REVIEW: Johnathan Christian - Beautiful Hideous

Johnathan Mooney (music / US) and Christian Granquist (voice / Sweden) started a band / project and came across this little different idea to name this "Johnathan Christian". Johnathan has a background playing keyboard in the band "The New Creatures" and Christian "Day Behavior" and "The Atom". Now they found each others and worked together over the ocean to finish the album "Beautiful Hideous", released 8 of november 2013.

The album is good and interesting, the music groves och and think there are some pieces of art I would like to highlight as "I Walk This Earth Alone" and "The Sweetest Betrayal". I like the symphonic parts most in "Beautiful Hideous" which make me feel Johnathan Christian a bit different. They found their own style and stick out from the mainstream. I hear that they are inspirations from the Dark Wave scene, sometimes the music reminds of Tilo Wolff´s Lacrimosa. In the backgrounds you hear strings and choirs that gets you back to older Italian film music. With knowledge of Johnathan´s background I can understand that many of the songs are written out from piano melodies.

The last parts of the record got two remixes of already played songs, and a cover of Duran Duran´s classical song The Chauffeur. Sounds like they made it their own version maybe with inspiration of the Slovenian band Laibach, even the speak singing.

"Beautiful Hideous" is a good debut album and an interesting project I like to follow up more in the future. I hope they keep their style, especially with those symphonic part.



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REVIEW: Horror Vacui - In Darkness You Will Feel Alright

The Italian band Horror Vacui´s debut album "In Darkness You Will Feel Alright" was released in the end of last year (2012). The record introduced by Krzysztof Komeda´s "Main Title", a soundtrack from Roman Polanski´s movie Rosemary´s Baby. The singing woman ends abruptly with the track "Black Rivers" and thereafter Horror Vacui plays intensive with a higher tempo til the end.

The members of Horror Vacui have a past in the punk rock scene, and you can hear that. In an interview with the band, they told that they normally listen to Gothic Rock so it was time to play what they listen to. That´s how Horror Vacui was founded.

"In Darkness You Will Feel Alright" is a record where the music is based on very traditional Gothic Rock. A sound from the 80´s or early 90´s. The songs have a very high standard through all record, their sound is kind of noisy, punk sound, I love it!

I can highly recommend this album. It is a prof that there still are bands that turns back to the roots of darkwave / Gothic Rock.



Buy this album for 5.5 Euro over Bandcamp

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REVIEW: Vanity - Occult You

First time I heard the band Vanity was for about one year ago and I played them on Gothtune! (podcast #4 (Sleeping Tears) and #11 (Under Black Ice). But it took nearly a year before I listen through all their cd Occult You.

The record was recorded under total isolation between december 2011 to februari 2012 och the release day was not until begining of 2013. The members lives near Tuscany in Italy, but comes from different countries and cultures. The lyrics is based on a never released book by the singer with the name "Occult You".

When I got the chance to listen to all the record and build me a full picture, I understood how damn good they are. It is hard to point a finger and tell where I should categorizing there music. There are a bit of everything and everything sounds fantastic. I hear rots of darkwave, but other kinds of rock. If I should make a choice, I can tell you that I hear some metaphors and sounds that reminds me of Anathema´s record Alternative 4, which I had on repeat for a long time in the end of the 90´s. However, it is wrong by me to compare them with Anathema 100% because you find other influence as well.

What can I say, I think this can be one of my favorite records of 2013.



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Asrai - Between Dreams And Destiny

Asrai släppte en ny EP med titeln ”Between dreams and Destiny” den 20 augusti. Jag fick ett demo-ex för att spela på kommande Gothtune, vilket jag givetvis kommer att göra. Asrai har många år på nacken, startade 1985 i Holland. Om ni vill veta mer om själva bandet så har jag faktiskt gjort en intervju med bandet här.
Om vi återgår till själva skivan så består den av sex låtar varav en är en remix av den första låten ”Stone Cold”. Första gången jag satte på låten ”Stone Cold” så tänkte jag, Sisters of Mercy? Men det vara själva inledningen, därefter återgick de till Asrai´s egenliga stil, dvs Gothic Metal.
”Between dreams and Destiny” är genomgripande bra och välproducerad.

Ett smakprov finns tillgänglig på nätet, deras video de släppte på låten, ”All Seems So Hollow” i våras.



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Hemsida

Startade en blogglista

Startade en blogglista, längre ner i höger spalt. Kommer väl att fylla på eftersom.

Första länken blev till Den Rockande Kocken, han kombinerar mat och musik. Han har uppmärksammat Madness of the Night, ett band som Gothtune promotar.

Andra bloggen blev Let It Bleed som genom Gothtune hittade Terminal Gods och knappat ihop en possitiv recension.

She Past Away

She Past Away´s ny skiva, Belirdi Gece blev en överraskning. Bandet är från Turkiet och de sjunger på turkiska. Musikaliskt, klart välskrivna låtar. Lite syntigare trummor med en känsla av EBM ryttmer. Mörk statisk röst med mycke eko. Jag tycker She Past Away har funnit sin stil som sticker ut en aning, vilket gör dem inte till någon kopia, även då avslutningsriffet till låten Rituel känns något taget. Kanske medvetet? Jäkligt skönt i allafall och jag hoppas få höra mer från detta band i framtiden.

Kasvetli Kutlama:


Rituel:


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Skivbolagets hemsida

The Cult - Choice Of Weapon

The Cult har släppt en ny skiva, Choice Of Weapon.

Här är låten Lucifer:


Recensioner:
SVD, DN