This Grey City is a french band, on their biography it said they play
New Wave / Post-Punk. 2014 they released their debut album, self- titled
with thirteen tracks, a wide range of variety.
I enjoy this album very much and I find inspiration from bands like Joy
Division, The Cure and old Clan of Xymox. Something that reflected me, I
did not like the first track Bats, so much, maybe thats my taste.
However, it was great for me that I did not stop listen, their second
track Bela is Alive made me back. Both of this songs felt it was made
with a “glint in the eye”, but Bela is Alive had something I was searching for.
Another track I found great is their self- title song, This Grey City.
Love the drums and the atmosphere. Over all, for me This Grey City is a
great album, I have my favorites, Bela is Alive and This Grey City.
Abducted is really cool too, especially the chorus and Machines, much
Sisterhood feeling, Strange Part of Me great too.
Another great thing with this album is the variation. They cover a wide
range of different sounds and that make it interesting, not boring. I am
looking forward to hear more from This Grey City.
Shadowdancers is Der Himmel über Berlin second studio album, released
2014. The band is from north east of Italy, and in their biography it
is said they take inspiration from bands like The Sisters of Mercy,
Bauhaus, Joy Division.
It is very much guitar- based post-punk with a sound from the 80´s. The
album Shadowdancers is very well produced, perfect sound- quality and
their songs very well made. I like the drum-sounds, it has kind of a
metal/punk feeling.
I think it is hard to pick out some favorite songs, everything is good. Highly recommend this album.
Gothtune - De Creatione Et Omnium Rerum, is highlighted at Goths.ru, a russian page that cover the dark scene.
Translated:
The collection contains tracks from 20 groups, which can be seen on channel Gothtune.
Gothtune - this podcast, blog and video channel, which supports groups and projects working in the genres of gothic rock, postpunk, deathrock, steampunk, darkwave, coldwave.
Collection 'Gothtune - De Creatione Et Omnium Rerum' was released on February 7, with the support of OnAir Tunes - platform, which, in addition to Gothtune, includes several independent of such projects.
On release Gothtune - De Creatione Et Omnium Rerum can hear new tracks commands such as Madness of the Night, Lithos Sarcophagos, para bellvm and others.
Acquire and maintain the service release can be Bandcamp: www.onairtunes.bandcamp.com/album/gothtune-de-creatione-et-omnium-rerum-fundraiser
Horror Vacui released their second full album, “Return of the Empire” in october 2014. It is a very good continuing of their debute “In Darkness You Will Feel Alright”, that came out 2012.
This album feels a bit more punk-rock / hardcore attitude, but still got a gothic rock style. The most of the songs goes very fast forward, “till the Last Drop” is kind of slower. They have succeded in to bring up the production and sound quality, but still kept their punkrock attitude.
As I said, this is a great second album and I think everyone who liked their first album should check this out. If you found Horror Vacui by this release, then check out their first album.
This is an album that also getting better and better each time I listen on it.
I like the most of the songs, can´t really tell what is my favorite but I think “Light of Darkness” is kind of outstanding and different from the other tracks on this album. Great album, recommend!
This album is awesome, I guess this can be one of my favorite albums this year.
El Clan is from Mexico and they are not newbie within the gothic
scene. Their first album release were back in 1994 and in 2009 another
album were reviewed by the Rolling Stone Magazine Mexico as one of the
top 10 best in Latin America.
I have heard them before, actually played a song on our show
Gothtune. What I felt speciall with the band is that they have some kind
of unpredicted crazy genes inside their music.
The new album Caronte released in november 2014 has a great produced
sound and very well preformed. They still got their style, unpredicted.
It is kind of a blend between gothic rock and something progressive. You
find a bit of everything, from Lacrimossa to Devil Doll and Fields of
the Nephilim and Heroes del Silencio. And that describsion, include
madness.
Some songs are written in spanish / latin and sometimes they sing in
english. I do not pick any favorite songs from this album, I think
everything sounds great. Enjoy!
Kalt is a one- man project by Mike York from Germany, a former member of Garden of Delight. His album The Invisible is the third or forth? released november 2014. The sound of The Invisible give me very much vibes of Love Like Blood´s midtime in the 90´s.
It sounds very good, no bigger hits for the easy listeners. It is much influenses from gothic rock, but the drums have more like a metal sound, and that sounds awesome. Some of the guitars are also more heavier metal-sound, but mostley with a gothic rock theme, great riffs with melodies.
All songs on this album are namned with two sentence, and the first always start with a The, interesting. Some of my favorite songs: The Mother, The Sister, The Brother and The Zombies. And the track, The Life, more a ballad is also awesome.
This kind of albums and music, good produced as this album is rare today. If you are into the german era of the 90´s gothic rock with bands like Love Like Blood, Garden of Delight, Secret Discovery I think this is something you should check out.
Era Sessions EP is Carnival Stars second release, and behind this
project or band is ProducerMark from Scottland. The idea behind Carnival
Star is to cooperate with other bands and musicians around the world.
ProducerMark is the person, like the spider in the web who produce and
write the music and connect the songs with the people out there. Some of
the guitars on this album is played by Liquid Grey and bas Cruel
Britannia.
Era Sessions EP is a tribute to bands from the past, it is a record
filled with five different covers and finally a remix by Cruel Britannia
of Union City Blue (Blondie). On this EP we can find ProducerMark and
five different personalities around the world, contribute by singing and
playing.
Union City Blue by Blondie, now vocals by Allegra Lusini from Italy. Velveteen by Rose Of Avalanche, ProducerMark sings on this one. Walk Away by Sisters Of Mercy, now vocals by Liquid Grey from Norway. The Drowning Man by The Cure, now vocals by Zach Wiser who is a member of The Secret Post. What Difference Does It Make by The Smiths, now vocals by Captain T from The Sovran.
It is a nice production of classical songs in a new package. I think
this is something that everyone should check out. My favorite songs here
are Velveteen and The Drowning Man.
And, don´t forget to check out Carnival Stars single, with My Coreen and Black Rain Down. Released in the end of 2013. Homepage Facebook Bandcamp
The German Gothic Rock band Reptyle formed 1998 and now they released
their third full length album, Night And The River. Ten songs for about
50 minutes.
I always had a passion for bands from Germany, especially in the 90´s
era. I think there is something different in their musical influences,
they can do weird stuff with a twist, especially when it comes to music.
And Night And The River is a crazy record that takes you for a journey
with a musical discovery. I would category this album as a Heavy
Progressive Gothic Rock album. Yes, their music is progressive and the
songs are not built up in traditional orders. It reminding me of the
80´s when I were much into German Thrash Metal, but this is not Metal,
it is Gothic Rock with a twist, and it is fantastic.
Reptyle brings something new to Gothic Rock, a progressive version
who might be hard for some folks to take. And there is a punk / hardcore
attitude, especially in the vocals. I fell in love with many of their
songs at once. However, this album takes or need more than one time to
listen to. And it is a grooving album, and those used to stays for a
longer time in my speakers.
The track Ways Of Fate is instrumental and more than 6 minutes long.
Here they mix a kind of abstract guitar riff together with very melodic
line with much atmosphere. It is a very progressive track where Reptyle
really show that they also are great musicians.
I think it is a great record. One of the better releases for a long
time. Reptyle have brought something specially to the Gothic scene, they
got their own style and I hope they keep it into the future too. Some
of my favorite songs, Morning Heir, Night And The River, Rose Imperial,
Pictures That Stay.
Opera Multi Steel is a band from France who recently had their 30 year anniversary
as a band. Honestly, this is something new for me, first time I heard
them was for some months ago when I played one of their track “mauvais
Oeil” over Gothtune Podcast #20, taken from their album “Mélancolie En Prose” 2013.
However, I listen to their new album Apparences De L’Invisible,
released 31 of mars 2014 and found it very interesting. I gave it some
time, and I think I needed it because they are kind of different. They
describe themselves as Darkwave / Cold Wave, I think I can find some
Neofolk and New Wave inside this too. Sometimes they reminded me as a
blend of old Dead Can Dance and Joy Division. The lyrics are on french
and they play alot with their voices, like doing canons ect.
My favorite songs are track 3, “A L’Extrême Veille D’Un Novembre Imminent” and track 7, “Infini Sidéral”.
Ascetic is from Melbourne, Australia. But on their Facebook page they say their current location is Berlin. However, their album Self Initiation was released 4th of March 2013 by OSCL Records.
Ascetic describe themselves as Bloom gloom, or this is what they write inside their biography “Drawn from a collective obsession with fringe philosophy and post-new-age consciousness, Self Initiation evokes the moods & spaces of 4AD’s early roster (Swans, Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins), with a nod to contemporaries The Soft Moon, Factory Floor & Portishead’s ‘Third’.”
For me this feels very much 80´s and I think their sound reminds very much of Joy Division, sometimes early The Cure. Self Initiation is a record that growing for each time I have listen to it, and I have now played it for more than 20 times in my car and at my home. Their songs got a high standard from the beginning til the end, the sound is like I said, very 80´s, gloomy and foggy sound-stage. They got kind of lay back attitude in which they succeeded with. I think this record somehow reminds of Night Sins, but Night Sins played a more traditional Gothic Rock and Ascetic is more into Post-Punk. Both of those two band went last year back to the roots to archive it for today’s generation. I give it a big recommendation, check them out.
Are you into occultism or something different? Then you should check out Corpus Principium´s album Blessings Of Death. This is a one man based band from Miami, Florida with the front person Marquis.
Marquis find his inspiration in his practition of Austin osman Spare´s system of magic, "via enacting change through chaos energies and the subconscious desires of man." Marquis also got a background in other bands like Elegy of Madeline, In Nomine Choronzon, Grauen Pestanz and Black Funeral. Corpus Principium record Blessings Of Death is Marquis latest work, 13 tracks plus a bonus track remixed by Dj Kitty Lectro.
Marquis told me in an interview that he see his music as an art performance and within his live shows he stage some rituals for the audience. The music is different and very special.
This is not commercial, I see it more as art from an artist who want to deliver something more than just a song. If I would compare it to something, I think I would say a more electronic version of old Sopor Aeternus, but more modern gothic rock / darkwave, sometimes a touch of Madre Del Vizio which is one of my all time favorite bands.
My tip to you is to listen to this record some times, this kind of music is growing and there are some really great treasures here. This kind of record is something you can put now and then, again and again for a very long time. It is timeless and those albums wins my heart in the end. My favorite tracks on the album are, Eternal Sleep, Masquerade of Tears, Languish and Squander Not Thy Days.
Tracklist:
01 - Discourse with Heaven
02 - Blessings of Death
03 - Eternal Sleep
04 - Poisoned Angels
05 - Necrologia
06 - The Mist in the Stone
07 - Masquerade of Tears
08 - Full Moon Flesh
09 - Misfortunes (Asylum Party)
10 - The Form of Wings
11 - Lacrima Della Notte
12 - Languish
13 - Squander Not Thy Days
14 - Masquerade Of Tears (Kitty Lectro Remix)
Night Sins album “To London Or The Lake” was released 10th of December 2013 at Avant! Records. This is a record label from Italy that release vinyl LP´s, kind of old school. However, Night Sins is old school, like the other band Horror Vacui I reviewed before at the same label.
Night Sins is from Philadelphia, USA and in their description they are compared with “The Sisters of Mercy and Clan of Xymox with enough hints of The Mission“. London Or The Lake is their second album and the songwriter Kyle Kimball himself, talking about this album, says: “The record is lyrically about longing and musically I tried to write the soundtrack to The Lost Boys movie if it came out in 2013”.
First time I listen to this record I felt a wow factor at the same time I felt kind of disturb of the production. BUT, it did not take too long time before I understood and guessed this is how they wanted it. This record really take you back to the 80´s, even the sounds of their keyboards ect. And after I listen to this album for more than 10 times this feeling went away and made this to one of my top-10 album of 2013. This record brings a very high level and standard of songs made in a very professional performance. Avant! Records have succeeded ones again, first they took me with Horror Vacui and now Night Sins. If you are interested in traditional Gothic rock / Dark wave, buy this record. You can find it as digital mp3 if you trashed your old vinyl record player.
This is a band from Innsbruck / Wien playing some kind of ambient, post rock and shoegaze according to their biography. "That Day Last November" is their second album, released in the beginning of 2013.
If I would describe this bands sound I would say it is a mix between Pink Floyd and My Dying Bride with a touch of Fields Of The Nephilim. Their music is dark and it switches between soft, calm to more heavy. The same goes with the vocals, soft thick voice to nearly grimecore.
The first songs that waked me up for this band was "Until Your chest Explodes" and "One Of These Nights". But after listen to the record several times I think my favorite song is "What Used To Be A Battle Song". But, overall everything is great. This band succeeded to make me touched, you know this nice shivering feeling when you hear something dark and gloomy that makes you happy and you start to smile. That is emotional.
Beastmilk from Finland released their cd Climax, 29 of November this year. They play post-punk, described in their biography as a gloomier Joy Division, a medicated Killing Joke with a lush layering of Peter Murphy.
Their cd is mostly intensive and I feel much influence from the 60´s rockabilly sound, but with a modern attitude of post-punk and sometimes foggy heavy guitars. I love the drive in the drums and Kvohst voice is kind of unique too. Most of the songs got very professional structure and their song Genocidal Crush has a very big hit potential.
The most of the songs goes straight forward but there are two tracks who are slower, Ghosts Out Of Focus and the last song Stange Attractors.
For me, this is a great release with a professional sound. It is a band that would be interesting to see live. I think it could be a very mixed audience, from rockabilly's to dressed up dark goths. To be honest, this record became number five on my top ten releases of 2013.
I became stuck in Lost In Kiev´s album Motions from my first listening. It brought me memories back to the end of 90´s when I frequently listen to the Swedish project Morte Macabre superb album Symphony Holocaust. Dark and progressive rock. Just press play and relax to this very emotional and sometimes intensive record Motion.
Lost in Kiev is a 5 pieces band from Paris who right now searching for guitarists. Their music is very guitar based and they also work with samples. The album can nearly been seen as an instrumental album. The main part is instrumental, but they have partly added speaking monologs and in the second track ”A Mere Shift Of Origin” there is a dialog between a man and a women, kind of different. Then later on, in the last track ”The Day I Ruined My Life” everything turns out with a grime core screaming which fit perfect as a catharsis for this record.
I can highly recommend this record to people who are into darker guitar based progressive rock. Motion is filled with very much emotion. If you have heard Morte Macabre you probably will like this too. The big difference between those bands might be that Lost In Kiev is more straight forward when Morte Macabre sometimes pulled off more and became more crazy.
Madness of the Night
The Asgarda – released Nov 29th 2013
Madness
of the Night are Daniel Dante (Sweden) & Abir Blackshadow
(Lebanon). Formed in 2011 and based in Sweden their unique style and
take on Goth Rock can probably best be surmised in their own words:
"When we make music, we focus on our inner voices, this is where the
music comes from. There is no inspiration to our music but only the
Madness inside of us."
With the release of "The Asgarda" they have not only re-recorded
and re-mastered some of their previous releases but also written and
recorded new material for the album. It is worth noting at this point
that when we say "re-mastered" – we mean "mastered".
The
previously released tracks that appear on the album have been given a
totally new lease on life and this album raises the bar by Madness of
the Night into new highs and current fans and followers will both be
surprised at the "new sound" and possibly shocked as well.
Signing
to predominantly "metal" label Massacre Records (Germany) who describe
the release as 'Gothic Metal' and bringing in Andy Horn (Mortal Love,
Darkseed, Edenbridge) who mixed and mastered the album has given Madness
of the Night a new lease on life and raised the bar to all new highs.
Daniels
work on the music has been given the treatment it so rightly deserves
and his work not only on his guitar playing, but also his piano, synth
and programming has allowed his dark roots to grow and flourish. Classic
Goth riff driven tracks, with atmospheric backing, create songs written
with changes and melodies that are totally recognisable as Madness of
the Night. The overall sound may have been enhanced and strengthened but
nothing familiar has been taken away, it's a perfect example of what
should happen when a band's music is professionally presented.
Within all the re-mastering and mixing and production and all that "technical" stuff, what does it actually mean for the songs?
What
it means is that in balancing the music and enhancing on Daniels work
the soundscape allows the power and passion of Abir's vocal to not only
drive the songs skywards but to give her the space to do what only she
can do – deliver her message in a way that few can do these days.
Singing
in English as well as her native tongue of Arabic gives an extra edge
to The Asgarda that is both a surprise and a breath of fresh air. Arabic
may not be a language familiar to many of us, but in a song like
"Theatre of Life", Abir's vocal – which is both powerful and yet soft at
the same time, meanders and floats over the track beautifully and
singing in Arabic just adds something extra special to the song.
"Javla
Zigenare" is our pick from the album though. This song has a
"wow-factor" to rival any Goth Rock anthem out there. If it fails to get
you out of your seat then you may need to see a doctor as you're most
likely dead. If you're not screaming the chorus after even the first
listen then you will be after the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and more as this is a
track you will most certainly play many, many times.
However,
it's not all Goth Metal or Goth Rock! "Jephania" or even "She is the
Demon" are more or less piano based songs with a true darkness at their
heart following haunting melodies and almost operatic vocals. Add to
that the slow drive of "Oppression" and the epic seven and a half
minutes of "Stand Up" which is not only well written and powerful in its
delivery but also a very passionate, dark track - which for us is a
song deserving of its length – and you have an album which delivers at
every turn within the songs and within every song change.
Madness
of the Night have worked long and hard on this album and it shows.
Powerful, Haunting, Passionate and Aggressive are just a few of the
words that we would use to describe "The Asgarda", but possibly the best
way to describe Madness of the Night would be to end this article in
the same way it started - in their own words: "We Are Goth Rockers And We Don't Care!"
The Asgarda is available from Massacre Records from November 29th.
