Review: Byronic Sex & Exile – 'Under The Gaze Of And Indifferent God'

BYRONIC SEX& EXILE
'Under The Gaze Of And Indifferent God'

GOTH CITY RECORDS

Once again the opium smoke parts as the crypt creaks open to reveal the dark and shadowy shape of a new Byronic Sex & Exile EP. As old school as Bela Lugosi's cape 'Under The Gaze Of And Indifferent God' is a homage to the decadent trad goth of years gone by played with a knowing glint of irony in its eye.

Picking up where last years 'Crimes Of Passion' EP left off with another four cuts of steady mechanical beats, old school guitars, synths and melancholic vocals with elements of acts such as Dead Can Dance, Gene Loves Jezebel, Flesh For Lulu, Rose Of Avalanche, Rosetta Stone, Children On Stun and Love Like Blood distilled through an atmosphere befitting a German expressionist film.

The likes of 'Under Heaven', and 'True Slave' bookend the EP with opulent and mournful gothic hymns made to echo eldritch halls. While 'Heresy In Flesh' and 'Purity' dial up the dance elements that in the 90s would have set the club scene on fire. Even though there are only four songs, the track list seems to cover all the bases in terms of what a damn good trad goth record was and still can be.

All of the old school sounds are present; drum machine beats, cheesy but atmospheric synths, and jagged post-punk guitar lines and the deep crooning baritone. But it doesn't try to recreate a specific sound. It takes those sounds and records them to a modern standard. As such the production pulls the best out of the tracks instead of trying to copy what was the standard of the era.

This is an unashamed love letter to gothic rock that takes the familiar elements and continues the tradition rather than simply imitating it into parody. As such the songs sound like classic singles rather than a clumsy rip-off, and is a joy to listen to as a result.

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Review: Byronic Sex & Exile – 'Crimes Of Passion'

BYRONIC SEX & EXILE
'Crimes Of Passion'
SELF-RELEASED 

With tongue firmly planted in cheek Byronic Sex & Exile crawl out of the aristocratic netherworld of trad goth to drag you back to their dilapidated opium den on a (dark) wave of steady mechanical beats, old school guitars, synths and melancholic vocals.

'Crimes Of Passion' is an EP dripping in nods to old school goth acts such as Dead Can Dance, Gene Loves Jezebel, Flesh For Lulu, Rose Of Avalanche, Rosetta Stone, Children On Stun and Love Like Blood. The ever present drum machine beats, cheesy but atmospheric synths, and jagged post-punk guitar lines root the songs in the 80s peak of the gothic rock movement while the clear production and self-aware irony running throughout 'Crimes Of Passion', 'Cruel Beauty', 'Fausthaus', and 'Leviathan' gives it 21^st century hindsight.

Despite it's tongue-in-cheek approach the music contained within the EP is still pretty damn good. Not a parody of gothic rock but a loving and knowing homage. In fact if you rewound the clock 25 years a song from this EP would easily have found its way onto any contemporary gothic compilation album. It is music that has been done lovingly and more importantly it has been done very well.

All the sounds are right for that classic coming together of sounds that makes this unmistakably trad goth. But at the same time it is mixed and produced to a digital standard which gives it fresher and less rough sound than many of those classic acts produced in their heyday.

'Crimes Of Passion' is a fine exercise in old school gothic rock that can't quite hide its knowing smile. It's the kind of work that if you were approached by a film maker to provide for a soundtrack about the 80s then this is what you would give them. Decadent, melancholic, classic goth.  

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