Review: Cynical Existence – 'Erase, Evolve And Rebuild'

CYNICAL EXISTENCE 

'Erase, Evolve And Rebuild' 

ALFA MATRIX 

Fredrik Croona, the man behind harsh ebm outfit Cynical Existence, is on a rampage. In less than a year he has given us an exciting début album, plus an EP, and is already following it up with album number two. The first full-length Cynical Existence outing on 'Come Out And Play' showed off a well rounded approach to creating hard dance tracks that channelled the previous experiences of its creator with his other bands Project Rotten and Menschdefekt and infusing an almost metal edge to them. Fast forward several months and another EP and the second album continues the path set out on 'Come And Play' and refined further on the 'A Familiar Kind Of Pain' EP.

There is no genuine aim at creating anything other than a varied approach to harsh ebm that is both dance orientated – in the vein of acts such as Suicide Commando, Grendel and SITD – but also carries some emotional resonance. It's a simple and honest ambition, and one that continues to bear fruit.

The snarled metal vocals, industrial guitar, hard beats and scathing synth melodies give the album it's backbone. But the clever use of clean vocals, as well as sparring use of glitch and even dubstep elements give the album a fresh and experimental edge. The likes of 'Something Strange', 'Falling', 'Our Bright Future', 'No Compromise' and 'Transformation (Search For A Change)' provide the strongest cuts from the track listing. Each one incorporating and refining new and interesting elements into the Cynical Existence palette.

They don’t' always get it quite right, though. Too often Steve Alton's excellent guitar work gets lost in the mix, and sometimes there is just too much vying for the listener's attention, such as with 'Erase Me'.

'Erase, Evolve And Rebuild' is a mantra for Croona and his collaborators. Cynical Existence is a band that grows for the better with every release. The band don't descend into the cliché of genre conventions. Instead they take that early diversity of the harsh ebm sound and continue to tinker with it to suit themselves

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Review: Spiritual Front – 'Black Hearts In Black Suits'

SPIRITUAL FRONT 

'Black Hearts In Black Suits' 

RUSTBLADE  

Italy's Spiritual Front have been around in the neofolk scene for over a decade now, and have honed their suicidal folk-pop formula with great effort. With several full-length albums under their belt, including the acclaimed 'Armageddon Gigolo' (2006), they have proven again to be one of the more interesting modern neofolk acts. Long-time fans will no doubt be rejoicing that the band's latest effort sees former member Stefano Puri back on song writing duty for the first time since 2006.

The new album, based on the poems of Rainer Werner Fassbinder focusses on the dichotomy of the light and dark sides of the bands musical sound. The album augments the band's established sound of blending neofolk, neoclassical and post-punk with a bleak decadence evoking old Europe. The tracks constantly shift from light airy pieces to darker, more complex pieces, with occasional dabbling with ecclesiastical majesty. The result is almost akin to the drunken death rattle of imperial Europe presented as a theatrical revue.

Musically and vocally the band take their cues from the likes of Franz Schubert, Nick Cave, David Tibet, and Marc Almond. With songs such as , 'Life's Too Long', 'The Only Sin', 'I Just Can't Have Nothing', 'I Believe I Was Yours' and 'Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves' balance a melancholic pop edge with a deeply intimate and confessional approach.

The use of ecclesiastical interludes on 'Requiem Æternam', 'Dies Iræ' and 'Lacrimosa' breaks up what is quite a long track listing into more bitesize chapters and adds a little more gravitas to the sombre and minimalistic piano-led arrangements.

'Black Hearts In Black Suits' is a pretty heavy going album. It's long and melancholic, designed to wrench at the listeners heart via their ears. The fifteen tracks and penchant towards simple piano pieces won't be to everyone's liking. However, the song writing though, is exquisite, and the production is simple, but effective. Vocally Simone Salvatori has never sounded better. Ultimately this will prove to be another standout album in the Spiritual Front catalogue.  

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Review: The 69 Eyes – 'Lost Without Love' (Single)

THE 69 EYES 

'Lost Without Love' 

NUCLEAR BLAST 

After once more experimenting with their glam metal roots on recent albums, the Helsinki Vampires have slowly been finding their way back to their signature “goth 'n' roll” sound. What better way to celebrate this than with the second “best of” compilation in the band's 20+ year career.

The new single that accompanies 'The Best Of The Helsinki Vampires' is quite an apt one. 'Lost Without Love' is a nice blend of the bands metallic edge without compromising on their gothic pomp. The semi ballad fits in nicely with classic tracks such as 'Dance D'Amour', 'Stolen Season', and 'Betty Blue'.

The deep bassy tones to Jyrki 69's vocals are dropped in favour of a more dynamic approach, which works but does also bring the song a bit close to HIM territory. Though the band thankfully stop short of imitating their own imitators.

If you want a big single to close a live show with, then this is going to tick the boxes. It has the classic jangling guitars, haunting synths, grooving bass and a big sing-a-long chorus to really rouse the audience.

It doesn't quite live up to the legacy of singles like 'Brandon Lee', 'Gothic Girl' or 'The Chair'. But it does a good job of maintaining a link between the band's past and their most passable recent cuts like 'Borderline' from 'X' and 'Ghost' from 'Perfect Skin'.

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Artoffact Records to release Sólstafir / Legend split 7"

Canadian underground label Artoffact has announced the release of a very limited edition 7” vinyl split from Icelandic bands Sólstafir and Legend. The split will see each band cover one of the other's songs.

Sólstafir craft a post-metal version of one of Legend's 'Runaway Train'. While Legend reform Sólstafir's 'Fjara' into a dark-pop anthem.

The 7" vinyl features an exclusive photo by Icelandic artist Iris Sigurdardottir with the band-members lined up in a black room, side-by-side. The vinyl is available in two versions and limited to a total 300 copies worldwide, half of which have already been sold.

1. Crystal clear with silver (90 copies)

2. Crystal clear with little bit of mixed solid red (70 copies)

The 7” split is available to pre-order the Artoffact webshop. For more information on the bands, please visit their websites HERE and HERE.

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Dead When I Found Her to release a cassette of covers.

Oregon's finest industrial outfit Dead When I Found Her announced that they will be releasing a limited edition EP exclusively on cassette. 'Fingerprints: Volume 1' is a covers album created after the success of 'Stitches And Cover Ups' where the band paid tribute to bands and artists such as Nine Inch Nails and Phil Collins.

Advertised as "An Original Mixtape" the release will feature covers of songs by such acts as Skinny Puppy, The Smiths and a David Bowie track from the 'Labyrinth Soundtrack'. The release shall be limited to a mere 50 copies and each purchase will come with a download code so you can add it to your MP3 player as well as whack it in your boombox!


Track List: 

Side A
1. In the Air Tonight (Phil Collins)
2. Controversy (Prince)
3. Dead Lines (Skinny Puppy)
4. Sin (Nine Inch Nails)
5. When Doves Cry (Prince)

Side B
6. Magic Dance (David Bowie)
7. Down In It (Nine Inch Nails)
8. Fly on the Windscreen (Depeche Mode)
9. Kill To Cure (Skinny Puppy)
10. Girlfriend in a Coma (The Smiths)


Set for release around the beginning of December, this is a must have Christmas gift for any rivet head!




The EP is available to pre-order now. For more information on the band, please visit their official website.

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Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds announce 'Live From KCRW'

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds have announced the release of their fourth official live album recording, 'Live From KCRW'. The album features a stripped-down line-up performing classic songs as well as four new cuts from the band's latest studio outing 'Push The Sky Away'.

The album will be released on 2^nd December (29^th November in the US for Black Friday) on standard CD, digital and vinyl formats. The vinyl will also include two exclusive un-broadcast songs in the form of 'Into My Arms' and 'God is In The House'. The album will also be available as a digital deluxe bundle along with 'Push The Sky Away'.

The album was recorded live for KCRW by Bob Clearmountain on 18th April 2013 at Apogee Studio in Los Angeles, between the band's two Coachella appearances.

Track List:

1.   Higgs Boson Blues

2.   Far From Me

3.   Stranger Than Kindness

4.   The Mercy Seat

5.   And No More Shall We Part

6.   Wide Lovely Eyes

7.   Mermaids

8.   People Ain’t No Good

9.   Into My Arms (limited vinyl only)

10. God Is In The House (limited vinyl only)

11. Push The Sky Away

12. Jack The Ripper

The album is available to pre-order now through the band's webshop. For more information on the band, please visit their official website.

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The weekly compendium 25/10/2013

Well that's the end of another week. It's now 6 days to Halloween, 11 days to Bonfire Night, 61 days to Christmas, and 68 days until our first birthday!

Anyway, that's the future and we want to look at the past. This week we had news from New Zero God, Artoffact Records, Rozz Williams and BeautyIn The Suffering, as well as reviews of the latest releases from The Ladder, Doyle, Cryogenic Echelon, and Hanzel Und Gretyl.

While over on the facebook page, there has been a new video from Aesthetic Perfection, an album trailer from Rabia Sorda, and a Competition from Cyberdog.

Right. That's it for this week, I'm going to leave you now with some classic Rozz Williams.

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Review: Hanzel Und Gretyl – 'Für Immer'

HANZEL UND GRETYL 

'Für Immer' 

METROPOLIS 

It's hard to believe that the duo of Kaizer Von Loopy and Vas Kallas (AKA pseudo-Neu Deutsche Härte act Hanzel Und Gretyl) have been around for nearly 20 years now. With a handful of interesting albums to their name in the 90s, they gained international infamy due to the playfully parodying of albums such as 2003's 'Über Alles' and 2004's 'Sheissmessiah'. Now off the back of their sixth album 'Born To Be Heiled' comes the companion EP, featuring tracks remixed by Von Loopy's electro side-project KyzrWölf.

One criticism of HuG has been that, although their music has a lot of variety, it often seems to quickly become unfocussed as there are so many influences vying for control. What this remix album brings to the table though is a more focussed and linear style that maintains the unpredictability of the originals.

Purists can pick on the band for their lack of grammatical correctness (and believe me... they will ad nauseam), however there is something undeniably fun about singing and dancing along to tracks like 'More German Than German', 'Unterztützung 87', 'Born To Be Heiled', and 'Holy Shiza' with their cheesy and parody orientated titles. The fact that these are all electronic remixes as well gives the band back their club-orientated sound that has become increasingly over-shadowed by their various metal influences in recent years.

The remixes have a nice modern edge that gives a nod to the band's early electro-industrial style, while also dropping in nods to more recent trends such as dubstep. It's a solid effort that will undoubtedly yield some club hits to keep both DJs and old school fans more than happy.

This is a kind of “best of both” situation. HuG have a pretty solid fanbase that expect the heavy guitars and metal posturing of the last decade’s worth of albums has presented. Yet, with what is quite a well thought out and reconstructed remix album, the band are able to tap back into the dance/club market once again and widen their appeal. Hopefully this is a trend the band will continue on future releases.

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Beauty In The Suffering announce release date for 'The Crazies'

Beauty In The Suffering, the newly launched electro-metal studio project from producer Dietrich Thrall (Marazene), will release the bands début single, 'The Crazies' on 5^th November, 2013.

Two years in the making, 'The Crazies (The Zombie Song)' marks the first new material released by DieTrich since Marazene's demise.

Beauty In The Suffering are currently editing multiple full production videos for 'The Crazies (The Zombie Song)' as well as two other tracks, 'Reveille' and 'Juliet that the band plans to drop in the coming weeks. Release dates for the songs and the videos are forthcoming.

For more information on the band, please visit their official website.

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Dark Vinyl / Cult Music to release Rozz Williams' last album

In celebration of what would have been Rozz Williams' 50th birthday, Germany's Dark Vinyl and the USA's Cult music will be releasing the last album recorded by Rozz Williams for the first time.

The album was recorded by the former vocalist and founder of acts such as Christian Death, Premature Ejaculation and Shadow Project in Brugge 1994, Waregem 1993 and Los Angeles 1997 and features previously unreleased material. The album is available to pre-order now and will be released on both vinyl and CD on 11th November 2013.

The double-LP version comes with two Bonus tracks ('Moonage Daydream' and 'Raw Power) not included on the CD and in deluxe gatefold-cover limited to 300 copies. While the CD version features one bonus track ('Nostalgia (Alternative Version)') and different artwork.

Track List:

Vinyl

A: Time / Nostalgia / Bruised / Dodo / Kill Your Suns
B: Hold Me Down / Flowers / The Doll
C: World Inside / Hall of Mirrors / 2nd Step / Sunken Rex
D: Moonage Daydream / Raw Power

CD

01 Time

02 Nostalgia

03 Bruised

04 Flowers

05 Dodo

06 Kill Your Suns

07 Hold Me Down

08 The Doll

09 World Inside

10 Hall of Mirrors

11 2nd Step

12 Sunken Rex

Bonus: 13 Nostalgia (Alternate Version)

'Sleeping Dogs' is available to pre-order now from various retail outlets.

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