Various - Beauty in darkness Vol.5’ [2]

Mark

Not blessed, or merciful
Apr 11, 2001
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Sarf Lundin, Innit
Various - Beauty in darkness Vol.5’
Nuclear Blast - 2001
By Gabriel Strange


The album as a whole comprises a good selection of what goth rock is all bout, it good from good 3-step style songs to utter cheese. It has hits; high points and it’s lows but all in all a good introduction to modern goth music, I recommend that everyone in to the darker side of music give this CD a listed as there is something for all. Also any seasoned goth will find endless Amusement with the insert of this CD as I did, it just seams to forget anything that has been in the scene for the past 10 years, and the writer of the insert should be bias to the bands and the CD, but this takes that into a new realm.

01 THE 69 EYES – The Chair
My first thought when listening to this song was it sounded very like the Early Sisters of Mercy songs, with the Deep vocals, and slow beat with heavy guitars. Even the Lyrics could have come from the hand of Eldritch himself. All in all they do pull it of quite will, and would passably be a dance floor hit in most goth clubs. However given a few more yours to progress and loose the voice box and the may progress from being a good band to an excellent one.
Rating: ****

02 DIMMU BORGIR – Puritania
I have never been a big fan of Black or death Metal, yet this song shows the development of this Swedish band, from the sounds of this song they are heading slowly to becoming an Industrial band, something akin to Die Krupps or Laibach, with there heavy guitars and powerful vocals. I would now consider buying their latest works, as this is one of their best songs I have heard in recent years.
Rating: ***

03 LUCIFIRE – The Pain Song
Johan Edmunds of Tiamat, has done the goth scene proud with this song, even is it does sound very like the German band ‘The Merry thoughts’, Also this song and especially the vocals do have a sever influence of ‘The Sisters of mercy’ and there ‘Vision Thing’ Album. However I do think the Goths would get up and to the traditional gothic 3-step to this song.
Rating: ****

04 THERION – Summer Night City
I have heard material by this band previously so I have a good base to go on about their sound and style, however this sound could only be popular as a class cheese song. Their choice of this ABBA cover is a bad move it just sounds Dreadful compared to Therion’s other works. I know some Goths and metalers Like ABBA, but this just takes the P*ss. The music is still up to their standards, but the Lyrics Need to be hacked out with a chain saw, or maybe replaced with the chainsaw sound. A truly awful cover of what was an average ABBA song.
Rating: *

05 L’AME IMMORTELLE – Judgement
I love what the insert say about this band considering I have been listening to European goth and industrial music for years, when I read what the insert had to say I thought Who? Anyway it’s still a good song very danceable, and you can see similarities between this band, and the British Pagan goth bands Incubus Succubus and Die Laughing. However I think given the power of the female vocalist they will go far.
Rating: ***

06 PROJECT PITCHFORK – Existence (Zeromancer remix)
This band have progressed from there early days in the European Industrial scene, now there music is becoming truly there own style. Again the insert seams to neglect the rest of the Industrial Music scene that has been running for years, as for one of the top acts, I would say there good but still pale in comparison to KMFDM, Front 242 and Die Krupps. However I do know this band has a very big following in the goth and industrial scene, and I would recommend going to see them live.
Rating: ****

07 THEATRE OF TRAGEDY – Image
Again the Insert seams to neglect the rest of the goth music scene, They seam to think this band is a world leader in it’s style. However Sunshine Blind from the US, have a very similar style but Caroline blind the lead singer of sunshine blind has a far superior vocal range. Still this band does sound good, and there is always something about Lyrics that aren’t in your own language. I would say they will be a minor success in the goth scene as a whole, and will retain a fan base of sizable proportions, however they need to progress further to become one of the best.
Rating: ***

08 AMORHIS – Alone
I love the insert for this CD they have done it again; I think they need to do some market research for the next CD. Apparently they are a successful band from Finland, and again I thought Who? Apart from the fact they sound similar to the UK band ‘The Mission’ This song is boringly average and will passably go un-noticed in the goth scene, just because there music is nothing special. Hopefully now they have hit the world stage there next works will progress.
Rating: **

09 NEVERMORE – Believe in Nothing
Warrel Dane’s supposed Unique Vocal, Sound Suspiciously like Bruce Dickinson’s of Iron Maidens fame. If you like Iron Maiden you will passably love or hate this band. I have heard one of their songs before and gain I thought It was Iron Maiden. A Good rock Ballard as Rock Ballard’s go, but nothing spectacular, and I still prefer Iron Maiden. I would recommend ‘Tears of the Dragon’ by ‘Bruce Dickinson’ as the song to compare this to, and Bruce win’s ands down. And as for goth I think it’s not.
Rating: **

10 LACUNA COIL – Cold Heritage
Owning two of there early albums I do already like the sound of this band, yet this song I think was an unwise choice for this compilation, it does not show what this band is capable of, both Vocally and Musically, It’s good but by no means is it a good representation of their other works. A good song non the less even if you would get board of it after a while.
Rating: ***

11 ENTWINE – Closer (my love) edit
Drone and this song does, as for what the insert says about the so called Finnish Goth Rock Invasion, I hope this band is left by the wayside. It is a truly boring song I think I could be happy never hearing it again in my entire life. It’s just too Manufactured Industry Standard Ballard (MISB) material. I think skipping this track if you buy this CD would be a good plan.
Rating: *

12 CREMATORY – The Fallen
I would say this band has a ‘Sisters of mercy’ Influence, which is not a bad thing, but I think this band should realize that Goth is not just image and style but also a way of life, and something deeper. I just find there interpretation of goth amusing, from their name and images to their attempt at haunting music. If they were slightly heavier and faster they would work well in the black metal scene along side the likes of ‘Cradle of Filth’.
Rating: **

13 TO/DIE/FOR – Crimson Twins
When I first heard this song I thought of A-ha, the vocals and music style closely match that of the 80’s band. However there fast paced style and slightly deeper vocals make this band a good listen, yet I think it’s aimed more at the Vampire goth Community, and would work well there, but I think the band might fail against some of the world other goth bands. But as they are I would recommend to anybody into vampire related music. Also at this point I noticed one thing about this compilation, it is has an awful lot of bands on from Finland.
Rating: ***

14 LOVE LIKE BLOOD – The Belief
The Insert does it again, I do think the writer, failed to do his research. They say this is one of the Longest running Goth bands in Germany, I say Bauhaus is by a good 10 years. Still LLB is a good example of the bet parts of the German goth scene. This cover is a good choice, but it does annoy me after a while, when all a band can do is offer a cover song to go on a compilation, just to try and boost a few more sales here and there, still all in all a fine song to listen to.
Rating: ***

15 SILKE BISCHOF – Love Never Dies
This is the song that would have Apoptygma Berzerk, ripping the CD out of the player and scratching the CD in the right spot so this song skips, this would save effort of hitting the track forward button. This song was popular in the German charts, Mainly I’d say because people were expecting a good cover of ‘Love Never Dies’, but this is truly the worse cover song I have ever heard, and the song deserves destroying. And as for the insert again it is true wrong, they are not a legend in the German goth scene, I would say Wolfshiem Deserves that place.
Rating: *

16 MANDRAGORA SCREAM – Cryin’ Clouds
Again Like Crematory, this band dose not seam to have grasped what goth music really is, Their name is gothic sounding, there image is gothic looking, and there music is an outsiders interpretation of gothic. But it’s not goth, However the music is slightly better then Crematory, and less comical from a goth perspective. Again this will appeal to the ‘Cradle of filth fans’.
Rating: ***

17 TAPPING THE VEIN – Cornflake Girl
This sounds very similar to the Tori Amos version; this is one of those classic songs that if you change the music too much you loose the feel of the song. A good cover but to similar to the Original and I’m afraid to say Tori does it better. Again It’s another one of those cover songs which is aimed to appeal to a wider audience for greater sales. Not the best choice from the Tapping the Vein back catalogue.
Rating: ***

18 WITHIN TEMPTAION – Mother Earth
I’d say this band has some heavy Influences from Laibach, in the music department, however the female vocal do set it off quite well. Though not the most listen-able song on here it’s a good song. Very atmospheric and quite melodic, but the lead singer should stop trying to be Kate bush, her vocal range does not even come close to Kate Bush, yet she tries to hard to sound similar. I think the Vocalist should try developing her own style and then this band would be truly a class act.
Rating: ***

Conclusion:
As the CD jumps back to the first song I think this compilation is to Bias to Finnish bands, and has far to many average cover songs on it. It will appeal to some listeners but to most the music selection is average and could have been a lot better. Also the Insert Writer needs a crash course in Market Research, so he can write a good overview of the band, rather than the bias to Finland version outside of historical context.
All in all a good and interesting buy for those just coming to the goth scene, but their are far better bands out there, and this is by o means the be all and end all of goth music in modern times.
Overall Rating: ***
 
Whoever wrote this review, definitely is not a metal fan, but rather a goth-head.
Why do I say so?
First off: Dimmu Borgir is not a Swedish band, they're Norwegian, and no, they're not turning to industrial just because "Puritania"'s got some seq'd samples and drum-machines. I wonder if by the time I reply to this you've bought the Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia masterpiece and found the harsh truth: they're still mean big fucking black metal the way it should sound in the 21st century.
On the other hand, don't you know Amorphis? For God's sake!!! Where ya been? Where ya from? I realize "Alone" is not your typical goth-metal song, in fact, it's not goth at all, so I wonder why it was included on this compilation... but, anyway, Amorphis rocks, no doubts about it. If you want to know more about them, search the net, there's plenty of info on them. And, ah, they're Finnish, started out as a melodic death metal outfit, released one of the best albums of the genre (Tales of the Ten Thousand Lakes), and have been progressing into new sounds and styles ever since. How many metal bands have you heard with sax solos? How many of them really fit?

Regards;
The Winter's Sadness