Track Listing: Paradiso: Haunted, Secrets, Gentle, Blessed, If Tomorrow Comes, Wish, Closer, Forsaken, Dust, Wonderland, Redemption.
Inferno: Total Addiction, The Future, Precious, Show Me, True Love, Dirty, Push, The Sorrow, Pacify, MIA, Crawl, Until the Break of Day.

This two-disk rock album by The Divine Madness is luscious, dreamy, passionate, and cute, with just enough dissonance to keep it dark. There’s a couple tracks on the first album, Paradiso, with harpsichord, though most tracks are synth, drums, bass, and guitar, topped with the singer, Victoria Mazzè, who definitely flexes her refined vocal chords throughout.

The second album, Inferno, is more of the same: girly, pretty, sensual and heartfelt lyrics with layers of harmonious theatrical flair. If Alice was a love-struck, electro-lounge-singing vampire in wonderland with fairy wings, this would be her soundtrack.

For more information, check out their web page at thedivinemadness.net or their MySpace page.

Track Listing: Blueprint, Futurebuild, Material & Form, Silent in Time, Tempered Wings, Vantage, Kryptka, Imperfect Design, Dogfight, Landlost.

In The Nursery’s Era is an ode to the chilling vastness of manmade forms; love songs for concrete. Ah, the reminiscence. I am not going to compare this music to others; no I am not. Klive and Nigel Humberstone, the twin brothers who comprise ITN have been it long enough to know fully well whaat they are doing.

At first I wasn’t sure but it’s grown on me, immensely, with each listening. And now I’m in love. Cinematic electronic soundscapes paired with orchestral percussion amidst breathy sensual female vocals, this epic album is beautifully haunting and atmospheric. A fine piece of work.

For more information, check out their web page at www.inthenursery.com or their MySpace page.

Track Listing: Intro, The System, Visions, Awakening, Kindred, Shadows, Defende, Feast (N.S.V.), Silently Breeding, Megotholis, Night Aire, Think Me Wicked (Exile), Awakening (Obsolete Mix).

When first hearing this album, I thought of Delerium with more anger. Then I thought of Snake River Conspiracy, for there’s much more metal guitar than there is electro.

As it continues I get less synthy dance music and more headbanging moshpit action, with the occasional infusion of vampiric organ and other spooky delights. This girl can sing and she can growl, and to me that’s impressive. There’s a momentary break in the arpeggiated beats and metal riffs with the 9th track, “Silently Breeding,” which is all melodic vocals, piano, and string pads – a lovely little lonely moment before punctuating the album with two more songs and two remixes.

The remixes are a bit more electronic overall. If you like your metal paired with trancey beats and female vocals and if you hear this played at your favorite darkwave/synthpop club, you will be inspired to shake your stuff on the dancefloor.

For more information, check out their web page at grigori3.com or their MySpace page.

Track Listing: Wild Wife, Devious Child, Towers of Empty Hallways, Letters From Puppets, Locked Up Outside (previously unreleased), Opera March of the Empire, Rhino, Mr. Barnum, Find My Way Out, Power the Empire, To Thread a Needle, Impious, Kissing Your Poison, November Parasite’s Bible.

Body Of Work is a compilation of digitally remastered tracks off earlier albums, so it lacks the feel of a cohesive album as a whole, but fans will be very pleased to finally get CD quality from previously cassette-only recorded tracks. Having such a variety of song styles and not much album flow, it wavers, and so do I. Some songs are more derivative of some of my favorite artists and I like these songs more.

Though am I truly liking Empire Hideous... really? Yes; sometimes. As long as I remember my appreciation for a bit of cheeky absurdity. Occasional textual elements, like church organ samples and politically charged vocal clips, add much and help keep me interested when I drift off.

Cock-Metal-Death-Goth... if you’re down with the straight up macho rock ‘n’ roll and you like it with a bit of dark snarky flair a la Misfits, or tend to pair your leather and black lipstick with your denim and cowboy hats, you’ll probably like this album.

For more information, check out their web page at www.empirehideous.com or their MySpace page.