Lycia - a line that connects

The 10th album by dark-wave legends Lycia and fully reuniting the classic line-up of the band. So is a return to the classic sound? Well Lycia cover so many bases from full on doom to ethereal to (gothic) synth pop and the latter is present on the album highlight "The rain". The album covers a number of moods and at times connects to Lycia in what many regard its best period and sound in the 90s but the sound is also forward looking and complicated, textured and melancholic. "Monday is here" is a prime example of that, a downbeat meander that erupts into a sonic tidal wave.

MV : "Drifting" by Lycia

Darkness.

Vierance - semblance

Oh this is good, we like a bit of dark synth. Vierance produce atmospheric yet often sparse and bleak soundscapes, bleak but beautiful. Well beautiful if you like darkness and doom perhaps as we do. There is a bit of a pop underpining to some of the tracks too, "Mosaic" for one has some great melodies, albeit amid the destruction. It and "Athens cries" reminds us a bit of early DM sonically but although it has a step in the past it is firmly rooted in the future. Superb.

MV : "Sleepwalker" by The Acid Portal

Amazing on so many levels.

Soundcloud : The Acid Portal - black candles

Who are The Acid Portal? This introduces them, they have promise.

MV : "Darkness" by Bleak

Lycia - the burning circle and then dust (Silber CD)

This is the fourth album by Lycia, the darkwave / doomgaze producing a really solid (as in dense) piece of work here. The songs are epic, big booming omnious goth noise classics reminding me sometimes of the likes of Fushitsusha. Multi-layered reverb guitar effects echo amid pounding drums accompanying whispered vocals which sound like they come straight from the underworld.

Its not a heavy album but its pure emotion, the tones and feel tug at your heart strings and your soul like the anguish at the end of the world. The epic "A presence in the woods" starts things off with a slow ponderous yet darkly beautiful rock noise, and the album more or less continues on from that in the same vein.

Songs like "pray" sound like the soundtrack to the desolation of the end, but amid all the noise is hope maybe, a spark. There is a lot to like here and a lot to hear too, originally this was a double album lasting nearly 2 hours but the Silber edition has been edited slightly to fit on one disc. An (almost) endless descent into doom.

MV : "The better things to come" by Lycia

Got a Lycia album the other day, been wanting to try some of their darkwave for some time. It includes this song.

Siouxsie & The Banshees - twice upon a time

Siouxsie and The Banshees are of course legends of 80s alternative and goth though to be honest this is the first album of the band i have got. I decided to play it safe with a singles compilation as i am a chicken. Also this includes the Beatles cover "Dear Prudence" which is my favourite song of the band. Well until now maybe.

To be honest i prefer the later stuff when they got more into electronics like "Face to face" which has some some great pop sensibilities too. Maybe this is my new favourite track of the band now. "Peek-A-boo" is also a fun track though the sounds that resemble fart noises (maybe a little too much) make me laugh every time. "Kiss them for me" is a great indie dance track. Siouxsie and The Banshees modified their sound a lot over their career and it shows here to make this singles compilation a very varied (and often enjoyably over-the-top) ride indeed.

12"/80s

I reviewed the 12"/80s Grooves already but this triple-CD collection is a lot more indie friendly. As with the grooves set it is (as you might imagine) a collection of 12" versions and mixes from the 1980s! As i said this has quite a good alternative and goth mix with the likes of The Cure, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Icicle Works and Echo & The Bunnymen alongside more mainstream but still excellent 80s pop from bands like Visage, ABC and Talk Talk.

OK it also has Simply Red on it, nothing is perfect eh? 12" mixes are a mixed (pardon the pun) bunch. Sometimes a 12" mix just seems like studio control showing off where the remixer shows he knows how every new piece of technology works. Other times the mixes really add to a song and give it a new dimension, as well as the literal one. Some misses but overall a lot of hits.

MV : "Dear Prudence" by Siouxsie & The Banshees

One of the best cover versions of all time in my book.

MV : "She's in parties" by Bauhaus

Goth!