Issue 6 - TWF Magazine

Free 14-Track Michael Aston CD
Issue 6
Spring 2006
£3.95
Michael Aston
Gene Loves Jezebel
Speak on their finest offering to date!
Cauda P a vonis lead
the Car ni v al Noir
Also
Pics
insid
from
eW hit
b
Soc
y Dra
cula
Gran iety’s se
cond
d Ma
sque
rade
Ball
Pr o-Jekt
Fr eudstein
deadf ilmstar
Synthetic Cultur e
Plus: Jobs, Colt, Action Directe, News, Reviews and much, much more
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EDITORIAL
Music Editor
Kevin Morris
Fashion Editor
M. R. McGowan
Designer/Art Director
Lars Hagman
Contributors
Bryan F Irving, Gemz Morris,
Laura Sedgwick, David Marshall
Printing
Jasprint
Circulation Director
Kevin Morris
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Disclaimer: The Worst Fanzine strives to offer an
impartial view of all aspects of the Gothic/Alternative
Scene - so just because you buy us drinks doesn’t
mean we’ll add points to your review, but hey, we’ll
happily take the drinks off you.
The Worst Fanzine strives to avoid politics of
every nature, there may be a lot of questions in here,
but this is not Question Time. TWF’s policies are
against the publication of pornographic nature, this
sadly means we won’t be interviewing Rock Bitch
again.
The editor reserves the right to alter anything
submitted to fit into the magazines guidelines.
Submitted reviews are not necessarily the
opinions of the editor - hey this is about what is good
and what’s not, not what the editor likes. Also we
cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of
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No children, animals or dwarves were hurt, killed or
injured in the creation of this magazine. We are very
careful like that.
Any similarities within this disclaimer or any other
part of the magazine with that in another publication,
living or deceased, is purely coincidental.
C on ten ts
Music
Cauda Pavonis
6
They’ve gone from 2, to 3, to 4!
Freudstein
12
Brighton electronic band bring Mass Misery to the Market.
Gene Loves Jezebel
16
Michael Aston speaks about ‘Exploding Girl’.
Pro Jekt
20
Defying the rules yet again….
deadfilmstar
23
We quickly catch them before they tour with Mortiis.
Lifestyle
The House That Dripped Blood & Beer in 2006
9
Whitby Dracula Society’s second Masquerade Ball.
Careers at TWF
14
Ever fancied working for us?
Regulars
Incoming
4
All the latest news and happenings.
Pondering The Wonders of the Universe
11
This issue: Why do we go on holidays?
Living Witness
24
Reviews of live performances.
Audio Autopsy
28
The latest CD's under the knife.
TWF Mail Order
37
Buy back issues of TWF.
Clubbed to Death
38
This issue at Synthetic Culture in London.
Sometimes I wonder where the time goes. It’s actually now been 2 years since the first issue in this current TWF series and
I remember the day we cracked open that box of Issue 1’s and thinking how fantastic they looked. Fittingly, one of the bands
from that issue is in this issue, Cauda Pavonis. A band that really should be on the cover of magazines like this, but the
competition between bands was just too high and they narrowly lost out to the legendary Gene Loves Jezebel. I’ve got to
think we must be doing something right when it becomes a tough choice of cover stars due to the high quality of included
bands.
Pro-Jekt and Freudstein also deliver long-awaited offerings that do not disappoint and with deadfilmstar on the brink of a tour
with Mortiis (which, if you bought this issue on the week of release, they should be on now…) I am starting to say what I say
at the start of every year.
“Boy, this must be the year the Goth scene blows through the roof”
One of these years I will be right. But as things are now, as long as enough people in the scene are interested in the band
and can enjoy the music, we can at least do so without the “You only like it because it’s popular” jeers.
And if this is one of those years, at least you can respond with “Yes, but I was listening to them before everyone else”
I’d like to think that TWF is up there with some of the other excellent UK scene magazines, as a source where you can read
about these bands before the ‘Goth Revolution Commeth’
It will come one day…
3
Mixing the Flock as Legendary Bar Closes
Legendary Leeds night club Bar Phono has ceased trading. Bar Phono has been a part of the Leeds goth
scene for many years, and may have inspired The Sisters of Mercy song ‘Floorshow’. In recent years has been
home to club/band nights such as ‘Friday Flock’ and ‘Black Sheep’
The closure follows as the Merrion Centre (large Leeds shopping centre, where the Phono is located) made the
decision not to renew the lease as it expired, as they no longer wish for it to be licensed premises.
However, a new home has been found in the shape of a new venue in the form of The Mixing Tin, also in Leeds.
The first night at The Mixing Tin was on the 14th April 2006 and was opened by Screaming Banshee Aircrew.
Devilish thief gets Slippery Customer
A thief got more than he bargained for when he tried stealing Devilish Presley bass player Jacqui
Vixen's guitar on a tube on the Central line. The case actually contained Jacqui's pet python, which
was on its way for a check up at the vet. The snake was released from the case and in the confusion
of screaming and frightened commuters the thief managed to get away. After being questioned by
police both Ms Vixen and ‘Snax’ the snake were released without charge.
Devilish Presley are currently on tour, forthcoming dates are:
28/04/06 London Garage, 30/04/06 Dudley JB's 10/06/06 Brighton B-Lo (Formerly The Joint)
29/07/06 The 12 Bar Club, London 03/08/06 The White Room, Hull 18/08/06FRIDAY AUGUST
Junktion 7, Nottingham
Action Directe mix up their Guns
The first release from the new four-piece Action Directe will be
the long-awaited single '60 Million Guns', which will be
dropped from above on 1st March. The single will feature
several remixes of the title track, as well as a CD-ROM
section of anti-war websites, articles, lyrics and information,
and even remix files so you can produce your own mix. You'll
be able to dance and shake your fist to it, as well as becoming
more informed as to the issues surrounding the song.
The band's next move, in order to both draw a line under the
past and point towards the future, will be an album of rerecorded and remixed versions of the band's best songs to date, featuring the new line-up. Entitled 'Def
Before Dishonour', it will feature updated and reworked versions of 'Home', 'Dissidenti', 'Better Dead
Than Red', 'Spirit of '89', 'Official Hooligans', 'Compatriot Games' , 'Zealots', 'Bullet', 'Hope', 'Oktober',
'England' and '60 Million Guns'. Release for 'Def Before Dishonour' is set for April.
On top of that, the band are still hard at work on the follow-up to 2004's 'Counterculture' album. Songs
currently under construction are 'There Is No Going Back', 'US/UK', 'Sufferation ', 'For Your Protection'
and 'Postcards'. The album is expected later in 2006.
4
Church of Nightbreed now Free
The Church of Nightbreed has now dropped its subscription charge and is now free.
The downloads have also been removed, but in its place is the latest rising community forum.
The site can be found at www.churchofnightbreed.com
Goteki Disband
Brighton based electro band Goteki are set
to call it a day following their performance at
Elektrofest on 30th April No reason was
given for the split, but the band assure fans
they will return one day, but not in the
Goteki guise.
Goteki had previously been novelty act
Sneaky Bat Machine but moved across to
Goteki for a more serious front. Releasing
‘Goteki O/S’ via Wasp Factory, followed by a
remix album their last offering was ‘internet
only’ release ‘Revolution’, which was
eventually pressed as a CD.
New Narcissus Pool Material
However, while Goteki may have packed it in, I for one was happy to see the arrival of two new
Narcissus Pool songs.
If you scurry along to http://www.myspace.com/narcissuspool two new tracks in the form of ‘Kiss Me in
front of Jesus’ and ‘Playground Level’ are there for your listening pleasure.
Both from highly anticipated new album ‘Follow the Rats’
No release date has been confirmed for the album at this time.
TWF Magazine… Presents…
On the 12th February this year, TWF Magazine moved into new territories. The stage was in
Newcastle’s newest live music venue, The Academy and on that stage were cover stars Gene Loves
Jezebel, supported by Rome Burns.
This should hopefully be the first of many TWF events within the North-East, working closely with
long-running Goth night ‘The Charnel House’
This issue will be too late in going to press to announce and too soon to review, but Colt (previously
known as Living With Eating Disorders) are set to headline the next joint event at the Dog N Parrot
on April 6th.
This should hopefully provide regular scene bands in the region for the first time since the unfortunate
fall of Requiem in 2003.
This is also the first steps in TWF’s plans of global invasion – but we don’t want to tell you it all just
yet…
Stay tuned for more news of local events – or keep up to speed via the magazines website, MySpace
or LiveJournal. See page 3 for more info on each of these.
5
Join the Carnival Noir
Cauda Pavonis have joined a rare breed.
They’re one of only two bands I’ve
interviewed 3 times. Although, chances
are you won’t have read the first one – as
that was in TWF’s original run in
an issue that got pulled (ironically with
the other ‘3 timers’ second interview) but
that’s besides the point.
If TWF has interviewed a band 3 times, it
means one thing – they keep doing
things worth interviewing them for.
Not of course being disrespectful to many other
bands, but I’ve always thought each year that it would be Cauda
Pavonis’ year that year. Their recent part of renewing my belief in
this has been new EP ‘Carnival Noir’, but it’s a release that seems
to have brought a lot of promise on itself.
“Yeah it has,” agreed Dave Wainwright, Cauda Pavonis drummer
and co-founding member, “It’s been picked up by a small
independent record label, Chromium Records, it’s what we’ve been
working on all of this time – and we’re retaining control of the
product, which is the most important thing to us. We’re keeping the
whole creative control, image control, everything. It’s fantastic.”
Since the last time I spoke to Cauda Pavonis, they’ve had a
member leave and two new members join. The band, co-founded
by Dave Wainwright and vocalist Su Farr, are now joined with Tom
Cole on bass and Chris Hines on guitar.
Ultimately, this really gives the band an extra edge. I mean, even
my first impressions on the new EP was that the sound was still the
core Cauda Pavonis sound, albeit now sounding stronger – almost
like having an extra dimension to the music.
Vocalist Su Farr was pleased by my initial impressions, “That is
exactly what we were aiming for, I mean adding guitars to the sound
that was the experiment which pushed things out further in many
ways. It really has made a difference to give a wider, larger sound
to the engine Dave refers to as the Cauda Pavonis wall of sound”
“Yeah, the juggernaut,” adds Dave
Su resumes, “What we were trying to achieve was to keep our
quirky edge, our little bit of ‘strange’, but still have something
different.”
As mentioned above – this is the third time I’ve interviewed Cauda
Pavonis. Ironically, the first time was as a two-piece, second time
as a three-piece and third time as a four-piece, so how’s all this
working out?
“It’s an interesting experience,” begins Su, “It’s a lot easier when
there are only 2 of you to get ready and 2 of you to make
arrangements with. When there are 3, it becomes phone calls and
‘can you make them?’, ‘Will you be?’ and ‘Are you?’ Then when
there are 4 of you, it is a juggling act. We all work, so fitting the
band around two people’s commitments is
a lot easier than fitting the band are four
people’s commitments
Now, that’s something I’d always wondered
about, not a lot of people know this but
practically every member in every
Goth/Scene band within the UK has a full
time job, I often wondered just how the
time is found to make music and tour!
“You see, there’s this candle” explains
Dave, “and you burn both ends of it”.
Su continues “It’s very much burning – and
it does involve a lot of commitment for
people doing a day job. It’s very easy to
try and apportion blame or to try and find
out why this is happening, but the scene is
quite small and personally I don’t think free
downloads help.”
Of course, downloading is a hot topic at
the minute. I have my personal opinions
on it, which have been reflected in the
pages of TWF in the past – and depending
on the way of the world, may again in the
future. But for the sake of argument, we’ll accept it’s just a
coincidence that various independent record labels went bust and
many smaller and medium bands were dropped from their labels
due to poor sales at around the same time that internet downloading
took off.
“We’ve actually been contacted by a guy doing a Russian Goth site,
who asked us for a copy of our EP, for free, so others could
download if for free.” Said Su, “And he thought we should be
delighted he asked for one.”
“This last release has cost us just under £3,000, without
advertising,” points out Dave. “The internet is not a good place to
advertise, so we take our base back to magazines. If people own a
magazine, they don’t throw a magazine away. The Internet is
probably a great place – and we cannot prove what effect
downloading is having as nobody has really tried to put it together
yet. However, at the same time we have to say that we like to be
paid for our product.”
Su sums up some of the down sides around this, “Of course the
problem now is that some independent record labels are less willing
to take a chance”
“And we are a chance,” declares Chris.
“Yes,” agrees Su, “We are something different, I mean everybody
that has heard it has said that there isn’t really anything out there
that sounds like us.”
I do think that that is one of the things that cuts Cauda Pavonis from
a lot of the other bands, they don’t really sound like anyone else.
They’re a band that if you like them and their playing your town and
you’re trying to persuade your friend to go, you can’t say “Oh, if you
like band x you’ll like/love/cherish/adore them”
Or even the clichéd “They’re like band A having a fight with band B,
while band C referees” or something.
But how does something like this happen?
Su explains, “The musical tastes of the band is vastly eclectic, I
mean my music collection contains everything from early music
through to Motorhead through out the other side and I give
everything a reasonable hearing”
“Even your birthday present!” points out Tom.
“Yes,” Su continues, “Tom gave me a CD he could on describe as
7
being ‘Grade A Filth’ which included bands like Wumpscut and
Implant and God knows who else, which is a place I’ve never been
before. Dave is more Metal for example. I think this all comes out
as a mix in our final sound. Dave and I are still the writing
partnership and we create the framework to the sound which drives
the music along.”
Chris explains his and Tom’s place, “But once the framework is built
and we go into rehearsal, then we play.”
Su takes a joke dominant role, “But, I think it’s good control is firmly
in my grip!”
Dave points out “The music is made by 4 people now but at the end
of the day, but we sit down with the biggest voice. I won’t say that
Chris and Tom don’t put anything in”
Su jokes, “It is kind of ‘can you play this?’ and if it requires an
opinion, it’s wrong!”
I then had a vision of a guitarist requiring an extra arm to play what
he (or she) was told, Su has a better idea , “Or tails! Cool guitarists
should all come with a tail;
they could come over the
top…”
Tom continues, “…and just
pound one note! But, as
strange as this sounds –
we wouldn’t have it any
other way!”
Dave finishes this debate,
“It does work, but you have
to have focus”
OK, I have touched on the
strength of ‘Carnival Noir’,
the EP. The title track in
particular has an almost
Gothic Carnival feel to it…
“It started as a very vague
tongue-in-cheek,” explains
Su, “I mean the intro
was an almost
f a i r g r o u n d music.”
“It’s a natural sequel to ‘Nine to Five Freakshow’” adds
Tom.
Su ponders, and then agrees, “Well, yeah, it’s about that
sort of people, up and down the country. I like the idea of
bringing that sort of people to the fore, but do it in a kind
of carnival. A procession of people or rather a procession
of strange people.”
I also was personally impressed by the second track,
‘Goodnight Kiss’
“Ah…” shudders Tom, “We (pointing to himself and Chris)
hate that one…” (in a trying to play it live way)
“‘Goodnight Kiss’ is not difficult…” argues Su, “then
again, I’m the vocalist.”
“It really keeps us on our toes!” Tom exclaims.
Dave points out, “‘Goodnight Kiss’ is a nod back to where
we came from, because we’ve never really moved away
from that.”
Tom agrees, “‘Goodnight Kiss’ is very in the vein of
‘Pistols at Dawn’”
Dave continues, “I think this goes back to the fact that we
write what we write…”
Su wraps the sentence up perfectly by adding, “…and not
what we’re supposed to write!”
Su continues, “There was a period where I started to
think what we ought to sound like, if we wanted to be
picked up by record companies, if we wanted to be
successful, if we wanted what some of the other bands in
the scene have, what would we have to do. . And the
results were shit! The results have never been aired. I
want to do what we do.”
Dave agrees and emphasises, “This phase lasted about
a week, but there’s time when you have to sit and think
‘what aren’t we doing right here?’”
Chris re-assures, “When you’re having periods of doubt,
it kind of cuts out the fact you’re still selling albums”
“Yes,” agrees Dave, “‘Pistols at Dawn’ was our best seller
for a long period of time, now it’s ‘Sigil’ and we’re
considering whether we should re-press it or not, which is fantastic.”
Su considers live success, “I think though, we’d be incredibly
wealthy if I had £1 for every time after a show somebody has come
up to us and said “Oh, you’re not shit at all!”, we seem to have this
reputation from somewhere that we are not incredibly good, yet
when people sit down and listen to us people say something like
that.”
Tom agrees “Cardiff was one of the definitives”
Su smiles, “Yeah, they all loved ‘Controversial Alchemy’ but didn’t
know who it was by until we played it!”
Now, we’ll go back to what I said at the start. Each year I’m
convinced it could be Cauda Pavonis’ year – and well, their CV
doesn’t disprove my theory, but how far will they have come by the
next time I interview them. The band considers…
“Well, ‘Sigil’ got us 2 television appearances, four compilation
appearances and this EP has got us a label!” points Dave, rolling
straight from the top of his mind
Su is ambitious, “I’d love to say World Domination, but I think from
here it would be nice to continue as a group. To use the release as
a stepping stone to help us continue exploring without resorting to
tried and tested formula’s.”
Chris likes how things are moving, as he says, “I like the fact we’re
constantly experimenting”
Dave likes to work in targets, “The signing was a target, but one I
was never expecting to get. I’ve played in bands a long time, so I
set targets. I’d love to say we’d be in a position where we can hand
something back to the scene. I’d like to be able to only work only
on the band and not a job as well.”
Which allows me to wrap up in perfect agreement, “You and me
both…”
Words: Kevin Morris
Images: Pat Hawkes-Reed
(and beer)
in
2006
Following the success of the first Masquerade Ball last year,
the Whitby Dracula Society produced some more of the same
this year.
Again held at the Metropole in Whitby, the venue was a sea of
stunning costumes. Some people had really put a lot of effort
into their costume but even the simplest of outfits looked very
effective.
The theme this year was red, along with a prize for ‘Best use
of the colour red’ which went to a young lady with red fairy
lights in her hair!
Music was again provided by Axy666 (Spiders, Nottingham –
and now Sexy Sunday) as well as the house DJs from The
Charnel House in Newcastle (Ghost, Marie, Viper and
Kev36663) who between them provided a strong mix of
Gothic classics as well as newer material.
Overall, another strong and fun night for all in attendance.
The success was so high, they’re now looking to have a ball of
sorts once every six months.
9
Whitby Dracula Society can be contacted at:
Whitby Dracula Society
PO Box 81, Whitby. North Yorkshire. YO21 1WW
E-mail: "mailto:wds@darknetweb.co.uk"
10
Photos: Lars Hagman and David Marshall
(Pondering)
The Wonders of the Universe
We’re all going on a Summer Holiday…
…But why? Please somebody tell me why? I know
it’s only April, but it’s not long before all of your workmates
will start telling you all about the Summer holidays they’re
going on…
Like most things I ponder, I don’t completely rubbish things
from the start, to every rule there are many exceptions. So
firstly, there are people who go on holiday to visit new places,
explore culture, relax, sightsee, etc.
In fact, about 90% of reasons for people to go on a holiday I
see no problem or wonder with – but there are always that
other 10%…
When you go on holiday there are always some people who
fall into that other group – and that’s the bit I’m going to
ponder first.
Looking at things from a straight point of view, can you see
any point of the following? Flying to another country, then
clubbing all night (often bars shut around 8am) sleeping all
day. When you eventually get up, recovering from a
hangover or making it round to the nearest pool to recover in
time for the nights clubbing.
Well it’s amazing how many people do that, the only sights
they see are the pool, the bar and (in some cases) the gutter.
Which does ask an almighty “why” – if you want to get drunk
then you can at home for much less than the price of a
holiday (and you’re less likely to get sunstroke or take ill
through heat)
However, let’s not be stereotypical, as an overall whole it is a
minority who does that – but there are many other things
around holidays I have to question.
Firstly, one of my
favourite things for
ridiculing in the
world… sun beds! To
quote somebody I
know: “I want to get a
tan before I go,
because I’m afraid in
case I don’t come
back with one.” OK,
you’re going to the
Med. (for example) in
August, where it’ll be
an average around
34C and worried you
won’t get a tan…
right…
Although the other
way round, something
that’s quite humorous
on obvious. Is when
somebody comes
back from holiday on
the Monday (for
example), but
suddenly has more of
a tan by Tuesday or Wednesday, despite it raining two days
solid in England… hmm… maybe it’s rust.
But we’ll go back to being away on holiday. And it’s
holidaymakers I’m going to dig at. There are some people
you bump into a few times on holiday. You maybe see them
at the airport on the first day with a massive case – yet all
week they permanently wear an England top…
What’s that all about? All in groups, all wearing England
tops, is it to reduce conversation so that they don’t have to
tell people that ask where they are from? And it’s always
English people, you never see Italians in masses wearing
Italy tops for example (unless there’s a match in the area).
And while I’m on ‘English pride’ bashing… what’s the point of
English Pubs and Restaurants on holiday? Some people
seem to hunt them out as part of some phobia of foreign food
(despite the fact that if they were at home they’d happily
have an Indian, Chinese or a Kebab) and beer.
I am again speaking out at some minorities here, but it’s part
of some hypocrisy around these people with ‘English pride’ –
if they’re that proud of the country (which they must be, they
haven’t taken off their England top all week) then some of
them need to ask themselves why do they insist on showing
the country up and giving it a bad name? Emphasising my
point I’m only speaking against minorities, but you often hear
reports on the news of British tourists being arrested for
drunken violence abroad, sex on the streets or general
drunken loutish behaviour.
There’s not much sun in the cells so no wonder they have to
sun bed it when they get back…
Kevin Morris
Misery to the Masses
Brighton’s Freudstein are one of those bands I
seriously thought had dropped off the face of the
planet. As I soon found, they’d just been hiding in
a laboratory, creating their own ‘Freudstein’s
Monster’ (bet they’ve never had that comparison
before…) in the form of second full length album
‘Mass Market Misery’. Kevin Morris caught up with
them to find out more…
Gosh, it's been a while since the last release - what have you
been doing in this time?
Andrew: Drinking champagne and flying around in gold plated
helicopters. Not really, we've been living our lives holed up in
David's laboratory conducting evil sound experiments and working
on our new album. It took a bit longer than expected, but is all the
better for it. Once you hear it you'll know why! We're not lazy, just
perfectionists. Every track is sonically original in its own way and
had to be just right.
David: Creating the music of Freudstein is time consuming,
successful songs must be allowed to grow and mature. We have
been experimenting with song writing, production techniques and
synthesis to make sure our new album is a major advancement
from our first.
And wasn't 'Mass Market Misery' supposed to be out in 2004…
Andrew: Like all good bands we love going over our budget, studio
time and deadlines. Next time we'll try and outdo Brian Wilson's 20
years in the studio to complete 'Pet Sounds'. I know we can do it if
we really try. Might break the label, though.
David: It is worth the wait. There is also plenty more material written
since then that is not on Mass Market Misery that will be coming
your way soon...
OK - enough taunting about the absence... on to the actual
release... we'll start at the beginning, can you explain more
about 'Return to the Old Forest' and the influences and ideas
that went into that?
12
Andrew: We're both very much influenced by horror films and
horror film soundtracks. Return to the Old Forest is the sound of us
luring the listener into the forest and the cinematic world of
Freudstein. Visually I've always thought of that song as an
alternative track to the opening scene from the Dario Argento film
Suspiria. The forest is also a good metaphor for being lost in the
wilderness with just the dark and our fears to keep us company. As
an opener it makes sense in the fact the album comes full circle,
like a Mobius Strip and after one listen your back in the forest where
you began. There's no escape.
David: Imagine the start of your journey into the album... the
crooked trees grabbing at your clothes as you push your way
through the undergrowth. What awaits you? The mood is
reminiscent of a soundtrack, but it is not time yet for the full-on
horror that awaits. You must be drawn in before your punishment
begins! We were once reviewed as 'I don't know whether to dance
or kill myself'... this track plays on the sounds of different genres
blended together to introduce the listener to the wide variety of
sounds and styles they can expect to hear. Is the album going to be
dancey, heavy, atmospheric..?
I personally don't own a copy of 'Mondo Freudo' - some of the
readers might, some might not - for those that do - how would
you explain the main differences and developments between
the two albums?
Andrew: Mondo Freudo was the sound of Freudstein coming to life.
It's pretty dark and eclectic in its disregard for any one genre style
and has everything from cold wave to dark wave to punk and
techno with us and a variety of guest singers. Whereas with Mass
Market Misery, we intentionally set out to create something more
cohesive, more conceptual, more horrific. This is the perfect meld of
one sound and our personalities - no more guest singers! We both
sing on this and give a voice to our emotional and political worlds. I
guess it's a kind of awakening from the world of 'Mondo Freudo' that
we're now stuck in the real world and it's a pretty scary place to be.
Especially inside our heads.
David: Mondo Freudo was us doing whatever the fuck we wanted...
as is Mass Market Misery. The main difference is on our 2nd album
we have tried to build on what we see as the success of the first
album. We are very conscious that we are to avoid getting 'one
sound' like so many bands out there, but also felt we needed more
focus for the second album. We have concentrated on trying to
make all the songs 'A' sides if you will. All the songs have been
played live for quite a while, and have had time to grow. I have been
learning a lot about production and engineering. Everything has
been taken to the next level from the song writing to the intricate
levels of the production.
Also, what influenced the decision for a sequel to 'Filthy Little
Whore'
David: The Filthy Little Whore songs are a trilogy based on a vivid
dream I had many years ago. The moment I woke up I knew I had
to keep the memory of the wretched main character alive
somehow... how better than in music. I saw her lying in an asylum
bed surrounded by flames. She showed me what had happened to
her within the flames, within the body of an impaled infant turning on
a spit. No joke... the scene was hallucinogenic in the extreme, the
flames were burning all colours and the room was rotating. I have
always had vivid and horrific dreams... this one was more like a
communication from someone, maybe from hell.
Her name is Emily and she was
around 20 years old in the dream...
if you have heard 'Filthy Little Whore
Pt 1' on Mondo Freudo you will
know the relationship with her
parents was not good as a child.
Part 1 tries to make you understand
where she came from. The song
was sung by a friend's daughter for
us and we had problems convincing
her parents about her performing
the dark lyrics, but I don't think there
was any lasting damage.
In 'Filthy Whore Part 2' you will learn
about what happened after the
ghastly incident in part one, and
where she ended up. I hope you will
feel some of the horror of her
situation. The spoken intro was
recorded by 'The Bat' from Poland; I
think his accent is beyond belief for
this narration. I really hope people
see the black humour in the 'Filthy
Little Whore' trilogy... All my
favourite music borders on over the
top... it’s a fine line to tread. Part 3
will be the most horrific of all...
And, how would you best
describe the heart of the album,
the 'Robots' trilogy?
Andrew: Robots is a tirade against the institutions that remain
unquestioned and bind us to a life of servitude. Just look where it's
got us - our reliance on politicians, capitalism and fading carbon
fuels is set to cast us into a hell of our own making. Some 50 years
ago Charles Darwin predicted this but no-one listened, saying "the
fifth revolution will come when we have spent the stores of coal and
oil that have been accumulating in the earth during hundreds of
millions of years...” It's happening, fact. But who knows, maybe
people will take a stand against their own countries fighting over the
remaining scraps of world resources and reclaim their lives and their
rightful world. We'll see...
David: When people say 'don't be political' I find that ridiculous.
Everything is political... being 'non political' is the most political
position anyone can take! Politics has been hijacked and
deliberately turned into something that turns people off. You are not
meant to be interested in it. What we have in England is a very
serious situation where there is no longer any difference in the main
political parties... we might as well be living in a fascist one party
state. Everything is run by the corporations; political parties are now
just there to give the illusion of democracy. We are living in what
has been termed 'a necessary illusion'.
The robots trilogy is trying to shake people up and wake them from
their apathy. Our official role in society is that of a slave. Work -
Consume - Die. That's it. You are nothing more than a robot. I say
FUCK THAT. I want to be alive, a human being. Every day I walk
down the street and I feel sick inside, if this is the best way of living
humanity can manage we might as well just commit mass suicide.
90% of everything you see and read is pure bullshit. It takes a great
personal effort to take the time to really think about how the world is
run and in whose interest. Everyone wants the easy life and ignores
the facts staring them in the face. War is normal, not some terrible
event that 'has' to happen every now and again. Starvation of
millions is fine... that is the system we live in. It is YOUR system.
The only question you need to ask is what are YOU going to do
about changing it?
And is 'Sister Sleaze' about anybody in particular?
David: I will let Andrew answer that.
Andrew: I'm not at liberty to answer that - the names have been
changed to protect the innocent! But, let's just say Sister Sleaze
was written firmly tongue in cheek and was never have meant to
have left my bedroom, err, I mean, studio. I like to think of the song
as our answer to Sex Dwarf by Soft Cell. I guess it's like a lot of
personal things that by being in a
band, people get to hear it by default.
Are there any other songs on the
album you’d like to talk about?
Andrew: A lot of the tracks are far
more personal than on Mondo
Freudo, and I think that reflects how
much more comfortable we've
become as writers and performers.
With the first album we hid behind
guest singers for the most part, which
made it feel more like a collective.
This time it's just us and is all the
darker and more aggressive for it.
David: There is not much joy on this
album. There is much dark humour,
but not much uplifting glow stick
waving happy faces. I suggest your
readers buy it from our web site
www.freudstein.co.uk and write to us
with their opinions :)
Unless I'm mistaken you recently
played your first gig of 2006, what
was that like?
Andrew: Pretty destructive. It was in
our home town, Brighton. At every gig
we try and push the genre boundaries
a little with new songs, mixing dance
stuff next to heavy guitar stuff. Each
set is so wildly different, with each of us swapping instruments and
vocal duties, so that people really get their money's worth! There
aren't a lot of bands out there daring to challenge the audience and
themselves. Most bands just have a slightly different guitar tone and
the 'right' clothes and forget about the music.
David: Good fun! I even got to give out some horror DVD's in the
'interval'. Our gigs are always fun, we want to try to enjoy ourselves
even more than the audience. Sometimes we might get a bit carried
away... I think I ended up reading 1984 over industrial noises on the
spur of the moment... strange things can happen. I always try to
involve the audience, but I went a bit far trying to tie up Psychophile
with the mic cable mid song. Got a telling off...
Now you've got MMM out, what are your plans for the
remainder of 2006?
Andrew: To go into therapy and rehab at least twice. But no,
seriously, we want to get the music out there and for people to hear
why we've spent so long making it. Most bands never get past the
'difficult' second album and fold, but we've done it and we're here to
stay. Look out for us on the live circuit and festivals.
David: World domination. We are appearing in some big Japanese
and US magazines, along with a new Polish radio show in the very
near future. We will attempt to play as many gigs as possible in as
13
many far away places as we can.
We also have a remix and out-takes album nearly ready to release.
It features remixes we have done of other bands including Swarf &
Chaos Engine. It also has some amazing remixes of tracks from
Mass Market Misery by some really great bands.
Obviously I like the release, but how do you think the rest of
the scene will receive it, especially after such a lengthy
absence from recorded material?
Andrew: As for the 'scene', we've never really been about fitting in,
our music is too varied. We're not part of the cheesy EBM thing,
thank god, so at least we're not trying to make music by numbers –
an Ibiza beat with cheap synths and pseudo angry vocals about
nothing!...Every new band sounds the same and it's all so
emotionally detached and fake. Someone should put it out of its
misery - Mass Market Misery, a case in point! I rest my case.
David: All the best albums take a long time to record. I think their
heads will explode with joy at how original and musical it is.
Whatever anyone says, this album is like no other I have heard.
And do you expect any invitations for big events from it?
Andrew: Yes, we're really excited about people and promoters
hearing the new Freudstein material. So, the ride has only just
begun.
David: Yes, but we have nothing confirmed as of yet. Keep an eye
on our web site for more details.
I understand there were a few decisions about which label to
release this record on - how did you decide which one to
release it on in the end?
David: Our old friends at Wasp Factory made us an offer that made
a lot of sense. We are also going to be using our own web site as a
centre of promotion from now on, and have a member’s area that
you can log on to for rare and special tracks.
Anything else to add...?
Andrew: Yeah, do whatever you can to listen to the truth behind
media 'events' and ask yourself who benefits and why? I mean the
media bombardment people pay for every day with their so-called
lifestyles in the pursuit of empty values that have had their day. For
example, the combustion engine was invented 100 years ago and
they're trying to sell me it just because the aesthetics are 'sexy' (isn't
everything in advertising) that it's still 'new'. A bit like those car
adverts that show people driving through the countryside, enjoying
it, when really they're the fucking problem. They're the one's killing
it. Oh, these heady days of double-think would make Orwell weep.
People should open their eyes and take a long hard look at the
world they've accepted and be ashamed. It's time for change. Go
out there and find out things for yourself and see what's really
happening, see what information you haven't been told: the internet
is a good place to start and documentaries such as 'The
Corporation', and 'End Of Suburbia' are required viewing. Don't tell
us we didn't warn you in 5 years when we're all on the precipice and
there's no turning back.
David: The next time you go to an 'alternative' club night, if you
hear a new tune the DJ is playing, don't run to the bar. Stay and
listen... if there is to be new energy in 'the scene' it is going to take
new bands and new sounds... not the fucking Sisters of Mercy
‘Temple of Love’ for the millionth time.
The world is a very dark place at the moment, but try to keep a
sense of humour or you may go insane. It is going to get a lot worse
before it gets better. Don't be afraid to face the truth, and question
everything.
Words: Kevin Morris
Careers at TWF Magazine
Every now and then we receive a CV or an application for a job
at TWF Magazine. Unfortunately, as good as many applicants are,
they’re for vacancies we don’t actually have – or we cannot actually
use the individuals’ skills, abilities or credentials.
So, we thought we’d knock together some vacancies we do have –
so if anyone wishes to apply, this is what we do have available.
Office Junior
In your role of Office Junior, you will be responsible for all of the
basic duties of an Office Assistant.
You will require strong powers of negotiation and persuasion, up to
the level of persuading printers that there is no paper jam. You will
also be responsible for answering the telephone and reminding
anyone selling double glazing that we’re TPS registered. You will
also be in charge of the dynamic and crucial role of making teas
and coffees. This will be an extremely high level job and you will
need excellent time management skills and the ability to act quickly
and to deadlines – especially as the core TWF team all live 20
miles away from each other.
Head of Advertising
In this role you will be responsible for ensuring that advertising
revenue is at least equal to the budget. The budget can change by
any amount, without notice and without us telling you, so powers of
ESP are recommended.
In order to avoid overloading the magazine with advertising, you will
be required to keep space consumed by advertising to minimum
and keeping revenue to the maximum. You will also be required to
communicate with the layout and design manager, so applicants
must be fluent in Klingon.
Distribution Agent
You will be responsible for ensuring all stockists have their stock of
14
TWF Magazines, and that they’re positioned on a nice shelf where
everyone can see them, along with persuading other stockists just
how bare their shelves look without them.
Applicants must have a desire for travelling and to save costs, must
express skills in hitch-hiking, sleeping rough (in case a lift home
cannot be found) and ideally must have no/limited social life.
Cardboard boxes will be provided for sleeping rough, but make sure
you’ve sold all of the magazines inside of these first…
Doppelganger
There are times when the other staff may be too busy working on
the magazine to stick to other commitments. This will involve filling
in for staff during their day jobs or at less-interesting social events.
The main requirement for this is that you will need to look and
sound like the person you are filling in for. Ideally, but not
essentially, applicants will also possess shape-shifting abilities to be
able to cover in for different members of staff at different times.
If you do not have shape-shifting qualities, the most important role
to be filled is that of the editor.
When attending the editor’s day-job, the ability to look like you
know what you are doing is even more important than the ability to
actually do it.
The main quality this will require to be convincing is you must have
the knowledge the spout out mundane facts about bands no one
else on the team has ever heard of, while drinking coffee.
You will not be supplied coffee by the office junior, as that would
look suspicious.
If you wish to apply for any of these positions, please contact us at
the usual address, with a full CV and we will send an application
form full of irrelevant questions and questions which you’ve already
answered via your CV
ADVERTISEMENT
Reach a Gothic
Audience direct.
Competitive
ad rates available see
www.twfmagazine.com
for more info or
email sales@twfmagazine.com
The Distant Half
explains Michael, “I take
great pride in that it’s valid
on so many levels”
“It took a great deal out of
us but I think it stands up
as a remarkable
document. It’s just
beautiful. I wish more
people could hear it. “
The musical CV of Gene Loves Jezebel
stretches back for nearly 25 years. Over
this time they’ve made some very key
releases as well as influencing many, many,
scene bands. The Eastern style guitars in the intro
to ‘Deliverance’ by The Mission can be directly traced to
earlier experiments by Gene Loves Jezebel.
However it may seem, they haven’t just been sitting
around doing nothing since 1987. There have been
many albums release, including newest offering
‘Exploding Girls’
Kevin Morris caught up with vocalist Michael Aston to
discuss the new album and events over recent years
and begins by asking what it’s been like to see the
musical world go by.
“To be quite honest I’ve never really paid that much
attention nor heed to what was going on” begins
Michael, “I’ve always recognized how ephemeral pop
culture is for us all. I still feel the same way, us against
the World.”
“Music is a very personal thing and its relevance sadly
is determined by others. I intend to tour and record for
as long as the gods permit.”
Some critics argue ‘Exploding Girls’ to be the best GLJ
for at least 15 years. Across the board it has received
high reviews, most notably being 5/5 in Rolling Stone
Magazine – and it was also last issue’s ‘Album of the
Quarter’ here at TWF.
So, how does Michael feel this stands up in the band’s
musical CV?
“I think there are some of our finest moments on EG,”
The title track on
‘Exploding Girls’ is about
Wafa Idris, Palestine’s first
female suicide bomber.
Now, writing about suicide
bombers is a bit
controversial, isn’t it?
“Well, to be quite frank I
didn’t perceive the song as
being that controversial,”
disagrees Michael, “On a
personal level, it was a
statement I had to make or
God and his Mother Mary
would weep…”
Michael explains further,
“To me the song attempts
to expose the intolerable
oppression and suffering
the Palestinians have to endure under the US backed
Israeli occupation. I’m astonished and angered to this
day that their plight under such grotesque apartheid is
ignored entirely by the press.”
“As far as the bomber girl is concerned, I understood
her and I respect her courage and if you think
murdering children with snipers from watchtowers or
from U.S. supplied apache helicopters is preferable and
more noble, well, that’s absurd and wilfully moronic.”
“The Exploding Girl title is simply a metaphor for
dynamic and powerful women, a tribute to the brave”.
Although Michael
has strong opinions
and presents a
dynamic argument,
not everyone in the
world shares his
views.
One of the
questions that has
to be asked is
whether this can
cause clashes
during the song
writing process,
particularly as the
other band
members are
American?
“There is no real
clash,” re-assures
Michael, “Inasmuch
as my band isn’t patricianly conscious on a political
level; they [the other band members] are after all like
many Americans sheltered from the facts.” “They have
not the desire to discover neither truths nor empathies
with the victims of the evil Empire. I thought US foreign
policy/imperialism monstrous, long before they
pulverized Iraq, Hiroshima, Central America, Vietnam,
the list is endless.”
“Americans generally really don’t care about anything
beyond big screen TVs and cheap gasoline. They love
to present themselves as a loving giving people, but if
they dug a little deeper they would discover there is no
real giving, it’s all take. They are participating in the
culture of death, albeit unconsciously”
“This Country was built on the blood of millions of
Native Americans, the greatest genocide in history and
it continues to pillage the World of its resources by way
of its colossal killing machine.”
So is it difficult working with American musicians?
“No not at all, Gene Loves Jezebel have had some very
diverse and intelligent folk in the band …The present
Americans just view me as a passionate eccentric…and
they are correct. Despite this, I like Americans; I even
married one.”
Of course, ‘Exploding Girls’ is an extremely strong
album. The band have also continually toured for it,
across America and the UK many times since its
release. On a recorded front, I am hoping that the
band has plans to continue releasing albums.
“Oh most definitely,” assures Michael, “It’s because I
feel we have barely arrived and are not truly
appreciated yet.”
“In my honest opinion, our current work stands up
against anyone’s; I believe if we continue to make such
potent sonic statements the audience will eventually
catch on.
After all, Gene Loves Jezebel
is far and away the best band
alive; we simply bury the
opposition…”
As mentioned above, GLJ
have popped into the UK a few
times for an odd tour over the
few years (although, this is not
the band that played WGW)
so, how have these tours
been?
“Oh, we definitely made new
friends and there were old
friends too, it was a wonderful
trip, and people I’d forgotten
about turned up and it was
emotional and memorable…”
Michael steps back a bit, “It
was difficult, to be honest we
have our work cut out getting
over the garbage made so
erroneously on our good name
between 88-93..Damn, a lot of
18
damage was done to the bands reputation in my
absence…”
For those who need a memory jog, or those that simply
don’t know, Gene Loves Jezebel was originally formed
by twins Michael and Jay Aston (the latter not to be
confused with Jay Aston of Bucks Fizz).
In 1988 Michael left the band due to GLJ heading into
more commercial territory.
Between 1998 and 1993 the band released two albums,
‘Kiss of Life’ and ‘Heavenly Bodies’, both of which
veered alarmingly into ‘cheese rock’ territory. Bands
like Whitesnake were big at the time and these two
albums fit right into that dynamic.
On a personal note, I won’t deny there are some good
songs on both albums, but they undoubtedly lost the
more Gothic element the band had in the early 80’s.
There was a brief re-union in 1997, which ended with
Jay trying to sue Michael for playing gigs under the
Gene Loves Jezebel moniker.
The ensuing court battle ended with Jay dropping the
charge ‘with prejudice’ and Michael then trademarking
the name.
Jay and Michael both now tour with different bands,
both named Gene Loves Jezebel, which surely can
cause some confusion.
“When they see such talented, handsome devils as we
they are thrilled, hell, like a real Gene Loves Jezebel
would wear denim on stage?” boasts Michael, “The
other ‘version’ is sad, illegal, washed up and much
worse, bloody boring.”
“It’s also a scandal that the weakest GLJ line-up took
half a million sales down to 30,000 in a heartbeat and
then try to tell the world they are real…”
“The experience was not good, Jay turned up for two
days to sing songs he'd sung and demoed for years.
The playing was awful and I spent most of the time
alone with a disturbed engineer trying to salvage
something.”
“So, no... Jay has nothing to offer but the past and as
you know there is no future in that.”
So, looking to the future, what does Michael have
planned?
“I'm writing... titles and themes at the moment. I'm also
working on my painting at the moment, that and raising
my 4 beautiful young children.”
“I’ve put down some ideas for a new CD and it will be
very touching though I can’t help myself in being
topical. I’m trying to compose the softest, sweetest and
most dreamlike record ever made... Melancholic and
lyrical as ever though…Then again, it might be
something quite the opposite!”
“I believe I have the best group of friends and
musicians ever and we're doing our best work now, I
have a gorgeous wife and fabulous children, my work is
at least respected and I will continue till my last breath.
I love the whole game, every aspect of the musician’s
lot …So, I’ve never been happier, life is good.”
Words: Kevin Morris
During the mid-80’s Gene Loves Jezebel were known
for their dynamic stage shows, the dual vocals of Jay
and Michael setting many-a-venue alight.
OK, Michael’s doing alright at the minute, but does he
ever miss singing onstage with Jay?
“I always loved having him around and on stage I think
we were unique and beyond compare in the history of
popular music.
“It could have been so much greater but alas he wanted
something we created all to himself. There has been so
much pain in my life as a consequence of his meddling,
interference and loathing.”
“I'll never understand why he destroyed something so
special but to be quite honest I'm glad it's over. I'm
blessed with gifted musicians and feel I'm making the
best music of my life. So, yes and no. The loss is all
his.”
Of course in music, anything can (and will happen) is
there not the faintest of possibilities that the two could
one day be re-united on stage?
“Umm...Why?” asks Michael, “We tried it on what
became 7, a dreadful record by all accounts and a
nightmare to make with lazy, uninspiring, clueless
people who had not the talent, energy nor inclination to
make anything of value.”
Michael Aston has kindly donated an exclusive CD that
you will have received with this magazine.
The CD is entitled ‘Blue Mary’ and is not available in the
stores or anywhere else.
All tracks on the CD were hand-picked by Michael and the
CD was produced by Bless Momma and Sugarblade.
The full track list is:
Blue Mary
3:44
Taken from ‘Exploding Girls’
Lifting the Vale
3:59
Taken from ‘Love Lies Bleeding’
Notra Damne De La Fleyr
6:16
Taken from ‘Why Me, Why This, Why Now’
Alive Within
4:09
Taken from ‘Love Lies Bleeding’
Wind and Fire
4:26
Taken from ‘Exploding Girls’
NICO Superstar
5:18
Taken from ‘Giving Up the Ghost’
Loving You is the Best Revenge
4:19
Taken from ‘Love Lies Bleeding’
Why Me, Why This, Why Now
5:13
Taken from ‘Why Me, Why This, Why Now’
Prairie Song
4:14
Taken from ‘Why Me, Why This, Why Now’
Two Boys In a Wheelbarrow
11:38
Taken from ‘Giving Up the Ghost’
Venus in Rags
3:08
Taken from ‘Edith Grove’
Beacon on a Hill
5:45
Taken from ‘Why Me, Why This, Why Now’
Drowning and Waving
3:27
Taken from ‘Giving Up the Ghost’
2 Hungry Women
Taken from ‘Exploding Girls’
5:50
Defying all Odds
A few years ago Pro-jekt started to make a few waves within the scene.
OK, it was closer to ripples than tidal waves, but definitely movement.
Unfortunately, any signs of balls rolling were scuppered when
vocalist Shaun Travis left the band due to ill health.
However, vocalist Mick Witham joined in 2004 and time has
really shown that they’re picking up pace again.
‘Defiance’ is the first album to be released by Pro-jekt since
the installment of Mick at the microphone stand. I had my
own theory behind the choice of album name, but guitarist
Kevin Rice and keyboardist ‘Mysterious’ Al can explain the
actually reasoning behind the name.
“We have always been at the sharp end of people saying
what we can and cannot play,” begins Kev, “Defiance sums
up what we are about at this moment and our attitude to the
Music and Music scene.”
“Also Pro-jekt have gone through quite a few changes and
traumas since our debut album ...so without going into too
much intimate detail we have 'defied' everything that has
happened. Lesser bands may not have carried on, changes
to line up, changes to label ...so again defying the odds....”
Al continues, “One example of our defiant nature is when the
band first formed, way before Encryption, we had a rehearsal
rooms in the cellar of a venue, which unfortunately burnt to
the ground, taking with it most of Pro-jekt’s equipment. That
was a big blow to us, but we just borrowed and hired
equipment and honored all our booked shows, from that
moment we had defined our attitude!”
20
It has been a while that Pro-Jekt have been away on the
recorded front. There’s 4 years between ‘Encryption’ and
‘Defiance’, I personally feel that ‘Defiance’ sounds exactly
how Pro-Jekt should have sounded from day one, but how
much do the band feel they’ve changed between the
releases?
“All bands will say it’s a natural progression from one album
to another,” begins
Kev, “But we have to
say we have worked
really hard on this
album. I think that the
main difference is we
had total control over
the sound and style of
the new album”
Al explains, “Obviously
with Mick now being
the vocalist we have
been able to push the
vocal melodies to a
new level, we also
wanted a heavier live
feel with the guitars
driving the songs.
“One thing we have
worked on is making a
point of writing some
great choruses, not that anything was contrived its just we
put more emphasis on melody. Because we simply could ...”
The release of the album is celebrated with an album launch
party in Hartlepool. A town in Cleveland about forty or so
miles south of Newcastle. A rather strange place to have an
album launch party I would have thought…
“We performed on the Unholy Trinity Tour with our good
friends Moriarti and the Sith and Avoidance of Doubt last
year” explains Kev, “We wanted to get back and do some
shows as the fans there really seemed to like Pro-Jekt. So
we wanted to give more, we always try and do what we want
to do. We have a couple of launch nights in unusual places
this time.
“We just love touring and have arranged dates where we
wanted to perform or had a good reaction on our previous
tours”
The album itself is reviewed in full in this issue of TWF
Magazine. One of the stand-out tracks is ‘Morbid Interactive’
a swiping claw at Britain’s ‘digital generation’
“Yes its the Pro-jekt take on the depressing ‘Reality TV’ and
‘celebrity’ culture that’s bores the shit out or us,” explains
Kev, “People sit in front of their TV’s watching other people
living life to the full, as there own life slips away”
But it’s unavoidable that everyone gets sucked in”
“Could we all do without TV's - Internet or mobile phones
nowadays? You tell
me...?”
Pro-jekt do of course
have a lot more to
offer than just one
track, but what sort of
influences have gone
into the rest of the
album?
“They are all different
flavours of life and are
written as 'snapshots'
to anything around us
at a particular time and
mood,” Explains Al,
“Modern life, fears,
relationships and other
personal things.”
“Our last album was
entitled Encryption
which is a reference to
our words can be seen
and perceived at
different levels, but
only really understood
by the author.”
Kev sums it up, “We
know what the songs
mean to us but we like
the listener to make up
their own mind to what
the lyrics mean to
them”
So, such a gap
between releases is
always a risk, how do
Pro-jekt think this
release will be
received?
“We think if you liked
‘Encryption’ you will
love this!” boasts Kev,
who then thinks and covers his back, “…and....if you hated
‘Encryption’ then it’s new and different so you will love this!”
“As musicians we are proud of the album and the actual
release is a personal triumph anyway, but we hope that
people will embrace the album, the Goth scene has always
been really good to Pro-jekt and long may it continue!”
“We know the songs will break into the Gothic dance floor”
Al picks up the conversation, “As the music we develop
becomes more popular we still haven’t changed the basic
formulae and our flavor, we just embrace anyone who wants
to get into the Pro-jekt groove machine.”
As well as an album, Pro-jekt also have a DVD in the pipeline
and have recorded videos for songs ‘Day After Never’ and
‘SOS’.
“Obviously a Video has been something we have wanted to
do since we started being in a band,” explains Kev, “But with
Pro-jekt we wanted to do something really professional. We
hope that it will be received well with the Music channels
Skuzz and Redemption TV as it’s a glossy and sexy as
anything we’ve seen on there!”
“From a personal point of view it’s strange for us to see the
video as it doesn’t seem like us! “It’s quite surreal if you
know what I mean”
“On SOS Video 'Mick' looks like a ‘Pure Evil Gothic Rock
God’ and as it’s a little bit X-rated, very loosely based on the
ideas of underground
cult horror films like
'Last house on the
left'”
“It’s a slick and
stunning video”
Al agrees, “Everyone
who has seen it has
been blown away. Just
the response we
where looking for!”
2005 was a very busy
year for Pro-jekt. In
addition to brushing up
their album, they’ve
also made
appearances at
festivals like March of
the Damned and
Carnival Souls, as well
as voyaging on the
epic ‘Unholy Trinity Tour’ with Moriarti and the Sith and
Avoidance of Doubt.
“As we have said we enjoy the whole touring experience,”
begins Kev, “The Unholy trinity tour was a blast, we all got to
do shows in each others areas, so we got to perform to new
audiences.
“The whole concept of this tour really worked well as a
underground attitude of bands working together to get things
done rather than sitting at home complaining that nothing
happens for them”
“But the best thing is we have made some really good friends
on the tour!”
“We also performed at our first festival in Finland and a show
in Belfast so we like to break new ground.”
Al agrees, “As for Carnival of Souls that was a blast! That
festival was really good event too, and people really let
themselves go. If you know what I mean!”
So, surely things will calm down a bit in 2006…
“2006 has been busy already!” points out Kev, “Video shoots;
the album release, gigging here in the UK and doing a show
back over in Finland. We are touring now for Defiance and
we have quite a few things in the pipeline so to speak.”
“Pro-jekt are planning to do more shows in Europe and we
have a few festivals later in the year.”
“We would love to get the chance to perform at Whitby and at
London’s Black Celebration, to settle a few scores and
ambitions”
“We are also having a few new songs developing in the
rehearsal studio.”
“So 2006 we hope will be busy as ever.”
If all of that is not enough, Pro-jekt have also set up their own
record label!
“Pure Power has been my side project for quite some time,”
explains Kev, “We deal with live promotions and CD
releases.”
“Pure Power have done Sick Twisted compilation Vol 1 and
Vol 2 in association with Nightbreed Recordings and also our
‘Mean Times E.P.’ along with ‘Dark Salvation - The Album’
with Inner Circle Music”
“As for live shows we promote The Dark Salvation Festival at
Nottingham Rock City and also other tours” “For example,
Two Witches from Finland and also Punish Yourself' who are
French cyber-punk industrialists.”
“We’ve got more planned and we are now working with
Resurrection records and Music Non-Stop among others for
Distribution and the website has now online CD purchasing
for Pure Power releases, so it’s going very well!”
Words: Kevin Morris
60 Seconds with deadfilmstar
You probably haven’t heard of deadfilmstar.
Yet. Although TWF didn’t like their album, we loved them
live (see last issue for both reviews). The band are set to
embark on a tour with Mortiis and Gothminister, we caught up
with vocalist Gary Mobley for a passing chat.
Hello, I know you - didn't you used to be kn0 and were
often featured in Kerrang!’s ‘Scumscene’ section? What
brought about the change of name?
I always hated the name 'KNO' as it didn’t reflect how the
band had developed. Thank God hardly anyone remembers
us under that moniker anymore.
I'd seen a fanzine called 'Dead Rock Star' and it stuck with
me. At that time we were using a lot of 'Whatever Happened
To Baby Jane' and 'Mommie Dearest' film imagery and
samples a la 'deadfilmstar'.
I'm guessing with a name like that you'll be keeping
your cover of
Suede's 'Filmstar' in
your set?
Of course! ‘Filmstar’ is
the one day hopeful
single if we can ever
get copyright
clearance. I always
envisaged the song
‘Filmstar’ as a heavier
and far more sarcastic
sounding song.
Kerrang! put you in
Scumscene a fair
bit. Overall, do you
feel this has helped
or hindered you, and
in what ways?
The whole ‘Kerrang!’
thing came too soon
for us really, as
musically we weren’t
ready. It all became a bit style over substance. Sure, it was
great exposure but the Internet was new and things were still
very much record company orientated. It was very hard for
us to get any real recognition.
The first album was a bit bizarre. What was it all about?
It's actually our second album. The first was critically torn
apart! It was strange I'd never seen such drawn out,
aggressive and damn right nasty reviews of anything we'd
done before. It was then I realised we must have something
going for us for press people to be so overtly negative.
The second album ‘The Inevitable Rise & Fall Of Fake White
& The III-Fated Tour’ is heavily influenced by such things as
Brian Gibson's movie ‘Breaking Glass’ ,parts of Uli Edel's
film ‘Christiane F’ and a documentary I have of the infamous
Sex Pistols doomed 1977 US tour. There is also a big nod
towards characters like David Bowie’s ‘Ziggy Stardust’ and
The Tubes’ ‘Quay Lewd’.
Now, a little dickie bird tells me you put the release of
your next album on hold as you’re off to re-record some
tracks for airplay and video play... I'm a bit intrigued now.
How did this all come about? And what are you getting
out of it?
Our latest album, as well received as it was, (apart from
TWF? but, then you did only give Nine Inch Nails 4 out of
10!) was still only a home studio recording and sound quality
really wasn’t ideal for club/airplay. We've chosen what we
think is our best live material for professional re-recording
and hopefully we should then be able to push the
‘deadfilmstar’ promotion machine much, much harder. The
tracks we've chosen are 'Rockstar Dead', 'Filmstar' and
'Hello, Cruel World'. A video is also planned.
So, you're off touring with Norwegians Mortiis and
Gothminister. It's a bit of a risky tour, how do you feel
you'll fare on it?
I don't think it's risky. I've been into Mortiis since 'The Smell
Of Rain' so, when we were asked to do the tour it was like
wow! It's actually Gothminister to whom we owe the thanks,
as it was them that got in touch with us. We're all just really
looking forward to it!
And are you still only doing 20 minute sets? And why
do you only do 20 minute sets?
It's Blitzkrieg!! Hit hard and hit fast. For the tour we've only
been asked to do half hour sets, which suits us just fine.
Why did you choose to jump to the Goth side of the
'Goth-Metal' rope - and has this proven to be a good
decision?
Well. Let’s put it this way, within one year of turning on the
‘Goth’ world we were disgracing the Whitby Gothic
Weekend. But, as to your first question - the ‘Metal’ scene
had become over-populated we needed to turn to
somewhere new and unsuspecting... ‘Goth’ had left its
backdoor wide open.
Have you started work on a new album? If so, what's it
going to be like? What sort of ideas and influences are
going into it?
Yes, we have. I doubt
it'll surface now until
way into 2007. It has a
working title of 'A.rtistic
I.negrity'. What’s it
about? Lets just say
it's an ode to a certain
few but, influential
section of the ‘Goth’
community who made
our lives a misery
while we were trying to
get some sort of
recognition. I harbour
grudges and yes, I
have a shitlist..
Words: Kevin Morris
All live reviews by Kevin Morris
DEADPAD
Trillians, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 23/02/06
Gosh, it’s been a long while since I was last in Trillians. Cauda
Pavonis in September 2002, back in the days of Requiem, a muchmissed regular night for live scene bands.
Tonight, we have Deadpad not one you’d heavily associate with the
Goth scene I would imagine, but chances are a good few people
reading this review will like them.
They fit nicely under the ‘industrial-punk’ banner, a banner which
offers more variance then you’d imagine.
Deadpad’s sound is almost like a musical fight to the death between
Pro-Jekt and Assert with somebody in the background remixing the
whole thing.
The set tonight is somewhat of a quick kill. The set only clocks up
30 minutes, but by the end you have most certainly felt their
presence.
The songs are well structured and are just beaming with cross-genre
appeal, Metal, Punk and Industrial (something in there for them all)
although firm favourite still remains as ‘Rat Race’
Apart from the short set time, I do feel their sound quality held them
back a bit. Nothing they directly had much control over, but it
certainly didn’t do them much justice. I for one would love to see
them at another venue some time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(9)
GENE LOVES JEZEBEL /
ROME BURNS
Newcastle Academy 2, 12/02/06
The very first ‘TWF Magazine Presents…’ event is opened by Rome
Burns. Although I miss the first part of their set, I am assured it was
fantastic. A perfectly crisp sound and a nicely complimenting light
show helped enhance the bands performance. Although, this
wouldn’t have made much difference if the band didn’t put in a good
performance themselves, they most certainly did.
The last time I reviewed the band I did say, “They’re not a bad band
in the slightest, but I think they could be a lot better if they built on
24
some of their
s t r o n g e r
moments” and
tonight I feel
they have done
just that.
They do seem
awfully
more
confident, which
reflects into the
music to give a
more glowing
performance.
I was surprised
by the exclusion
of ‘Seeking Mr
Hyde’, but they
do forge together
a very strong set
without it.
It’s the furthest
North they’ve
ever ventured as
a live band and
there are people
here who’ve put in some distance themselves just to see them, while
also many people just here for Gene Loves Jezebel also somewhat
impressed by the end of the set. They are most certainly justifying a
lot of the fuss about them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(8)
There are a few people a little disappointed when they see that Gene
Loves Jezebel consists only of Michael, Switch and an acoustic
guitar. I must admit, personally I would have loved to see the full
band this time around. But, I would probably challenge anybody that
stayed for the full GLJ set to declare they were still disappointed as
even as a two piece the power and passion was still ever present.
They didn’t steer well away from the classics, but the set was
predominant with newer and Michael-GLJ material, with only a
handful of classics such as ‘Desire’, ‘Heartache’ and ‘Upstairs’ left in
to pepper the mix.
The weight of the newer material was once again showed they were
no shrinking violets, tracks like ‘Exploding Girl’, ‘Downhill Both
Ways’ and ‘Loving You is the Best Revenge’ showed true strength
and character.
I did like the fact they didn’t drop into a ‘Best Of’ cliché set and this
also seemed quite well received by the audience.
The only drawback of the acoustic set-up was that it didn’t work as
well in a room as large as the Academy (even if it was the cupboard
upstairs in the Academy) and wasn’t as intimate as it would have
been in a smaller venue, even with the same sized crowd. Although,
enjoyable nevertheless.
As it’s the last day of the tour, they do play a little longer set than
normal, clocking up a full 90 minutes (without breaking for an
encore), although, the time seemed to just breeze by.
So, although it would probably have had GLJ in a smaller venue, or
as a larger band, I dare say that people don’t go home disappointed
and rightly so. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(8)
MARCH OF THE DAMNED II.
MIDNIGHT CONFIGURATION/ TWO
WITCHES/ MORIARTI AND THE
SITH/ PRO-JEKT/ MONOPHOBIA
East Durham & Houghall Community
College, Peterlee. 26/11/05
I must admit, when I first saw this event announced, the choice of
location had me scratching my head. Then a little research suggested
that the first March of the Damned was successful enough to warrant
a second event.
Still, I can’t help feel concerned about the numbers that are there
when first band Monophobia hit the stage around 5pm.
They’ve come up the road from Middlesborough although do have
origins elsewhere. My initial reaction was that they come across
rather ‘studenty’ – and a little research suggests 5 of the 6 members
attend a local university. Not that I’ll hold that against them.
They do have the disadvantage of being the first band on and they
don’t really rise up to the occasion. They seem a little lost at times,
almost as if the 7 people who’ve gathered up front to see them has
been the biggest crowd they’ve seen. They completely lack stage
presence and while being quite pleasant listening, you could enjoy
them just as much from the bar – which is in the next room… and
closed.
The band also lack the gift of gab as they often seem lost as of what
to say to the audience between songs – and they would have
benefited from writing down a setlist rather than muddling between
announcing songs, “…and the next song is… no that was the last
song… next we’re playing… erm”, doesn’t bode well.
Music wise they have the whole ‘student Indie’ thing going on, it
does dip in and out of directions at times and I’m not sure whether
they’re trying to go down a folky-Goth path, or a Tori Amos path or
whether they want to be lo-fi or a bit more harder edge. The set is
mainly lo-fi but does have its heavier moments and does end with a
rather psychedelic keyboard arrangement.
The website says “…so far best described in the style melodic metal”
– which does nothing bar confuse me even further. A very confusing
start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(4)
Halleluiah for Pro-Jekt then. The numbers might not have
thickened up much, but at least it’s clear what they’re trying to do.
Regardless of whether they’re playing to audience of ten, or a
thousand they always bring the same attitude – and that is to perform
to their best and try to get as many people ‘rockin’’ as possible. I was
surprised that a lot of the punters were so cold towards them, yeah
the crowd was mainly unwashed metallers, but Pro-Jekt do have
cross genre appeal with their blend of a Gothic Cyber-Metal hybrid.
“Gothic Fucking Metal” as their t-shirt describes. Opener
‘Evilution’ has become a firm live favourite, while ‘The Next World’
is one of those “This is the last song so let’s see you go crazy one last
time songs”, even if they do choose to play it mid-set! ‘The Day
After Never’ represents the next generation of Pro-Jekt which sees
their material building much stronger all the time. I must admit,
previously I was far keener on them live than on record, but I think
some of these new songs will really work on record.
A good show, even if they didn’t get full credit they deserved. But,
if it’s any consolation, they did get second-fullest dancefloor of the
night… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(8)
Which ties us on nicely, as the fullest dancefloor of the night went to
Moriarti and the Sith. They’re another band from ‘just down the
road’ so it would appear some of their local following has followed
them here. MatS open with the title track from their debut album
‘Skinwalker’, which does get them off to a pulsing start, a
considerable amount of hair flies around the dancefloor and the devil
signs are out in force. After much analysis of MatS I must admit I’m
confused as of why they’ve been picked up by the Goth scene. Don’t
get me wrong, they’re a great band and I like them, but I’m not sure
why the rest of the Goth scene seems to be going gaga for them –
especially while simultaneously rejecting that bands like The
Rasmus and Nightwish are even Goth friendly. If anyone can explain
this to me, stick it in a letter to the usual address. Although,
ultimately I’ll feature the band anyway, because I do like what they
do. I suppose the best term I can sum them up with is maybe
‘Vampire Metal’.
Anyway, back to the set. Following the first song, disaster hits. One
of the guitars is practically written-off! They bring their routine
humiliation of audience members forward a bit while trying to rectify
this, although it becomes clear that the guitar just isn’t going to work.
However, in true respect to the “if you don’t ask you don’t get”
phrase, the question “Does anyone happen to have a guitar tuned to
drop D?” was responded with a kid, who I’d assume to be one of the
students replying, “Yeah, I’ve got one downstairs”.
The show could then resume, although a lot of the set eaten up by this
mishap, so they quickly churned out as many songs as possible in as
little time as possible.
Still an entertaining band and they didn’t fall to bits due to the guitar
problems, which is worth a ‘thumbs up’. I’m just not sure where
they fit in to this Goth picture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(8)
Two Witches are one of those bands that everyone always seems to
think split up ages ago. Maybe they did, new material has been thin
on the ground, but they’re often popping up for shows and tours like
this. A look around the room suggests that they don’t have a strong
following in the room and the dancefloor contains more
photographers than dancers.
There are two photographers.
The room generally seems empty re-enforcing my theory that a lot of
people travelled just to see MatS, but even if they had stopped for
Two Witches, the non-existent sound engineering would have put
them off.
Two Witches open with ‘The Sinner’, a song I personally would have
liked to dance to, but the drums were too low in the mix to dance.
Yes, this is how bad the sound engineering was.
Luckily the sound engineer does rectify this, eventually, but the
sound is still far from perfect.
Regardless of the poor sound and lack of interest in the band, they do
still soldier on through their set.
Two Witches are often referred to as being ‘legendary’, which is a
bold term (and can’t you only be a legend if you’re dead?) but what
is evident is their influence. OK, not the biggest band ever, but
listening to their music you can see how it’s influenced (either
directly or indirectly) a lot of current scene bands.
The set does include a lot of their more popular numbers, including
‘Requiem’, ‘Spirit Sacrifice’ and their cover of The Lords of the New
Church song ‘Open Your Eyes’, you can’t fault the band on effort but
their sound falls way short of what it should.
Before I conclude my review of them I would have to mention their
onstage fire dancer who pops on and off to swing flaming sticks –
very impressive to watch.
Although, on the subject of concluding, the conclusion of their set is
not the most conventional of finishes. Nope, it ends with the guitarist
blasting the sound engineer for killing their sound. “If we can hear
we don’t sound good enough, then you can hear it!” A bit harsh and
public I thought, but I’ve seen many a band frustrated with not
sounding their best, which isn’t helped by someone not doing the
best of jobs on the sound engineering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(6)
Speaking of bands that I’ve previously seen killed by sound
engineers, this brings me perfectly onto headline act Midnight
Configuration.
Morecambe 2002, great performance by the band, but the sound was
well lacking. This time the engineering is admittedly not all bad; it’s
just too quiet. It also wasn’t through the lack of trying to rectify this,
Trev dropped more than one subtle hint that everything needed
turning up. Apparently the sound engineer had a headache. Bless.
25
All March of the Damned Photos are Copyright to Ofthenight Photography
More info on Ofthenight Photography from www.ofthenight.co.uk
Aptly, their new album reads, “Listen to this CD as loud as you can,
as with the increase of volume comes an increase in distortion. With
the increase in distortion could come anything!”
But not tonight…
Back to the plot. The ‘Satanists’ flashing their horns and sporting
their “I love Satan” (or whatever) t-shirts have fucked off home and
are probably tucked up in bed, so MC have even less of a dancefloor
than Two Witches.
This has to be a record first – this has to be the only time I’ve ever
had an entire dancefloor to myself during the headline act of an all
day event. Still, shows that music will always keep on surprising me.
But, I think the real losers on here was all those too apathy-filled to
turn up, or had fucked off home, as Midnight Configuration are
brilliant. Quiet, but brilliant.
‘The Distortion Field’ is a somewhat mind-blowing album and tracks
like ‘Lucifarian’, ‘Timeslip’ and ‘Dark Warning’ are gigantic live.
Ultimately, they’re about 100 times better than the last time I saw
them, but nowhere near their best possible live performance. I
definitely think I need to keep an eye on their tour dates… . . . . .(7)
MY RUIN/ GU MEDICINE/ B-MOVIE
HEROES.
Newcastle Academy 2 25/01/06
What am I doing here? I hear you ask. Well, I’m checking out some
of Goth’s younger-generation idols basically. Doing the whole “Are
they Goth – and can they introduce people to the scene?”
investigation. Although, I do understand a lot of the attendees
actually came for Scissorfight, a support band which pulled out 11th
hour.
Unfortunately, that does mean I need to stand and watch through
some support bands.
I can sum up B-Movie Heroes with a conversation I had with a
friend at the bar.
“I wasn’t impressed, they sound like practically every South Shields
band,” I said. “Yeah, I know,” came the reply, “That’s why I think I
liked them”
I do appreciate I sell an average of around 1 copy of the mag to South
Shields, so for everybody else, think early Wildhearts.
OK, they were competent at what they do, but I’m not sure all the
fuss about them, when there’s a load of similar bands who are just as
good (or, not good, depending on your stance) who get zero
recognition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(5)
GU Medicine don’t remotely interest me. I’m sure they sounded
better in soundcheck, but on-stage they’re just a wall of noise. Of
course, the kids go nuts and whip themselves into a frenzy and beat
7 types of shite out of their best friend standing next to them. Yep,
it’s that sort of noise.
There was nothing memorable about their set, but although the kids
seemed to like it – I bet you very few of those who found themselves
too skint to buy their album on the night actually went and bought the
album from a shop when they had more money. . . . . . . . . . . . . .(3)
Again, I’ll keep My Ruin short and sweet. It was a ‘job done’
performance. They’re a band that values their fans too much to even
dare to be remotely below par, but at the same time they don’t stun
or blow my mind in the slightest. They’re as good as needs be. The
kids go home happy having seen a good performance, the band goes
home happy having put on a good performance and that’s it. Sorted.
Of course, what gives them an extra boost is the onstage banter with
the fans. Yes, I’m fully aware of all the ‘rock-star clichés’ (“You’re
the best audience ever”, “This is the most rocking town I’ve ever
been to”, “I’m going to kiss your arse so you buy our records” etc)
but I feel unlike these clichés – My Ruin do mean it when they say,
“This is for all you fans who loves us from the heart and not the
head” and even taking time to acknowledge when young girls
‘Ruined’ tattoo. I liked that.
Music wise, who said they were Goth again? I do think you could
probably sneak a couple of tracks from debut album ‘Speak and
Destroy’ into a Goth night, but, they’ve come a long way since then.
I mean, that was seven years ago.
Now it’s a more brutal Metal sound. Whilst good at what they do
(which they are) they’re not really appealing to the Goth scene
(although are listed on ‘Peripheral’ on Netgoths Music Database).
And as a stepping stone to the main scene? Well, it depends on if the
fans trace their influences. I understand (based on a Radio 1
interview) Nick Cave is a big influence to Tairre B. . . . . . . . . . .(6)
PRO-JEKT
The Studio, Hartlepool. 18/03/06
Traditionally, album
launch parties are
often on an ‘invite
only’
basis.
For
Record Labels to
show off their latest
money-maker
in
advance to the press,
with the band being
able to celebrate
they’ve got their
album finished with
some of their personal
friends. With that
logic, tonight the
world would be ProJekt’s friend.
Well,
they’d
be
welcome to turn up if
they braved the trip to
Hartlepool,
the
attendance could be
better.
Elsewhere in the issue
you can read the review of ‘Defiance’, so I won’t repeat myself too
much, but, in a set completely dominated by tracks from the new
album, the older tracks that make an appearance seem a little distant
in quality.
Apart of course from ‘The Last World’
The set generally pulsates along, the likes of ‘Day After Never’,
‘Evilution’ and ‘Mistress Malice’ keep the tempo racing, whilst
‘Drowning in Someone Else’s Soul’ provides a surprise mellow epic
moment, which works nicer than you’d probably imagine.
I have seen them a few times over the past 12 months, but each time
it seems filled with more determination and drive to take this the
direction they want.
With the latest album and this latest performance, it’s looking more
convincing that they should be playing to a lot bigger crowds than
I’ve seen them play to.
Music often works in strange ways though. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(8)
For inclusion for review please send material to: Audio Autopsy, The Worst Fanzine,170
Collingwood Court, Sulgrave, Washington. Tyne and Wear. NE37 3EE
Colt – These Things Can’t Hurt You Now,
so throw them in the Fire
(Something to listen to)
of
CD e
th er!
rt
a
Qu
Colt were previously known as Living With Eating Disorders, whom you
may remember from earlier issues in both reviews and interview. Their
demo’s came with free gifts such as empty pill packets or razor blades, but
“These Things…” comes with nothing bar twelve, very tasty, re-recordings.
OK, if you got hold of the limited edition demo’s, then chances are you may
have heard some of these tracks before. But, they’ve all been re-recorded
and re-arranged – and honestly, if you’re already a fan of the band, it’s worth
having despite the fact you’ll have heard these songs before.
For those whom missed our features in Issue 2 (there are back issues still
available… hint, hint), Colt, like their predecessors, stagger along the line of
slightly-imbalanced to totally-fucking-chaotic. They sit comfortably between
the dark melancholic rock of Mothburner and the kicking and screaming of
Queen Adreena.
Although the album is mainly low-fi, there are some more rockier and
abrasive moments.
‘Fading Softly’ is hauntingly mellow, some of the piano plinks and keyboard
effects add a deeper dimension to this material, which possibly gives an
extra edge onto an already brilliant band.
‘Demon in the Wheels’ has always been a favourite of mine. It starts mellow,
before crashing in the middle to give a literal car-wreck of a song. An utter
crescendo of sounds and screaming, which I’m sure will also push it up a
few places in terms of being a quality live song.
‘I Talk to God’ is another song with a strong past. It was quite a key track on
the ‘Selling Self Hate’ demo. Right now it’s a very bass dominated track,
which twists around an imbalance between psychedelic and psychotic.
The bizarre backing tracks continue on ‘Lullaby’, which begins with an
almost grating keyboard effect before a grinding bass joins in. This then
swings across to a more atmospheric acoustic arrangement and back again.
28
Many of the songs throughout the album contain strong references to selfinjury. There’s a lot in here which self-harmers could relate to, but equally
the music is strong enough for anybody to appreciate.
‘Lullaby’ contains some of the strongest references, “…even when I smile I
feel my skin crying to be whole again”
I suppose what is apparent on the next few tracks, and the album as a
whole, is just how far these tracks have come.
Take into consideration Meltdown, Org and of course TWF (among others!)
had touted LWED as a band to watch out for based on demos of these
tracks, the finished articles really don’t disappoint.
The album hits a grand climax with final track ‘Death and Sequins’. Got to
say, this was always one of my favourite LWED tracks, absolutely huge
track, alternating between galloping chorus and a mellower psychedelic
verses, with an utter jaw-dropping section in the middle.
Now, the final version again does not disappoint. The song is gigantic, all of
the above accompanied perfectly with almost caustic vocals, “You’ll never
feel the world turning so fast/ this sickness makes you laugh...”
So, what are you left with when all comes to all? An utterly breathtaking
album. Everything that was good about Living With Eating Disorders
improved and perfected.
Practically flawless. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(10)
Kevin Morris
Action Directe – 60 Million Guns
(Oktober Productions)
Yes, those bloody Leeds industrialpunk lot are at it again. They’re
determined to churn out singles faster
than I can review them. But, I’m
watching, one of these days they’ll
admit defeat and I’ll get an issue out
without reviewing them….
But anyway, today isn’t a day that
they’re going to under-perform. It did
take a couple of listens to get me into
this one, but ’60 Million Guns’ is really
showing the band some true strength
and character as they tip the boat
more and more towards where they
want to go and they are most certainly sounding better for it.
’60 Million Guns’ may give me a few question marks at first, but it turns into
a true anthem.
The B-Sides consist of remixes – Bunnyboy’s ‘Relative Life’ mix packs the
most interest, creating an interesting barrage of trippy breaks and beats
Although ‘One Nation Under the Boot’ does strip a lot of the track down,
which is probably best for the feint of heart – the main track is a bit upbeat
and exasperating, likely to leave much exhausted carnage on the dancefloor.
(8) Score is low as I generally don’t like B-sides that are just remixes.
Kevin Morris
Apoptygma Berzerk – You and Me
Against the World
(Gun Records)
A bit of a tricky one to review is this. I mean, it is musically good. But, if an
unknown band had released this exact same album, then it probably
wouldn’t be Goth enough for many people.
Take The Killers for example. Chart Indie, alright band, not Goth.
If with this album APB are still deemed
relevant then it re-writes the whole
‘What is Goth’ arguments – and I’d
better go interview the Kaiser Chiefs.
We won’t take away anything the band
has previously done, they’ve written
some really good songs and albums
over the years. They’re one of those
bands you might have only heard one
song by in a club, but you can pick up
one of their albums and find they’re far
more than a ‘one song’ band.
In fact, up until ‘Seven’ they were one
of those bands that both (electronic
and Goth) sides of the scene could appreciate. ‘Welcome to Earth’ ventured
into more electronic territories, so cost them a few of their Goth fans, and
while ‘Harmonizer’ was a bit too commercial for some of the fans of EBM
etc. so cost them a few more.
Y&MATW jumps right out of the scene, so could probably win some fans
back for the wrong reasons. Still, at least they’re a band that doesn’t sound
the same between one album and the next.
Some stand out tracks on this offering include ‘In this Together’, although its
impact is a little lost in the mixing, but a guaranteed huge track live.
‘Cambodia’ is a rather catchy tune, reminds me a bit of The Cardigans, but
the song is one that will stick in your head for hours.
I do also quite like ‘Lost in Translation’ although I swear I’ve heard it
somewhere before that I just can’t quite put my finger on… some nice synth
effects and one of the albums more slower and mellow moments.
I won’t go into reams of detail, but it is a decent album, musically, but if
you’re looking for a hot Goth or Electronic release, this probably isn’t one for
you. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(6)
Kevin Morris
Armageddon Dildos – Sangreal
(Ausfahrt)
Well, they win the award for most
interesting name if nothing else.
Unfortunately for them, we don’t review
bands on choice of name. We review
them on the quality of music.
From the minute you hear the opening
4/4 beat you can’t help but feel you’ve
heard this before. Then the flat
German vocals kicks in.
Yes, more generic European EBM. It’s
on the ‘hard-edge’ (or ‘industrial’) side
so provides you with a nice earthumping through the 10 tracks.
Having a look into the band, I find they
are a one-man project, Uwe Kanka (although they do have a full line up live)
There’s nothing really here that excites me, I feel I’ve heard too many similar
bands too many times before. It doesn’t help that any track that I begin to
find interesting soon dips into repetition. Often repeating a phrase to death,
such as “We love to live like this” repeated around 20 or 30 times on ‘Live
Like This’.
In fairness, practically every track and remix on here has potential to be a
club floor filler, again, as much as I hate to repeat myself, there are too many
bands that are too similar and AD just don’t have anything that makes them
stand out.
It’s not a bad album; it’s just lost in an oversaturated market. . . . . . . . . . . .(5)
Kevin Morris
Combichrist – Everybody Hates You
(Metropolis Records)
I’m not really one for electronic music.
The electronic bands I do like are often
those on a more Gothic tangent. There
have been a few bands over the past
few years that everyone seems to have
been going on about and I can’t see
what the fuss is about.
At the minute, Combichrist seem to be
one of those bands everyone is going
on about.
So, more of the same then? Err, no
actually…
I’m not going to lie and say “Oh my
God, I’ve never heard anything like this
before”, because I have. They do kind of describe themselves as TBM
(Techno Body Music), a play on the cross between EBM and techno, two
genres I generally dislike…
But I will say they are a lot better than I expected.
The album is packed with thumping beats and drilling rhythms and enough to
get you banging your fist in the air. So not really recommended listening on a
packed train, as commuters tend to hit you back…
However, each time I’ve listened to the album through I’ve found new songs
to skip past.
For example, I’m sure if I heard ‘Who’s Your Daddy, Snakegirl?’ in a club I
may be tempted to dance, but listening at home, the central loop is done to
death and repetitive beyond sober tolerance.
There are a few tracks like that, catchy enough, but repetitive and irritating
for home listening.
But aside from them, the album does grab my attention as it opens with the
pulsating ‘This Shit Will Fuck You Up’, I suppose if you’re not a fan of
electronic music, you will find this shit and by the end of track 13 feel pretty
fucked up, but it’s enough to get me nodding with interest.
Even if the vocalist does sound bored.
‘Enjoy The Abuse’ takes on a hard-techno angle, one of many tracks that
could be covered under the ‘hard-techno’ umbrella. The vocals are abrasive
and effective and the track is down, dirty and just plain nasty. Nice stuff.
‘Today I Woke to the Rain of Blood’ is possibly the closest track the album
offers to being an actual ‘song’, catchy enough to have you shouting “A Rain
of Blood!” around the office all morning. So, if you didn’t get hit by the
commuters on the train, be wary of your co-workers.
‘I’m Happy Anyway’ sounds ironically miserable and is the albums first dull
point. Although kudos for the lyric “If we are what we eat/ I could be you
tomorrow”
‘Blut Royale’ picks the pace back up and is another ‘fist the air and yell’
track. Then things go a bit sour for a couple of tracks.
I’ve mentioned ‘…Snakegirl’ above, then ‘Feed Your Anger’ is another dull
point.
‘God Bless’ is perhaps the only effective slow song, a drilling backing track,
while the bored girl from the first track starts listing American Serial Killers.
Bloody Americans, always thinking of themselves.
Then it drifts off again, into the dull, repetitive and skipped.
‘Lying Sack of Shit’ rears its head to provide some interest late on, although
nothing exciting on the lyrical front, does have enough thumping going on to
have you nodding in approval at the least.
So, a disappointing end to a promising start, but even some of the more
irritating/repetitive tracks should still get you bopping in a club… unless you
hate electronic music in all of its guises, in which case you’ll hate this.
But, I will leave it with, this is a lot better than I expected, there are a lot of
strong tracks here and a lot of dancefloor friendly stuff. But this is not a CD I
can see myself going back to regular, especially as I get bored with more of
the album each time I hear it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(6)
Kevin Morris
Der Prager Handgriff – Handarbeiten
(AusFahrt)
Having received this at the same time
as the Armageddon Dildo’s CD, and
having heard AD’s CD first, I was a
little worried I’d be subject to more
EBM-by-numbers.
However, Der Prager Handgriff are one
of those bands that creep up on my
now and then to remind me that there
are plenty of interesting electronic
bands.
DPH have a sound somewhere
between the hard-edge of EBM,
Industrial and hard-edged techno,
although the latter could partially
because ‘Handarbeiten’ is mostly a remix double-album.
Songs throughout the discs generally have a depth of atmosphere to them,
these are songs that will work well in clubs and also songs you can happily
go back to many times at home.
The beats, despite hard, are never really overpowering and compliment the
songs rather nicely, rather than just being a beat for you to dance to.
In places the album is a little touch and go. There are tracks that are really
strong stand out tracks, such as the anthemic ‘Arbeit, Sport und Spiel’, or
B7’s remix of ‘Frontal’. But, at times strings of songs pack no real interest
until the next gem.
Despite a few mediocre numbers, there are plenty of really strong tracks
throughout the two discs, which for me, packed a welcome relief! . . . . . . .(6)
Kevin Morris
Freudstein – Mass Market Misery
(Wasp Factory)
It’s been a while, a long while, since I last heard anything from Freudstein.
And you know what? I wasn’t that mind blown by them whenever that was.
29
This time around, I did have a 3-track
sampler of this album a while ago.
Those tracks did wet the appetite –
one of those tracks you also heard on
last issues TWFCD. But how does the
album on the whole work?
Opening track ‘Return the Old Forrest’
is a nifty electronic instrumental
arrangement. Eerie keyboard effects
help to set the scene with harmonic
chant-like vocals really help create a
very strong atmospheric opening to the
album.
So far so good.
This is followed up by ‘Misadventure’, an extremely dark, low-tempo number.
The chorus hits a twisted nerve as the vocals “All your lovers’ dream of
others… in the end” creeps right through you.
A little bit track analysis demonstrates an effective use of multi-layers of
sound and samples, without going overboard for the sake of it. What you
are left with is tracks pleasing on the ears, cleverly hand crafted to
perfection.
OK. So far I’m impressed.
After a lengthy intro (which is on a track of it’s own, ideal for skipping past for
DJ play, or listening to for home listeners) the almost psychotic ‘Filthy Little
Whore’ staggers in. Probably not a key selling point for the album, but
indeed a good twisting number.
‘Come with me’ seems to stutter a bit at verses, but once it launches into the
huge chorus, it really gets going. If nothing else it does significantly up the
pace a bit on the album.
Following that is the 3 part ‘Robots’ epic. ‘Part 1’ builds up to set the scene,
‘Part 3’ is the inevitable wind down, but ‘Part 2’ is the real beef (or Vegan
alternative, depending on your dietary preferences).
What we have is a strong electronic anthem striking against corporations
and media control, and the people who serve blind loyalty to them.
‘Wings of Death’ is a real surprise track. An electronic track accompanied
with growling vocals. Reminds me a bit of The Kovenant except without the
heavy guitars.
‘Sister Sleaze’ is another gem in here. A down n dirty and erm… sleazy
track, “I want to see her crawl across the floor/ dressed in stilettos, hold-up’s,
nothing more”, packed with some jaw-dropping synth effects to help forge
this number into a one guaranteed to cause serious grooving on the
dancefloor.
‘Laura’ closes the album. I’d half hoped this would be a cover of the Fields
of the Nephlim classic, but, instead, is another well crafted instruments track.
Piercing synth effects help to craft this low-key number and provide a
mellow, but awesome, finale to the album.
So, am I mind blown this time around?
Dunno, but each time I listen to the album, it does take quite a while to pick
my jaw back up off the floor. It might have a couple of weak spots, but
overall this is an album too good to ignore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(9)
Kevin Morris
Ikon - Destroying the World to Save it.
(Nile Records)
Track 1: Never Forgive! Never
Forget!
I am always suspicious of songs with
two exclamations in the title. The track
opens with an air raid siren and I brace
myself for a heavy handed anti war
message, a fairly obvious sentiment
given the state of the world at the
moment. People familiar with my
reviews will know by now that if theirs
one thing that gets my goat its heavy
handed delivery of messages and over
predictability. However, the message
isn’t quite as heavy handed as I feared
and the music is okay, a bit early to
mid 90s and sounding a little dated but otherwise not a bad track actually
Track 2: The Dying Crown
I found this track a bit more refined than the first. Still a bit mid 90s sounding,
but some how not quite as dated.
Track 3: Without Shadows.
We are still sounding very 90s Goth with this nicely parcelled dance floor
track, but now I‘m finding that I am really getting into the idea. The Crystal
clarity of the CDs production is certainly paying off.
Track 4: God has Fallen from the Sky.
This track slows down the pace of the album and is rather reminiscent of the
marionettes “Horror Show” or “Libra Umbrarum”. Oddly the Track even
managed to conjure up the memories I usually associated with the previous
two songs. The anti-religious message is handled with just enough subtlety
and sympathy that the song is thought provoking rather than self righteous.
30
Track 5: Psychic Vampire
Now the pace is picked up very slightly. The tempo changes work perfectly
and produce a challenging and fascinating track to listen to.
Track 6: Father of Lies
After “God has fallen” and “Psychic Vampire” I found this track a bit of a
disappointment. Musically it sounds like the sort of new wave that made its
way onto a lot of compilations in the late 80s and early 90s along with tracks
like “Pretty in Pink” and “Oliver's Army”
Track 7: Ashes of Blue
For a split second I thought I was listening to a new release by All about Eve
rather then Ikon. Then I realise that was impossible because I actually liked
this song! So it may be more accurate to say this song reminded me of what
I wish All About Eve sounded like. I think I also heard some “Cocteau Twins”
influence in there.
Track 8: Rome
A very catchy guitar lead track although it did have something of the car
advert soundtrack about it.
Track 9: My Crucible.
[Officious fed voice] “Put the Cure CD down and back away slowly with your
hands where we can see them” [officious fed voice] in all seriousness, the
obvious cure influence melded with a definitively Ikon sound male this track
one of my favourite tracks on the album. It has all the right elements but
without sounding clichéd.
Track 10: Heresy
The opening bars of this track are very similar to those of “Empty Samsara”
by Rome burns, a roughly contemporary track. Sadly the track does not live
up to its promising stat and the heavy handed way the message is delivered
is disappointingly clumsy given what Ikon are capable of.
Track 11: Slaughter (For the Glory of Christ)
This track is very interiorising and melds Spanish influenced guitar with some
very Native American sounds.
Track 12: Path of the Unknown
Sporting a more twenty first century sound than much of the earlier tracks on
the Album the anti war message of faith is treated with the diplomacy and
thought that Ikon do so well.
Track 13. The Black Goat of Judas.
Fusing a very 80s electro beat with an ethnic sounding background music
and a Latin mass to produce the most interesting track on an album not
short of interesting tracks. Although the anti-religious message is not as
subtly handled as with some of the tracks on the album, it still does not feel
as if the band is ramming it down your throat. Some other bands could learn
a lot from Ikon in this regard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(7)
Ghost
Immune System – Cockstride E.P.
(Self-Release)
What we seem to have here is one guy with competence on computer
software producing an electronic album “…designed to usher in a majestic
New World Order” (well, that’s what it says here)
This seems to involve sampling Gary Numan and Charles Manson (on track
2, ‘Fist’) or other random sampling mashes.
Very few of the songs have much substance to them, although there is a lot
of promise here.
‘Parlour Tricks’ comes across as a very dark and dirty electro track and is
one of the strong points here. Equally, ‘Sigil’ seems to work quite well,
clattering guitars over a mellow keyboard probably works better here in
reality then it would look on paper.
Unfortunately, the track again doesn’t really come to anything.
The final and sixth track on the EP is title track ‘Cockstride’, in true ‘saving
the best until last’ cliché; it seems to be exactly what has been done here.
The only song to have any real sum, substance or lasting impression.
Overall, it is a promising demo, but nothing really that could translate well
into club play and nothing on here to want you come back to this again and
again. Still, practice makes perfect and I’m sure stronger material will
emerge in the future. Just right now it just hit the right notes. . . . . . . . . . . .(4)
Kevin Morris
Ivy’s Itch – Roses
(Self-Release)
I must admit, I wasn’t sure where this release was going with the intro to
opening and title track ‘Roses’. It builds up from a simple melodic guitar
intro, accompanied by scratching growls and excitable moans into a much
heavier bridge and from there into a spiral of scream-to-a-whisper vocals.
From there the track embarks on a rollercoaster between mellow verses and
screaming choruses, although controlled enough to avoid completely
derailing into a disaster. It’s a dangerous game to try, but Ivy’s Itch have
definitely rolled a six to start, pulling off a difficult track to manoeuvre without
any real hitch.
‘Sweet Release’ is a lot less daring; it swaggers along at one controlled
tempo and range. It’s a little kinder on the ears, but doesn’t really have the
impact of the title track. Not a bad track, it’s just sitting in the shadows of its
predecessor a bit.
‘You Cannot Look into the Face of God’ is in desperate need of a sharp shot
of production. The vocals are very difficult to make out (unless that’s the
point) and apart from the bass chugging along everything else seems a little
lost. Not a bad track by any means, but could do with a good promotion
makeover. Definitely a track I’d like to see done live.
So, in short, an excellent start, but the next tracks do sit in the shadows a bit
compared to the title track. I think if you like bands like Queen Adreena or
COLT then this is an EP that could sit nicely in your collection. There are a
lot of positives on the release the band can build on (such as the ability to
carry off a complex track) and negatives that can be improved (the
production!) but yes, I’m sure we’ll be hearing from them again in a larger
context at some time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(6)
www.ivys-itch.co.uk
Kevin Morris
Karn8 – Everything That You Despise
(Self- Release)
I’ll keep this short, as is the three track
E.P. is only quite short. With what
we’ve got I suspect a Garbage
influence, compressed with a gutterglam styling with a kick of sleazy rock n
roll up the arse.
The Aldershot 5-piece really hit the
right ‘impress’ buttons. No wonder
they’re making a name for themselves.
A very top drawer demo. Well used
female vocals (Kirst can sing, rather
than reduce to random screams) and
the band have a strong direction.
A band whose name I’m sure I’ll see
again soon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(8)
Kevin Morris
Kate Jane Garside - Lalleshwari :
Lullabies in a Glass Widerness
I should really plaster the words ‘good luck finding a copy’ in extreme
prominence as this is a strictly limited edition release (only 300 produced).
To give you an idea how limited this is, every copy contains a painted hand
print from Katie. The release at retail price will also set you back around £30,
although I have seen copies listed on eBay for around £200, so not one for
the casual fan.
Although this is an essential release any strong Katie Jane Garside fan, I
don’t think casual fans would appreciate the release anyway.
‘Lallesbwari…’ is everything you didn’t expect, but better. An enchanting and
surreal exploration of uncharted territory, taking you wherever Katie’s musical
footsteps happen to wander.
The album is written with an open leash to be able to enhance creativity and
experimentation without worrying about whether it will sell or not.
If you’re expecting an extension on Queen Adreena, then this most certainly
isn’t anywhere near the sound of the band, so this might not be what you are
looking for.
The album is mostly compiled simple and minimalist soundscapes, fully
utilised to create depth and atmosphere to a collection of dark, dank and
organic songs.
I do think this is a hit and miss album, you’ll either be drawn in and allow
yourself to be taking along the journey, or you’ll be bored. But, I think the
difference between the two is how much of a Katie fan you are in the first
place. If you’re a casual fan then you’ll have been put off the £30 price tag
without even considering chancing the high eBay prices. However, if you’re
completely excited about the notion of an album which entire contents have
been hand-crafted by Katie, from the packaging to the music and aren’t
afraid to open your mind to the great big musical world, then you’re probably
on your way to search on eBay now. I’ll leave the rating up to you, because
it’s probably a (1) or a (10-) dependant wholly on your mindset.
Kevin Morris
Midnight Configuration –
The Distortion Field
(Nightbreed)
Opening with instrumental ‘Night Gallery’ visions come to mind of a morgue
in some type of black and white horror film. As in the films, the visions take
you to a body, which comes in the form of ‘Lucifarian’, which wakes up and
rips your head off.
Midnight Configuration offer a unique style, heavy guitars onto an electronic
beat, wrapped around a fist of horror to punch the sound into your brain.
Nice.
The thing that did have my opinions mixed on the first few listens, is that the
album builds up quite quickly, which
becomes notable later on, and leaves
some of the latter parts of the album
sitting in the shadows.
After you’ve grappled with the beast
that is ‘Lucifarian’, you’re presented
with a slightly more accessible track,
that boosts up the electronics in the
mix, ‘Timeslip’.
Just when you thought it was safe to
be taken in, ‘Dark Warning’ pierces
into your brain like an electric drill,
while Trev scowls, spits and taunts “I
am the Lord of the Dance said he”
Follow up track ‘Charnel House’ is again laden with dark beats, to create a
twisting nightmare. Perfect for a soundtrack to something like Hellraiser.
Then after that there’s a sharp dip in form. Nothing in any of the next three
tracks really catches my interest and without taking anything away from the
opening 5 tracks, I thought that was about it from this album…
That is of course until track 9, ‘Voodoo For You’, packing a thumping beat,
while also taking the ‘TWF Award for best use of a The Sisters of Mercy
sample’ (the choir from ‘This Corrosion’ used for wailing effects) this cranks
my personal interest back up and sets itself as one of the key tracks on the
album, despite the stiff competition from the opening tracks.
I tell you, it’s worth hearing just for the use of the sample!
‘Sorrow River’ also has me somewhat confused but interest. The main riff
sounds like it’s from a line dancing song, while there’s some samples of Vile
Valo warbling in the background. It’s better than it sounds, honest (and, for
the record, is immense live)
‘Across the Universe’ a high-paced thump along, while ‘Earth Song?’ is just
plain psychedelic and ‘Adrenaline High Still’ also seems to have interesting
use of samples.
It’s quite a contrasting album overall, it starts immense, takes a dip, returns
to strength then kinds of climbs down again.
Ironically, it’s 13 tracks, and if you take away one or two of the weaker
moments you can still have a full length album.
There is stuff on here that is worth checking out and it is a fresh reminder
that Midnight Configuration are alive and well. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(6)
Kevin Morris
Mystigma - Universal Surrender
(Equinoxe Records)
Track 1: Universal Surrender.
A very catchy, rocky little number that
immediately has one wanting to hear
what the band are going to do with the
rest of the Album. A very promising
start indeed. You will be humming this
one for hours after hearing it unless
something else even catchier comes
along.
Track 2: Insomnia
A melancholic, vocal with some rocky
guitar work puts me in mind of Within
Temptation’s better works. Still I found
myself disappointed in this track after
“Universal Surrender”. I think if they had appeared on the album in the
reverse order I would probably have enjoyed this one a bit more.
Nonetheless this is a very competent track, although you do feel it doesn’t
stretch the vocalists voice much.
Track 3: Tomorowless
A very melancholic track that blends the slow paced music perfectly with
some introspective vocals. This is the best “shoegazer” track I’ve heard in a
long time.
Track 4: Heartbroken, Left and Thrown Away
After the previous tracks on the album I found this one particularly
disappointing. It is skillfully executed and well performed but I found it
predictable and bland with done to death guitar sounds and tepid vocals that
left me cold.
Track 5: Thoughts Unspoken
A haunting vocal over a rocky guitar producing an interesting track, but not
one of the albums stronger ones.
Track 6: Adrenalized
Maudlin and down beet, much like many of the tracks on this album only
erm... more so. Certainly one for the shoegazers.
Track 7: Shiver in June
This track is very reminiscent of Depeche Mode, which is either a good thing
or bad one depending on how you feel about DM. It’s a slight departure
from the style of the rest of the album
Track 8: Wrong With Me (For a Lifetime)
Initially the vocal style of this track, whilst the same as on all the other tracks
of the album, seems jarring here as it fails to meld quite as well as it should
with the music. As the track progresses the music and vocals seem to mesh
together better, but only because the music itself falls back into the
predictable pattern that marks the other tracks on the album.
Track 9: Addiction
A melodic, slow track sporting perhaps the best vocal performance on the
album. It has taken till track 9 but here Mystigma have produced a track that
lives up tot the promise of “Universal Surrender”.
Track 10: I’m In Hate
A bit more up-beat than previous tracks on the album “I’m in Hate” put me in
mind of Funhouse or Medicine Rain and in is a promising contestant for the
dancefloor.
Track 11: Staub Der Werte
Opening with some vaguely sinister instrumental and sung entirely in
German this track is a haunting Goth ballad in the mould of Wolfsheim
without the electronica. A very potent track.
Track 12 - Into Nothing
A short electro-instrumental that brings the album to a gentle and well
executed close.
Overall
One very much for the mopey Goths amongst us, this album starts and ends
well, but the middle is a little samey and uninspired. Tracks one and nine to
twelve are very much the high points and are first rate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(6)
Ghost
Porn – Call Me Superfurry
(Ausfahrt)
Well, a band name that somebody
would have to call themselves
eventually. Although, I suppose there
are about 20 bands worldwide with the
same name.
If you happen to know a few, this one
is an electro-rock band who sound
something like Placebo being remixed
by Nine Inch Nails, only far more
interesting.
Drug-fuelled beat-frenzies combined
with more melodic pop-Goth songs
come together to create enough mix to
keep you interested, even after you’ve
listened to their blinding and powerful cover of Blondie’s ‘Call Me’.
‘Don’t Be a Lady’ is one of the more melodic dark pop moments, full of
catchy hooks and definitely one you’ll be singing for the rest of the day.
While on the other end of things, ‘The Fee Alternate Reality’ is an almost
psychedelic drugs anthem, with the twisting intro of “Drugs can kill you or set
you free…” which trips and bounces between sluggish verses and frenzied
beat-laid choruses.
There are 11 tracks in total and most certainly enough to warrant checking in
passing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(7)
Kevin Morris
Pro-Jekt – Defiance
(Pure Power)
I don’t want to begin this review by
telling my life story from the first time I
encountered Pro-Jekt, to now. But,
let’s summarise this simple enough.
Mind-blowing live, a bit of a let down
on CD. I mean, ‘Encryption’ was a
good album, but the recorded songs
lacked the oomph of the songs live.
Even after a change of personnel at
the mic stand, it didn’t do much to give
me extra recorded faith with the ‘Mean
Times E.P.’ Again; they seemed to sell
themselves short, with very little
change on the recorded front.
As well, I feel at times, particularly in the early days, that their identity within
the Goth scene was a little held back. At times I felt they were trying too
hard to fit in and every time you thought they were going to chance
something cutting edge they doubled back to play it safe.
Right. Now let’s cut the crap. ‘Defiance’ is what Pro-Jekt should have
sounded like from the start, unashamed with their ‘Gothic Fucking Metal’ tshirts, the album does everything promised from the tin.
‘Defiance’ defies the pigeonholes and sets Pro-Jekt on the path they always
should have walked.
For example, opening track ‘Evilution’ is a re-recording, but gives a little
more thump to the track – and well, if you haven’t heard ‘Day After Never’ for
yourself, there are back issues of TWF 5 still available…
But, shameless self-plugging aside, Pro-Jekt now sit on a less-conventional
fence. If I said they now sit on the Gothic side of industrial-Metal then you’d
32
probably be quite confused. But, imagine what bands like Rammstein and
Nine Inch Nails would sound like if they were Gothic…
‘Morbid Interactive’ is the first song I hadn’t previously heard in any previous
guise, it’s an up-tempo romp swinging claws at reality TV shows and other
mod cons, “Watching other people’s lives… what happened to my sight…
living through my lonely life again”.
‘Mistress Malice’ begins with some distinctive sirens, before pounding
through hard hitting beats, an instant attention grabber; it does fizzle away a
little, but still one of the more dancefloor friendly numbers.
‘Bloodstream’ is another re-recording and slows the pace right down, the
verses don’t have me convinced at times, but the chorus really makes up for
it.
‘Anthem for the Disconnected’ is already a live favourite – and it’s not difficult
to see why. Good beat, huge chorus and good use of samples. Plus a
chorus of “I’m old enough to know better/ young enough not to care…” is so
fucking genius that bands around the country are probably kicking
themselves they didn’t write it.
I’m really liking the keyboard effects in the intro to ‘Drowning’, it’s another
slow-paced number, it maybe slow, but indeed gigantic and hits a euphoric
chorus as it wraps around the wails of “Tonight we drown… in someone
else’s soul” enshrouded within an effectively arranged layer of keyboards
and guitars.
‘Dig My Own Grave’ again shows that Pro-Jekt do specialise in chorus’s, the
verses seem a little slow but the effects on the chorus really makes for a
memorable chorus. Even if you won’t be humming the rest later.
‘Altar of Overkill’ is back on track, it has all the makings for a phenomenal
live track. It’s backed on a galloping back beat, which you can constantly
feel will rush into something bigger. So, as you’re pace builds up and your
pulse is racing, the chorus hits: “Is this over? Kill!” if things go to plan, I
foresee the masses raising their fists to join them to yell “Kill!”
And, yes, that’s where I see them heading. Well, it’s where they should be
heading. There’s plenty here for the Metal scene to get their grubby mitts
into, without pulling a ‘sell-out’ and keeping roots planted firmly in the Goth
scene.
OK, it’s not perfect, but it is a good start. As teasing as this is, it does help
make sure they won’t fall into the dreaded ‘second album syndrome’ and find
it almost impossible to effectively follow up.
I’m also pleased that Pro-Jekt have finally managed to do their live shows
some justice on their recorded works – and glad that they’ve improved tenfold since forging their own sound and direction. But, I do feel they are a
little rough around the edges in places and many songs do rely heavily on
choruses to make any form of impact. In saying that the songs that do make
an impact, really hit you hard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(7)
Kevin Morris
Queen Adreena – Live at the ICA
(One Little Indian)
With the big question mark still
hanging over the future of the band,
I’m a little unsure whether this release
marks a farewell. Or whether simply
after all this time it’s about time they
did a live album.
Who knows?
Unfortunately, as a live album it
doesn’t given the band anywhere near
the credit they deserve. It doesn’t feel
like a live album.
I’m not going to dispute the quality of
any of the songs here, but they don’t
really get any extra fizzle here. If
you’ve already got all their albums, nothing new is really on offer here. If
you’re new to the band then there is a bias towards the last album in terms
of tracks played, so you don’t really get a good ‘best of’ mix.
Sadly, I’m a little disappointed in this release. More so, I’m hoping that this is
not going to be the manor of their “farewell and goodnight”. Please, let’s not
allow this to be the last Queen Adreena release. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(4)
Kevin Morris
Rammstein - Rosenrot
(Universal Music)
Like a lot of people I know, Rammstein’s album ‘Reise, Reise’ left a bitter
taste in my mouth. So it was with nervous fingers I opened the seal on newly
purchased copy of ‘Rosenrot’.
The first track, ‘Benzin’, instantly brings tracks like ‘Feuer Frei’ to mind and
should be a good floor filler, hopefully taking the place of ‘Du Hast’ on the
request list which seems to be a little overplayed now.
Starting quietly the way a lot of their best songs seem to, kicking in with the
bass and hat, then in with the heavy guitar riffs and the drummer goes
mental. Fantastic
The next few tracks, ‘Mann Gegen Mann’, the title track ‘Rosenrot’, ‘Spring’
and ‘Wo Bist Du’ all bring the volume
level and tempo down a bit, all sound
tracks to have on your MP3 player and
sing a long to on a crowded bus. (Or
attempt to sing along to, if you’re not
fluent in German – Editor)
‘Strib Nicht Vor Mir (Don't Die Before I
Do)’ (featuring Sharleen Spiteri), is
quite a slow almost ballad-like track,
well written and arranged with a mix of
German and English lyrics. Definitely
one to wave your lighter about to.
‘Zerstoren’ packs a heavy, almost tribal,
drum beat that thumps throughout the
track. Although, the last minute of the track goes into this bizarre, almost
music box nursery rhyme style which just comes out of nowhere and leaves
a slightly unfinished feeling to the track itself.
‘Hilf Mir’ a more old style Rammstein tracks with echos of ‘Sonne’ popping
up throughout. No doubt one that will be another favourite with the more long
time fans.
Now we come to the only downside of the album, ‘Te Quiero Putal’, some
bizarre attempt at a Spagetti western soundtrack. I have to admit, I really
dislike this track and as soon as it comes on I aim my finger for the skiptrack button.
‘Feuer und Wasser’ and ‘Ein Lied’, two slower tracks, slowing down before
the final push out.
So with the exception of the one track, I would say this shows Rammstein
are back on course after ‘Reise Reise’ and hopefully will pull out more tracks
of the same calibre as ‘Benzin’ in future.
If you're a fan of their older catalogue, this album will definitely bring back a
few of the old fuzzy feelings as you crank up the volume and prepare your
neck for the work out of its life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(8)
Viper
Scarling – So Long, Scarecrow
(Sympathy For the Record Industry)
Just a quick reminder for those who
may have forgot. Scarling are ‘Jessicka
from Jack off Jill’s new band’. I’m sure
that’s a tag they’d want to remove, but
then I’d wonder why, as it’s possibly
the best selling point they have.
OK, last offering ‘Sweet Heart Dealer’
wasn’t a bad album, a nice progression
on the transition from JoJ, although
more on the mellower side.
‘So Long, Scarecrow’ also stays more
mellow, but in a drippy and dire style
rather than in a crafted musical
arrangement.
The songs offer nothing really memorable, apart from that inbuilt warning
system not to pick the CD up again for fear of losing an hour or so of your
life again. Unless of course you’re a masochist, or enjoy listening to 52
minutes of droning noises and dysfunctional wailings.
Still, while they’ve got that ‘Jessicka from JoJ’s new band’ tag, they’ll still be
invited to headline the Astoria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(1)
Kevin Morris
Shadowhouse – Wintergreen
(After Dark)
Let me begin by saying I am entirely
unfamiliar with the previous offerings
from Shadowhouse - despite there
being a fair bit of it. So I came to
“Wintergreen” fresh faced and eager.
Track 1: The Mist
Not the best of starts from my
perspective. The fast, mid 80s metal
sounding guitar and drums left me
eyeing the CD player with suspicion.
Still, if you like energetic Tolkeny
sounding tracks this will appeal to you.
Track 2: I Don’t Want
By this point I was considering explaining to our esteemed editor just how
much I hate hair metal inspired guitar work. Probably using diagrams, foul
language and a cheese greater. This isn’t a bad song, not at all, but its really
not to my taste in the slightest. Still the vocals are good.
Track 3: Sleep my Nemesis.
Nice melodic intro, reminiscent of the mission. Still after tracks 1 and 2 I am
glaring suspiciously at the CD expecting annoying metal guitar any second,
and oh, yep, there it is. Add to that a board sounding (but adequate) female
vocal and I am off to the Kitchen to get the cheese grater, whilst muttering
uncharitable things about the editor and his choice of my review load this
issue.
Track 4: Rain Down
An interesting fusion of sound here, still a bit Pagan Rock sounding for my
taste (musically, not lyrically). The Vocals are the ropiest on the entire CD
but I sort of quite liked it myself. At this point I’m even considering taking the
cheese grater back to the draw.
Track 5: Dreamfloor (edit)
This track is a departure form the style of the first four tracks; very Electroindustrial with an osculating female vocal. Actually not bad at all - quite
danceable, a tad repetitive but not at all bad. I suddenly notice I’ve stopped
the uncharitable mutterings as well.
Track 6: Wintergreen.
A slow track with some calming and slightly melancholic vocals. Sort of track
you listen to by candle light to help you unwind. I loved this track... up until
those accursed metal inspired guitars kicked back in and ruined the entire
thing. The guitar work isn’t badly executed; it is just incongruous given the
rest of the track.
Overall - The music and performance are all adequate if you like that sort of
thing, but I honestly don’t. Even if you do, I can’t detect anything here to
elevate this CD above average. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(5)
Ghost
The Way Of All Flesh - Esprit D’Escalier
(Self Release)
Track 1: Final Resolve
A rousing, gothic rock track with solid
guitars and crystal clear production.
The track is exciting and multi-layered,
but like so many opening tracks on
CDs these days, left me asking “Can
they keep this up through the whole
album?”
Track 2: Fragile World
Leading in with a bit more emphasis
on the electronica, Fragile World put
me in mind of The Merry Thoughts
Track 3: Never Again
A slower paced intro and a classic
meter mark a slight change in style from the first two tracks, but not such a
big departure that you don’t still recognise it as archetypal TWOAF. This
track is perfectly constructed for dancing to; in fact, the meter almost
demands it.
Track 4: Sleepwalking
Both string work and drum machine are fairly standard Goth fare, and the
track sounds very reminiscent of recent Libitina. Again, the reasonably fast
pace would make it a good dancefloor track, but I bet it’s an absolute cracker
performed live! Very catchy.
Track 5: Andromeda
Although the instrumental work and electronica converge very well in this
track, the vocals just don’t quite seem to fit as well, making it not jarring so
much as slightly incongruous. Certainly to my mind, this track is the low point
of the album. That said it’s still a lot better than the strong points of a lot of
other albums I’ve heard.
Track 6: So Cold
The haunting sound of ‘So Cold’ sums up the title quite well on the whole.
The track is the slowest on the album to this point, and hints at the band’s
flexibility of style. The chorus picks up the pace a little, just enough to work
well.
Track 7: Esprit D’Escalier
Slower still than ‘So Cold’, this is both a moving and a haunting track that will
have you staring at your shoes and three-stepping. It’s a good end of night
track for DJs or just sitting back with a nice glass of wine if you are listening
at home.
Track 8: White Wedding
Yes, it’s that ‘White Wedding’, and a bloody good cover it is too. Worth the
album price all on its own. Obviously, nobody is going to improve on Billy
Idol’s version, but this is a close second.
Track 9: Blood and Sand
A melodic, slow, and introverted track that brings the album to a gentle, if
somewhat morbid, close. Not the best track on the album, but once again it’s
a lot better than many bands best offerings.
Overall
A very fine album that showcases a talented band’s fair range. Some people
may find that they don’t like the vocal style, but I think it will grow on many
others. If you can only buy a few albums this quarter, make certain this is
one of them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(8)
Ghost
33
Trauma Pet – You Cannot Feel This
(Line Out Records)
If I didn’t know who or what I was listening to I would swear this band was
European. They have that mellow electronic arrangements, partnered with
the enchanting female vocals. There’s a lot of this on the continent, and they
appreciate this style of music a lot (Athamay were quite popular in various
European countries, I won’t invade this review with the stories though) so it’s
no surprise Trauma Pet seem to constantly be appearing on European bills.
Yet can’t seem to get above ‘opening act’ in the UK.
What Trauma Pet do have going for them, which sets them aside from a lot
of the generic European bands, is they’re British.
Don’t take that as racism or any form of patriotic bias, they simply escape
the ‘ten a penny’ cliché and whilst may have a sound that can appeal in
Europe, they do enough to avoid sounding like many other bands.
What you have is beautifully fragile, the opening few tracks pack enough to
get you drawn in to the album, while the later tracks hit you with electronic
arrangements so drool worthy they’re orgasmic.
There’s enough here to get you hooked, and I’m sure nearly every listener
will have a different personal favourite.
It’s not one for pulsating clubs, but is a thoroughly enjoyable album, and I’m
not really one for electronic music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(7)
Kevin Morris
Two Witches – Saints and Sinners
(Ausfahrt)
‘Saints and Sinners’ is a double CD – CD1 is a ‘best of’ – CD2 contains
rarities and remixes of Finnish GothicRock band Two Witches.
As clichéd as this sounds, CD1 gives a
good overview of the bands material –
while CD2 can help die-hards complete
their collection, without struggling to
hunt down rare and deleted 7” singles.
If you’re one of the latter, you may
probably want to skip the next few lines
while I tell the former about Two
Witches.
They don’t get played in many clubs,
they don’t do tours that often (but do
tour) and they haven’t had new original
material out for a while (well, apart from a couple of EPs), yet I would be
surprised if you haven’t heard of them, even if you haven’t heard of them.
They do have somewhat of a legendary status, even if no fucker seems to
know what they sound like…
This is where I come in…
Their discography begins around the same time The Sisters of Mercy
buggered off. Although they did bring a welcome sigh of relief as they were
a band with popularity in the scene, who didn’t sound like a cheap mans The
Sisters of Mercy.
I do think their sound has roots to some current Goth-Metal (in a Type O
Negative, Tiamat, Moonspell kind of way, rather than floaty female vocals). I
can imagine one or two Metallers (particularly European Metallers) are/were
fans of Two Witches, but there is most certainly a very Goth base – they’re
just heavier than a lot of other Goth bands.
And, OK, I’ve got to admit, before receiving this CD I hadn’t heard a note of
their music and wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was indeed quite
impressed.
The opening track on CD1 is ‘The Sinner’, a doom-laden upbeat track which
hits and almost ‘awe’ at the chorus as the song dips.
From there on the CD jumps around the bands releases, spanning their
recordings from around 1991 to 2004, although I do feel the majority of the
strong points are all from the later stages in their career. ‘Spirit Sacrifice’
(from 2004’s ‘Sacrifice E.P.’) is another upbeat track that has every right to
fill a dancefloor (and the Project Pitchfork remix on CD2 is quite neat also),
‘May You Be in Heaven (Piano Version)’ is also on 2004’s ‘Sacrifice E.P. and
is a much slower, swaying, track. “What should I do?” pleads Jyrki, above a
nice two-step back beat and very effective accompanying female vocals.
Equally, on the other end of the spectrum, ‘We All Fall Down’ and ‘The
Omen’ are both taken from 1992’s ‘Agony of the Undead Vampire Pt 2’ and
are pretty much reminiscent of the then Goth scene – nice simple beats you
can happily skip around the dancefloor to.
So, onto CD2. What does that have to offer?
Well, a geeks dream in a way, we’ve got unreleased tracks, plus tracks taken
from various compilation albums and one track even from a magazines free
CD.
So, if you're a die-hard fan of the band, then you need this release as a
short-cut to complete your collection.
If you’re a ‘give or take’ fan, then there are a few decent bits and bobs.
Godlike’s remix of ‘Irresistible’ is quite simply tasty, while Intra-Venus of TW
cover of The Lord of the New Church’s ‘Open Your Eyes’ is too good to be
missed. It is huge.
34
Other than that, it is a little here and there.
I suppose, as cliché’s go, there is a little something for everyone in here. If
you’re new to the band and/or want to check them out, then there’s a full
overview. And if you’re a strong fan that just can’t track down that rare track,
then chances are it’s on here.
A strong album, from a legendary band, but a new full length album would
be nice… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(6)
Kevin Morris
Voices of Masada – Four Corners
(Self-Release)
Voices of Masada are one of the
bands I can’t believe there hasn’t been
a bit more of a fuss about. I mean, I
saw them live twice in 2005 and was
very impressed with them both times
and they live up to their live quality on
album.
I suppose my biggest disappointment
when vocalist Raymon handed me the
album for review was that there was
only 8 tracks on the album.
What we have here is so much of a
Goth fix, you will want to drink the bar
dry of Snakebite and Black. It’s very
‘Eighties Goth’ but in that, you could say “Eighties Goth at it’s best”.
Within the music there are hints of bands like Fields of the Nephlim and The
Sisters of Mercy.
Highlights include live favourite ‘Step Down’, ‘Fallen’ and gigantic finisher
‘Shine’
Whereby, it’s not fresh new ideas, I do recommend this album if you like
some of your bands of yesteryear. Ideal if you want something new to twostep to. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(7)
Kevin Morris
Zombina and the Skeletones –
Staci Stasis
(Self Release)
Well, the title track seems to be the
most commercial ground Z&TS have
ever walked. They still have that 50’s
throw-back thing going on, but do
seem to be heading into a commercial
ground.
It’s well away from their full length (and
awesome) ‘Taste the Blood’ album.
B-Sides ‘Astrology’ and ‘Red Planet’
seem a little muddy in production and
you can’t really hear properly what’s
going on.
I still think another full-length opus is
required to judge them properly,
especially as these tracks on their own
sit in the shadows of some of the bands earlier work. I think ‘second album
syndrome’ may have hit… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(5)
Kevin Morris
HEAD
TO
HEAD
Moriati and the Sith – Skinwalker
(Nightbreed)
If I had to describe the style of music
that is produced on this album by the
band, then I would have to say that it is
kind of like Cradle of Filth, but with the
big exception that the front man can
actually sing, rather than screech out
the songs. This band definitely has a
flare for the dramatic and dark, but
having seen them perform live they
don’t seem to take themselves too
seriously whilst maintaining an
excellent stage presence. The tracks
on this album have a charisma about them that one can’t help but admire.
The album has a little bit of slow start, with intro track ‘Reborn To Darkness’,
but when title track ‘Skinwalker’ begins, you can feel yourself getting into the
music. The songs follow the theme of dark and foreboding throughout the
track list, each song increasily better than the one preceding it. The only
flaw, however, is the final track ‘Bloodfest’, which is a remix by Nightbreed.
This song throws the rest of the album slightly off balance as it is so different
musically from the other tracks. This track is more of an electronic song, and
doesn’t pull off the theme of darkness as well as the rest of the album.
Maybe it’s a good thing that it is the last track?
Overall, it’s a good album. The gothic and metal influences throughout will
some popularity with both Goths and Metal-Heads alike. Recommended
tracks include ‘In Domination We Trust’ and ‘Veil of Death.’ . . . . . . . . . . . .(7)
Gemz Morris
But, on the other side of the coin…
When the editor asked me to review this album, I was a little perplexed. I
had my doubts about them after watching them cart comedy metal effects
past me at their gig in Peterlee, they’re lovely guys but all that fake blood
and screaming just leaves me cold. Reminds me of an ex-girlfriend who - err
never mind.
But anyway, the review.
Track 1: Reborn to Darkness
Atmospheric intro, using a variety of sounds to set the mood, which I would
say, given what the band were aiming for, they do quite well.
Track 2: Skinwalker
Another atmospheric opening with a faint hint of an American Indian
drumbeat. This had me relaxing a bit and thinking “Okay, I could get into
this.” just as the track shifted up a gear into the sort of classic 80s metal that
I used to listen to as a 13 year old boy. Unfortunately, rather than inducing a
warm, fuzzy glow of nostalgia for my wasted youth, this instead reminded
me why I stopped listening to 80s metal. I don’t like it!
Track 3: In Domination We Trust
Perhaps it’s just the encounter with the now reviled music style of my youth,
but I found the atmospheric intro to this track a little “BBC Radio phonics
Workshop” and all of a sudden I’m not feeling quite so good about it. The
guitars come in dark, chugging and heavy, reminding me a bit of doom metal
bands like Habitual Failure, played at half-speed, and I groan. I hate that
sound even more than I hate 80s metal. The lyrics are slow, gravely and
loud, reminding me of Twisted Sister.
Track 4: Anthropophagous Beast
An all-too-brief haunting keyboard solo leading into some (more) sound
effects, kicks off what turns into an atmospheric metal track that I can very
easily see the ‘metallas’ and ‘heavies’ that I hung out with at comprehensive
school head banging away to happily. The lyrical delivery is a little more
interesting than previously, and lets the vocalist demonstrate that he can do
more than gravely shouting.
Track 5: V666 - Cry of the Wolven
Well, I know what the wolven were crying for.
More BBC Radiophonic style sound effects, and some slow ‘strings’
introduce us to what becomes my least favourite song on an album of which
I am not terribly fond. I found it derivative, with some very Gary Moore
inspired guitar, and some vocals that were pitched too low and were far too
snarled.
Track 6: Veil of Death
This track is the closest thing to any form of Goth I could actually find on the
entire album. It put me in mind (a little) of Every New Dead Ghost and some
of those tracks you get on obscure German compilations that I suspect
always go down well in Eastern Europe. Slow, maudlin and dark, it’s not bad
actually. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s actually good either.
Track 7: Sanguine Host
I had high hopes for this track, because of the slow, rhythmic beat and
Eastern flavour, which got my attention and appealed quite a lot. Sadly, the
vocals and guitar quickly turned it back to a more heavy metal theme, and
the chorus, with a snarling, gravely and sneering metal backing vocal quite
spoiled it for me. I couldn’t help feeling, though, that the track hinted at some
promise.
Track 8: March of the Damned
This track smacks so much of Iron Maiden meets Habitual Failure (the
former providing the instrumental, the latter providing the glass gargling sorry vocals) that I almost had flashbacks to my schooldays until I tipped my
coffee over myself to stop the inevitable painful memories thinking of school
brings to people in their 30s. I found it repetitive, but oddly by the end it
actually grew on me, a fact that took me by surprise given how little I like
heavy metal and make no mistake, this is heavy metal.
Track 9: Blood Feast
Pure dark metal again. Derivative vocals and instrumental that I now firmly
believe MatS can do better than if they put their mind to it.
Track 10: Untitled
Being the obsessive compulsive type that I am, I immediately set about
trying to find a title for this track. Sad, eh? (By which I mean, that’s quite
sad, not that the title should be ‘Sad, eh’.) It begins with more atmospherics
and another American Indian influenced drumbeat that was soon met with an
occasional tolling bell and some whispered vocals. Obviously, the singer
wore his voice out glass-gargling through the rest of the album. I actually
loved this track to bits and wanted to get a bunch of friends together to play
‘Chill’ or ‘Call of Cthulhu’ with this track on repeat.
Track 11: Blood Feast (Stalker Version)
I’ve no idea what this sounds like. I couldn’t get it to play at all on my review
copy in any of the three stereos in the house. Given how little I like the rest
of the album, that’s probably for the best!
Overall:
I suspect MatS will be a love‘em or hate‘em sort of band, and I’m afraid it’s
just not for me at all. At least not 35 year old Goth me. The 14 year old
‘heavy metal’ me would have loved it though. So if you are keen on
Metallica, Iron Maiden and Twisted Sister, you should like this album.
Score - as a Goth album? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(2)
As a metal album (trying to think like a 14 year old boy who likes this sort of
thing!) more like . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(7)
Ghost
DVDs:
Mortiis – Soul in a Hole
(Earache)
Nearly every DVD I’ve picked up has
followed a similar format.
Complete live show, collection of
music videos and some bonus
features.
After wrestling with my DVD remote, I
eventually manage to get the videos to
play, not where I’d normally start, but
never mind.
I am most disappointed there’s no
‘Play All’ function, which means I have
to get off my arse after each video has
finished in order to watch the next.
‘Parasite God’ could almost have
come straight out of some desert
scene in a fantasy role playing game,
decent song, effective video, good
start so far.
‘Mental Maelstrom’ uses some really good special effects with some well
constructed club scenes and effective uses of black and white filming to add
an eerie dimension.
But seeing a troll in a trendy bar does kind of stick out a bit, or maybe that’s
the point.
‘The Grudge’ video is a bit of a disappointment, a bit “band in room playing
song”, although there is some glass casket with a girl in, but nothing to write
home about, although a good song.
‘Decadent and Desperate’ seem a little bizarre, but not in a good way. The
bulk of the video seems to be taken with Mortiis shouting lyrics at a prisoner
(whom I believe may be Mortiis without the make-up) with various bizarre
images and figures popping up. Strange, but not one I’ll be going back to.
So, the videos started well, but interest waned.
On the live front, the biggest annoyance is there’s a mini ‘backstage’ slice
between each song, which disrupts the flow, the backstage bits could have
slotted nicely into the ‘Bonus Features’ to allow the live show to flow.
The show itself is decent enough, but I’m sure is one of those “you had to be
there” kind affairs, watching a video of a live performance generally lacks the
atmosphere of actually being there. I say pretty much the same about nearly
any band .and well, you really have to be something special to impress me.
Don’t get me wrong, it is a good show, but it probably was much better to be
there in person. I also notice the theatrics have been dropped, moving the
music to main focal point.
Generally I’ve found bonus features uninspiring, a TV advert and ‘Electronic
Press Kit’ do little to inspire. But there is of course an interview with Mortiis,
although, pre-warning, it is without make up. It’s an interesting enough
interview, but it is your general clichéd DVD interview. You know, there’s
some bands I wish would talk as much as they do in DVD interviews as they
actually do in magazine interviews (not a dig at Mortiis btw…)
So, without taking anything away from Mortiis’ musical capability and the
quality of recent albums, I’d sooner be at a Mortiis show, than watch it on
DVD… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(5)
Kevin Morris
35
Within Temptation The Silent Force Tour
The success of Within Temptation is
steadily increasing, and with their
breakthrough into mainstream rock and
metal, this two-disc DVD demonstrates
the band’s newfound fame with lavish
showcases of their music, old and new.
The first disc of the set includes
footage for live concerts in the
Netherlands, Finland and Belgium, plus
music videos for ‘Stand My Ground’,
‘Angels’ and ‘Memories.’ The concerts
are lavish, beautifully staged and
performed superbly by all members of
the band and Sharon Den Adel’s
overwhelmingly eccentric stage
presence. Although the concerts focus
on the new album (the Silent Force) for
the most part, there are still several
songs from the previous albums
included in the concert sets, such as old favourites ‘Mother Earth’ and ‘Ice
Queen.’
The second disc includes backstage footage, numerous interviews, the
making of the three music videos featured on disc 1, galleries, bloopers and
much, much more. Any Within Temptation fan will certainly be getting their
money’s worth for this DVD because it is absolutely packed full of
goodies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(8)
Gemz Morris
Books
Necrophilia Variations
Alexandre Aja's previous film, “Switchblade Romance”, was an exercise in
suspense-driven gore, proving yet again that European horror often outstrips
the boundaries of censorship (unlike American horror which happily resides
within its limits and communicates like a particularly nasty music video). It is
with this in mind that we settle down to watch his remake of Wes Craven's
1977 original.
The original appears to divide opinion between those who believe it to be a
modern horror classic, and those who think it sorely failed to live up to its
potential. Aja therefore approaches the material with all the subtlety of a
Challenger tank, ripping the plot open and spilling entrails everywhere.
The plot isn't exactly challenging. An all-American family (headed by Ted
Levine, better known as “Silence of the Lambs”' Buffalo Bill) takes a road trip
across the US, making a detour through New Mexico to see "the desert".
They stop at a gas station in the middle of nowhere (surely a big no-no for
Supervert
anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the plot devices of horror) and take
This is certainly one of the most bizarre books that I have ever read. In fact,
it is at the top of my most bizarre list along with ‘Secrets of my Kingdom’ by
Mortiis and ‘The Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace’ by Bruce Dickinson.
"shortcut". They leave the main highway and plunge into the desert, where
Necrophilia is very taboo subject. It is certainly not a topic that one would
bring up in polite conversation, so why write a book about it? I suppose the
simplest answer would be “well, someone had to.”
The book begins with a simple argument: “when you die, would you prefer to
be a corpse rotting in the ground, or an object of sexual lust?” Frankly the
idea of somebody wanting to copulate with a dead body seems totally icky to
me, but each to their own and all that. I must admit that I am making this
book out as something to be afraid or worried about. In it’s defence, the gory
details of necrophilia are not divulged on every single page. It is clear that
this book has been well thought out and provides several interesting
analyses on the human psyche and the sexual obsession with death, which
is the basis of necrophilia. While I am hoping that most of the stories
contained within the book are in fact fictional, one cannot help but wonder if
these things actually happened, and the people in these stories really do
exist somewhere.
This book is certainly an eye opener, and definitely not for the squeamish.(5)
Gemz Morris
directions from the toothless mechanic, who sends them off down a
an accident leaves them stranded.
However, the hills in which they find themselves do indeed 'have eyes',
notably those belonging to the mutants who refused to leave their mining
village, even though the US government where testing nuclear bombs on
their doorstep. Someone has yet to explain the link between genetic
deformity caused by radiation and outright psychosis to me, but this band of
hideously deformed crackpots attack the family, killing off various members
and performing outrage against outrage against the survivors. Without going
into too much detail, the plot sees the mounted counter attack by our heroes.
Make no mistake; Aja is not afraid of gore. In fact, he positively revels in it.
Unlike horror maestro Dario Argento, who turns his filmic murders into
moving works of art that dazzle the spectator with their aesthetic value, Aja
indulges in a more base form of exploitation. The idea is simple - blood,
brains, guts...and lots of them. It's an incredibly nasty film, packed solid with
stomach-churning moments. However, Aja is not just a gore merchant - he
likes suspense, too. He includes various shock moments to surprise the
audience, but also builds tension with the ease of a young Alfred Hitchcock. I
Films
was surprised to find my heart literally pounding in places, with adrenaline
The Hills Have Eyes (18)
It's difficult to identify, or sympathise, with many of the characters, and Aja's
Directed by: Alexandre Aja
The multiplex has recently been crammed with the usual Oscar fodder, all
glossy big-budget biopics and epic melodramas. Hollywood is spending
more on films than ever before, with studios thinking nothing of spending in
excess of £100million on one movie. Yet bubbling under the surface with all
the malice and discontent of one of the monsters it has spawned is the
horror film.
The horror genre seems to have made a substantial comeback in an era
when human atrocity in the real world is commonplace - fictional monsters
fight for headlines alongside real ones, while no happy ending is assured. It
therefore follows that the climate is just right for a film like “The Hills Have
Eyes” to burst forth and spew its bloody guts across the silver screen.
36
and nausea taking it in turns to wind the nerves to breaking point.
insistence upon dwelling on the nuclear history of the area introduces a risky
plot point that almost invites sympathy for the monsters. However, their
sheer brutality, physical ugliness and general depravity swings our sympathy
in favour of the heroes - if only because they resort to killing purely to
survive.
For anyone who likes splatter movies, I'd highly recommend the film - with
quality direction, mastery of suspense and plenty of "ew" moments, it's
enough to keep any dedicated exploitation fan happy. For those who like
more cerebral horror, I'd say to give it a miss, as you really will find little to
actually like about it. And to Aja, I'd say congratulations for making such a
raw film that has such a visceral impact upon the senses, for this film not
only churns the stomach, it turns it inside out as well.
Laura Sedgwick
‘Zines
Bubblegum Slut –
Issue 20
professionalism and reputation is of a high quality, although the contents
may not appeal to the average TWF reader.
The contents include bands like Bowling for Soup, Zebrahead and Aiden, so
it’s ideal if you have a wide taste in music.
Kevin Morris
£1 from 27 Stores Lane,
Tiptree, Essex, CO5 0LH
Devolution Magazine
– Issue 8
Another ‘zine celebrating a birthday this
quarter. Even a brief flick through is
enough to see how much the quality has
improved since the early days, while
various trade marks (the fluffy heart on
the cover and the insanely low cover
price) have kept their place over this
time.
I’m sure their strong points has been the
cross-feature of Goth, Glam and general
trashy rock ‘n’ roll, offering enough for a cross influence to help stand the
test of time. 5 years is a long time in the ‘zine world….
Jam-packed within this issue are interviews with bands like The Mission,
Zodiac Mindwarp, Devilish Presley on the Goth side and also features on UK
Glam Clubs and Goth/Deathrock club ‘Bring Out Your Dead’ and a hell of a
lot more.
I guarantee that by purchasing an issue
it’s a pound well spent.
Kevin Morris
Black Velvet –
Issue 47
£2 from 366 Birchfield
Road, Webheath,
Redditch. Worcs, B97 4NG
Black Velvet has clocked up quite a few
miles in its existence and moves with a
distinct sense of direction and remains at
a consistent performance level. Its
£2.50 – available from:
Devolution Magazine, 137a
Brasenrose Road, Didcot,
Oxon, OX11 7BP
www.devolutionmagazine.co.uk
I’m not the first to review this issue and I
understand the general feedback for this
issue has been that it’s the ‘best ever’
issue of Devolution Magazine. I am
personally hoping that this doesn’t come
back in some form of ugly albatross
guise of people saying of future issues
that they’re not as good as this one, but Nickie and co have most certainly
raised their bar extremely high, to make this one a tough one to follow up on.
Especially with the free CD.
Devolution managed to cram a lot of content into only 44 pages, it may
seem a little thin when you pick it up, but that is rather deceptive compared
to the actual content volume.
Interviews include Type O Negative, Paradise Lost, Lvrs, and Queen
Adreena, so it really hits you with the big guns, while articles on Mark
Rydens art, two fashion spreads and a general jam in reviews really adds
some extra weight to the content.
The CD, like the content, is very pick and mix between the Metal and Goth
scenes, although when I say Metal it isn’t (thankfully) in a baggy-jeans and
keychain or emo kind of way.
So, still going strong after 2 years, and Issue 8 suggests there is better to
come after considerably raising their own bar…
Kevin Morris
Mail Order
They’ve got theirs; make sure you never
miss yours!
The next 4 issues mailed to your door, as priority, when released.
Only £15* including p+p of each of the next four issues. (*UK only,
Europe £20, RoW £22.50)
Back Issues still available!
Issue 2: Moonspell, Living With Eating Disorders, Self-Injury Awareness,
Goldblade, WGW, fashion, more. £3.95
Issue 3: Deita Klaus, TCR, Manuskript, Venus Fly Trap, Attrition, Earth Loop
Recall, Fashion, M’era Luna, Anne Sudworth, more. £3.95
Issue 5: Free 15 Track CD - Plus: The 69 Eyes, Queen Adreena, Within
Temptaion, Action Directe, Zeitgeist Zero, How to be UberGawth, more. £3.95
Postage £1 for first issue, 50p postage per issue thereafter (Europe £1.50 for first issue,
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Special! Issues 2, 3, 4 and 6 for £15 including postage! (£16 Europe,
£17 RoW)
For magazines, send cheque or postal order made payable to: Kevin Morris, 170 Collingwood Court, Sulgrave,
Washington, Tyne and Wear, NE37 3EE, United Kingdom. Or email editor@twfmagazine.com for more information.
37
at
At first glance, the Egg Club
appears to be an office
building, too small to host a
club-night as expansive as
Synthetic Culture. Well, as the
old saying goes, never judge a book
by its cover. Once inside the building,
you are greeted by spectacular décor.
White curtains adorn the walls, gothic
décor, which looks like it has been
supplied by Alchemy Gothic is seen
everywhere and, best of all, there are
plenty of couches to sit on.
Synthetic Culture boasts three rooms
of music – the Electro Loft Lounge
(Electro-clash, Goth, Synth-pop,
Industrial and EBM),
Industrial/Techno Floor (Industrial,
Techno, Hard Dance, EBM, Crossover) and the Rock/Metal Basement
(complete with pole-dancers!)
38
One of things that annoyed me about
the music allocations of the rooms
was that there were two rooms
playing both EBM and Industrial.
Logic would dictate that there would
be one room for one and another for
the other, so that people who are not
into EBM, such as myself, could
escape into another
room that wasn’t
playing it.
Nevertheless, the
selection of music in
the rooms was quite
impressive.
Everything from the
Sisters of Mercy to
K.M.F.D.M. to
Metallica – there is
definitely something
for everyone.
don’t fancy walking to the club in your
big boots, it can be avoided.
What impresses me
most about Synthetic
Culture is how close
it is to King’s Cross Station. One
could theoretically
get a train down to
London after work
on a Friday night,
party the night
away and then get
the first train home
in the morning as
the club runs from
10pm until 6am.
The club also has a
shuttle bus that
operates every 15
minutes from King’s
Cross to the Egg
Club, so if you
http://www.syntheticculture.com/
Drinks offers are few and generally
unexciting. The cheapest drink is £3,
but this is a London club, and all
prices are generally higher than in
the provinces. The club has
cloakroom facilities and runs a BBQ
in case you are feeling peckish.
Security is excellent and all patrons
are subjected to a search before
entering, as the club has a zero
tolerance policy on drugs and
weaponry.
Synthetic Culture is at the Egg Club,
200 York Road, Kings Cross, London
(3rd Friday of every month)
Words: Gemz Morris
Photos: Laura Sedgwick
You can order back issues and
forthcoming issues and view the
exclusive gallery from
www.twfmagazine.com