Noir Désir, postpunk, ritual, Santa Sangre - Japan Suicide, Savages, shoegaze, soviet soviet, The Cure, The Doors, The Underground Youth, U2, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The highly anticipated new album from Japan Suicide  – ‘Santa Sangre’ is due for release on 14th February 2018. The album opens with the title track Santa Sangre – has a postpunk holy mass feel and is the perfect intro.

Circle comes next a ritualistic intro melts into relentless intensive waves of postpunk musical attitude. Reminds me a bit of Noir Desir, Great! Dealer possibley my favourite track on the album due to the pulsing 80’s bass and a great mix of shimmering and searing guitars to burn a hole in the dancefloor. Love it! El Ritual sees the pace drop into a sea of atmospherics, reminds me a bit of ‘Cactus World News’. Nice! Blown Away reignites the pulsing postpunk push to the dancefloor, with a splash of ‘The Cure’. Lovely! For Every Flaw –luscious intense jingly jangly guitars add to the wall of postpunk sound which will appeal to fans of Into Paradise. Great track! Fate has a more gothic feel to it, aided by the dark, desolate sounding keyboards splashing against deft drumming and shoegaze guitars. Rejoice – has a hint of U2’s ‘Stories For Boys’ album mixed up with ‘The Doors’ –  psychedelic postpunk atmospherics. Love it! Thus Bad Begins builds the the postpunk psychedelic atmosphere further. Lost Daughter and the temperature rises until it bursts into a searing postpunk classic. Nice! Carcosa – I can see this being the intro track for all future live performances. Postpunked Blade Runner. Epic! A great follow up to ‘We Die In Such a Place’

SHAD SHADOWS – Fix EP

Tags

Blade Runner, coldwave, darkwave, italy, postpunk, SciFi, Shad Shadows, Shad Shadows - Fix EP, the kvb, Vangelis

The follow up to Minor Blues sees Shad Shadows more influenced by Sci Fi sounds and the opening track Electronic Brigade has hints of ‘Vangelis’ and ‘Blade Runner’.

Moon Bay has a hint of ‘The KVB’ about it as it gravitates towards the dancefloor. Nice! White Fall is my favourite track on the album, simple but so seductive synths. Love It! Colloseum brings the EP to a close. What I really like about Shad Shadows is that they be original. Here’s to seeing them live in 2018.

IN THE NURSERY – 1961

Tags

1961, 28th Album, Alan Sheperd, Amnesty International, Berlin, Catch 22, Darkher, Filmscore, Ford Consul, IN THE NURSERY - 1961, Kennedy, Khrushchev, Martialled Industrial, neofolk, Nigel And Klive Humberstone, outer space, sci-fi, Sheffield, Solaris Stanislaw Lem, Sopor Aeternus, The Berlin wall, The Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital Cliveden Taplow, Vostok 1, Yuri Gagarin

 

The prolific composers and soundsmiths In The Nursery release their 28th album  1961 The album is inspired by events of 1961 the same year Nigel and Klive Humberstone were born. The album opens with Until Before After classical brooding filmscore seeps into a blissful bass riff shattered with a haunting guitar and a deft snare drum. The perfect switch between male and female vocals. What a great song! Could be this ITN’s new sound going forward? Love it! Torschlusspanik captures the devision of East and West Germany by construction of the Berlin wall. A great intro of assembled strings and a sparse synth will send a shiver down your spine -it could easily be from a filmscore. A chorus of Khrushchev, Kennedy, Berlin grows until it explodes into a bombastic masterpiece, one of the best songs In The Nursery has ever recorded! Fanatastic! Consul features Gladys a 1961 Ford consul. A genius idea that fits like a glove with the grandios church organ. Reminds me a bit of Sopor Aeternus. Epic! Grand Corridor is about the Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital in the grounds Cliveden, Taplow where the twins were born. In 1985 it closed and is said to be one of Britain’s most haunted hospitals with it’s 1/4 mile grand corridor. Has a spooky ritualistic feel. Love it! Retrofire celebrates Yuri Gagarin orbiting the earth in Vostok 1. Naturally ITN produce the perfect space soundscape and with the keyboards you can imagine the thrusters being fired on Vostok. Out Of This World! Pacify is inspired the novel Catch 22. A Neofolk classic. Love it!

Solaris is inspired by the science fiction novel written by Stanislaw Lem. What a great track will appeal to fans of Darkher. Epic! Prisoner Of Conscience is dedicated to the founding of Amnesty International. Great french vocals, classical composition and sparse guitars. Love it! The Earth Was Blue takes us back to space and Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard looking down on the earth. For me this is the best album In The Nursery have ever released, with a fusing of their early guitar sound, their classical filmscores and their epic martialed percussion. They have reinvented their sound and produced the perfect opus! I hope I will hear the full album being played live in 2018 as it will be something very special indeed. 12/10 – Get it now!

THE DEVIL & THE UNIVERSE -Folk Horror

Tags

Algernon Blackwood, Andy Paciorek, Ashley Dayour, Awakening The Fields, Blood On Satan's Claw, darkfolk, David Pfister, deathwave, Folk Horror, Folk Horror Revival, Ghostwave, Goatwave, John Carpenter, Momdsucht, MR James, Mysticism, Occult, pagan, Paganism, ritual, Stefan Elsbacher, Summoning, The Dark English Countryside, The Devil And The Universe, The Devil And The Universe - Folk Horror, The Hepworth Wakefield, The Occult, The Wicker Man, The Witchfinder General, Tribal

Released in time to celebrate the passing of Autumn Equinox and as a musical tribute to Robert Hardy’s epic film ‘The Wicker Man.’ Folk Horror is a mix of music, art, literature and film influenced by the like of The Wicker Man, Blood On Satan’s Claw, The Witchfinder General, Andy Paciorek, MR James, Algernon Blackwood, The Occult, Paganism, and The Dark English Countryside. All of which could be said to have been influences on this latest release from The Devil And The Universe.

The album opens with Alchemical Land the perfect aural accompaniment for a drive deep into the high hedged English countryside at sunset and wonder what was that I saw out of the corner of my eye. Creepy! Willow Dance will have you believing something evil lurks in the heart of the primeval woodlands. A great piece of tribal ritualism. Love it! The Ash Tree Darkfolk tinged melancholy that will enchant you. A Fiend In The Furrows takes its name from a conference held about Folk Horror in 2014. Sinister synths and deft drumming summon the haunted spirits of the countryside. Spooky!

Black Harvest a great scythe sample, supernatural synths and bombastic drumming make for a classic TDATU track! Wyrd a composition about fate which gain has a very haunted atmosphere. The Church Of The Goat has a John Carpenter feel, echoes of ‘The Thing’ colliding with ‘Mondsucht’ which develops into a foot stamping crescendo to shatter the dancefloor. Epic! The album closes with When We Were Trees conjures a wave of atmospheric terror which is shattered by the sound of Goats and a stomp onto the dancefloor. Love it. So if you want to get in the mood for halloween early and like music to send a shiver down your spine then this is for you!

 

Want to find out more about Folk Horror? Then Wakefield is the place to be in October!

Sounds Like Winter – Sticks & Stones

Tags

Australia, Christian Death, crazyhead, Gothic Rock, La Muerte, Mephisto walz, postpunk, Rozz Williams, Sounds Like Winter, Sticks And Stones, The Birthday Party, Wreckage, Xiii Stoleti

Sounds Like Winter return with their second album Sticks & Stones. The album starts with a bang as Blood Red is unleashed in furious fashion watch your speakers don’t ignite with the wonderous waves of guitars. Wow! Sticks And Stones sees a drop in intensity but an upping in Gothness as echoes of Mephisto Walz bounce of the walls. Love it! I Hide In Sleep and the tempo is cranked up as this postpunk ditty delivers a kick in the aurals! Impossible Dreams goes for the Gothic jugular with pounding drums, and relentless waves of guitars which will blow you away! The Life Of The Just maintains the power but adds atmosphere with addition of synths and less ferocity in the guitars. Great! Television Dream reminds me a bit of The Birthday Party mixed with La Muerte, Love it! Gritar has the intensity of bands like Crazyhead or XIII Stoleti. Wow! Plastic will have you bouncing around the dancefloor what a great postpunk track! Beasts Of England has very classic goth feel with a hint of Rozz Williams Christian Death. Epic! New Hebrides brings the album to a close with a classic slice of Gothic rock! Definately another candidate for the WGT in Leipzig 😉

https://sounds-like-winter.bandcamp.com/

DREAMS ARE LIKE WATER – A Sea-Spell

Tags

4AD, A Sea Spell, All About Eve, Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins, cranes, dreampop, DREAMS ARE LIKE WATER -, Ethereal, gothic, New Zealand, Pale Saints, shoegaze, This Mortal Coil

Judging by the name and sound the band are partly inspired by This Mortal Coil. A Sea Spell features dual male and female vocals in a delicate slice of dreampop dusted with shoegaze and the sound of the sea. Perfection! (Thrice) In Blood seems to capture the intensity of Bauhaus in say the style of “Passion Of Lovers/Silent Hedges” but with a delicate female vocal, Epic! Ineffable reminds me of very much of early All About Eve when they used a drum machine. Lush! Feathered Infant Bells is the longest track on the EP at 9.11 weaving a web of ethereal gossamer that tears into a shoegaze dirge. Wow! A great debut indeed. Look forward to the album 😉

https://dreamsarelikewater.bandcamp.com/

THE SPIRITUAL BAT – Your Own World And The Vision Of Sound

Tags

Big Electric Cat, Decoy, Fading Colours, FAITH and THE MUSE, Ghost, goth, gothic, Gothic Rock, Infesstisumam, italy, Monica Richards, THE SPIRITUAL BAT, Your Own World And The Vision Of Sound

The new album from The Spiritual Bat opens with Own World. Rosetta’s voice reminds me very much of the vocal style of Decoy/ Monica Richards on this track. Deft gothic guitar sonics. Nice! Guilty has echoes of Big Electric Cat and will be a smash on the dancefloor. Great guitar work from Dario! Love it! The Human Museum a big wall of sound made from the drum machine, bass and guitars which could easily be from the 80’s its that good 😉 A goth rocket! Caress The Scar puts the Rock in Gothic Rock. Nice! Escape – there is none as this will keep you a prisoner on the dancefloor! Nine sees a change from the Goth rock sonics, with a more lightweight but tight rock feel a bit like Infesstisumam. Great track! Killing and another track to ignite the gothic dancefloor! Intimacy sees a drop in tempo but still rocks gothically! A Cure brings the album to a close in fine style. Get your copy from

https://thespiritualbat.bandcamp.com/album/your-own-world-and-the-vision-of-sound

FRIENDS OF ALICE IVY -The Last Days Of Fenwyck

Tags

ARCANA OBSCURA, Australia, Cocteau Twins, Collide, darkfolk, David Sylvian, Der Blaue Reiter, Eden, Ethereal, FRIENDS OF ALICE IVY, goth, gothic, Japan, Myrkur, ritual, schauspielhaus Leipzig, The Cranes, The Last Days Of Fenwyck, The Soil Bleeds Black, Wave Gotik Treffen 2018

The Last Days Of Fenwyck is the latest album from Friends Of Alice Ivy. The album opens with the title track Fenwyck which captures the essence of falling rain on a sparse autumnal day. Sweet melancholia to pluck on one’s heartstrings. Lovely. Blackthorn conjures a dark dreamscape to loose ones senses in. Albion continues the downward spiral away from the light into the misty shadows of the endless forest. Love the slices of strings. The single Wycca piano keys are delicately bathed in minimal electronics whilst strings rain down from above and angelic vocals circle overhead. A great track!

Rooks continues the heavenwardly ethereal drift on the wings of dark despair. Epic! Brambling has a hint of David Sylvian/ Japan in the composition. Great track. The best release so far from Kylie and Amps and I can visualize this being performed live on the stage of The Schauspielhause in Leipzig, during the Wave Gotik Treffen. Hopefully the organizers will feel the same way too 😉

http://www.friendsofaliceivy.com/

EDEN – The Edge Of Winter

Tags

All About Eve, Balaam and The Angel, Brendan Perry, darkpop, darkwave, Dead Can Dance, deathwave, dreampop, EDEN - The Edge Of Winter, Ethereal, Frankie Laine, goth, gothic, Joy Divison, Salvation, Sean Bowley, shoegaze, siouxsie and the banshees, The Church, The Edge, The Mission, The Rose Of Avalanche, Twin Peaks, U2

The Edge of Winter is Eden’s first full release in two decades. Recorded in Melbourne at the famed Toyland Studios recorded and produced by Adam Calaitzis.

Tha album opens with Death Of A Diamond when I heard this track for the first time it was one of those wow moments. I was surprised at the exceptional male vocals which for me rubs shoulders with Brendan Perry, sounding slightly more dulcet, The vocals of Sean reminds of the great singer Frankie Laine, who was famed for his western film songs such as Ghost Riders In The Sky, Rawhide etc. One of those voices that will burn into the memory. Now I’ve mentioned it, this track could easily fit in a western blockbuster about a lone rider, it’s that good! Epic layers of shimmering and rivers driven guitars build a monumental soundscape, fantastic lyrics. Love this song! Lost & Found – A different musical arrangement adds a slightly more gothic, ethereal feel. Great vocals again. Fantastic song! Girl With Violin has a more swirly shoegaze guitar feel with a walzlike drive. Love it! All The Time In The World – reminds musically like a cross between All About Eve, Early Balaam and the Angel and The Church – Yes it’s that good! Topped off with the perfect vocals. Great lyrics too. Suanitriade – This instrumental has a slightly Arabian feel has the musical atmosphere of Dead Can Dance with a splash of Twin Peaks. Nice! The Edge Of Winter – what a great title track and another example of why Sean does rub shoulders with Brendan Perry in this epic vocal delivery. Pure ethereal atmospherics akin to Dead Can Dance. Love it! Returning – more gothic with a hint slower early Mission mixed with a Banshees ballard. Lovely! The perfect vocal again. Perfume Garden – the perfect dark dream pop song to ignite the gothic dancefloor. Epic! December -If you are a fan of The Rose of Avalanche or Salvation you will like this song. Paisley goth. Love it! Great Vocals too! Fryerstown – has the grandiose feel of a speeded up Joy Division’s Atmosphere perforated with an Edgelike guitar burst. Breathtaking! Sky Above – – is again very much aimed at the dancefloor musically a fusion between Dead Can Dance and The Banshees a great gothic tribalistic masterpiece. Love it!
Winter – Another instrumental with a epic feel. Crank Your amp up to max and let the plaster come down 😉
Shame I missed the gig in Leipzig, so I might be I have put in a trip to Oz to see them 😉 Yet another contender for album of the year in my ears 😉 So get Your copy from

https://edenseanbowley.bandcamp.com/album/the-edge-of-winter