The DeadBabes have some tasty treats! This latest Nordic export (Covenant watch out!) has produced some extremely
danceable grooves. The hauntingly sexy “Lullaby” is sure to bewitch little Gothlings everywhere. That being said, it would be folly to dismiss these
lads just as pop’s latest poster children. There’s some solid craftsmanship demonstrated on this EP that promises to mature into something even better
given the chance. Watch out for them!
Track Listing: Devil’s Night In The USA, Sometimes They Come Back, Death And Burning Skulls, She’s My Baby.
Hard, death rock! Upon my initial listening, The Misfits immediately came to mind, and these guys play a tight and fierce tune. Inspired by horror flicks, punk and rockabilly, perhaps these boys will turn up at the next Drop Dead Festival or on Middle Pillar’s Hell’s Hundred Records?
The Liars – They Were Wrong So We Drowned
Track Listing: Broken Witch, Steam Rose From The Lifeless Cloak, There’s Always Room on The Broom, If You’re A Wizard Then Why Do You Wear Glasses? We Fenced Other Houses with Bones Of Our Own, They Don’t Want Your Corn They Want Your Kids, Read The Book That Wrote Itself, Hold Hands And It Will Happen Anyway, They Took It For The Rest Of Our Lives, Flow My Tears The Spider Said.
This recent effort from the Liars just left me wondering, and a little confused. It has promise with the band’s use of studio effects, some infectious hooks and deliciously titled tracks like, “We Fenced Other Houses With Bones Of Our Own”, but it overreaches. What could be an interesting muse on the occult in pop culture comes across as a cheesy witch fixation that drones on for too long (think sloppy Sonic Youth). People have raved about these guys live, maybe so, and maybe with repeated listening this album could grow on you too, but your time’s better spent elsewhere.
Purchase at your own risk.
Phenotract – Within A Second
Track Listing: Prisms I, Twilight Haze, Freezetime, Skydomes, Motionstate, Waves, Prisms II, Drifts, Red Glow, Lunartrip, Distant Voices, Neosymmetry, Outside Static, Prisms III.
The music is mostly quite dancable drum ‘n’ bass groove overlayered with ambient synths and assorted odd electronic devices. Male vocals on most tracks that hit the solar plexus with a dreamy, droning melody... or even a near whisper... while hinting at knowledge of darkness perhaps best not dwelled upon too deeply while walking the ethereal side of the chasm. The songs are interspersed with instrumental bits titled “Prisms I, Prisms II, and Prisms III”. These short bits are either lush, lovely string pads or bizarre electronica that sounds like an experiment gone awry in Dr Frankenstein’s lab. In either case, aspects of the Prisms seem to find their way very nicely into the tone-color spectrum of the songs.
Robert Ziino – Twilight Clones
Track Listing: Plan B, The Pod Door, Revolution, Twilight Clones, Birth, Desert Noise.
Instrumental electronica (including severely distorted voice) that sounds as though it might qualify as dance music from another solar system. Darkness, while not overtly menacing, seems to fairly ooze from the seams between the musical ideas, as though the music is there to keep something out of the listener’s headspace. How does he do that?!
