Goth | Stegzy's Music Project

Jade – Flowing Tears [#646]

by stegzy

During the great internet download free for all of the mid to late noughties, I occasionally obtained rogue MP3s that I would review at my leisure then try to locate the artist. Often they would have been uploaded by some fan who hadn’t tagged the file correctly or they were really obscure acts that nobody seemed to know. Frequently I forgot to make a note of where I got the file from or find it again.

Two such files were ones which appeared to have had the artist tagged as Flowing Tears and Withered Flowers. They were dark. Euro Goth with poorly pronounced English and a wistfully moribund tone. Sounded great. Sadly, in those days, the internet was relatively still in its infancy which meant that a lot of the knowledge out there today was still in people’s heads and not accessible via the likes of Wikipedia or Stegzy’s Music Project.

Of course, the reason I couldn’t find anything was partially because the files turned out to be unreleased songs by the band who later became Flowing Tears (dropping the Withered Flowers suffix). A further hurdle was that for some reason many music channels in the UK looked unfavourably on continental European bands and often searches on Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music (or iTunes as it was then) and the like resulted in nothing. Which is partially why many people turned to piracy.

Recently though, it has got better. Apple Music is a lot better than it was way back when, and even Google/Youtube has improved. As a result, and partially why the Music Project was put on its second hiatus, I was able to add two Flowing Tears albums, and many other new artists and albums, to my Apple Music library.

Jade is the first release for the band under the Flowing Tears name and was released in 2000. At this point the band had changed its line up to feature Stefanie Duchêne as its lead singer replacing guitarist Manfred Bersin’s lead vocals, assumidly so he could go back to playing his guitar.

The familiar sounds created by the band in their release, Swansongs (released under their original name) are evident in Jade if not more evolved. Indeed, Jade seems like a natural shift towards what sound the band became. Its still never going to be a mainstream sound in the UK and its likely that few people in the UK or US have even heard of the band, but if you like the sounds of bands like Scream Silence or Nightwish, I suggest you give Flowing Tears a go, if you haven’t done so already. You might be similarly enamoured.

More information see: Amazon or Apple Music

2000 Century Media Flowing Tears gothic Rock

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It’ll End in Tears – This Mortal Coil [#644]

by stegzy

Gloomy collaborative music by Evo Watts’ music project This Mortal Coil.

Like Mike Oldfield’s Islands this was also part of a x for £xx deal at the Virgin Megastore in Liverpool (now Claus Ohlson). I mourn the passing of record shops and their x for £xx deals, this is not an offer the likes of Amazon, iTunes and their ilk seem to foster. I was drawn to This Mortal Coil and their 1984 album It’ll End in Tears via the 4AD Uncut Compilation CD and David Lynch’s Lost Highway in which the band’s cover of Tim Buckley’s Song of the Siren featured and marked the beginning of me being a little more adventurous with my music choices. However I only became aware of them following the rerelease of the album in the nineties.

Of course, this was in the nineties so music downloading hadn’t really taken off in the UK due to the crapness of internet connectivity but it quickly became a prized item in my music library. Especially as it made me feel that I appeared cultured and with it to my Guardian reading, coffee table book owning friends at the time.

Hipster? moi? Nah my trousers are not corduroy and I don’t own a penny farthing.

—

Apologies for the break in posts last week, I’m still rebuilding my music library following an IT issue with my iMac, and have just returned from a holiday in Dorset so posts will be a little sporadic for a few weeks. However, please do not feel I’ve abandoned this project or stopped writing, I haven’t. Keep an eye out on my other blog, the Compostual Existentialist over the next few weeks for details of my recent holiday.

1984 4AD Brendan Perry Cocteau Twins Collaborations Dead Can Dance Dream Pop Etheral Wave gothic Lisa Gerrard new age Post-Punk This Mortal Coil Tim Buckley

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Heavenly Voices Parts 1 – 3 – Various Artists [#578-580]

by stegzy

A bumper three albums on a Friday with a most peculiar acquisition, Heavenly Voices.

Much like how Looking for Europe does for the Neofolk genre, Heavenly Voices does for the dreampop/ethereal wave genre by way of the artists on the Hyperium record label. Here we have, in effect, three distinctly glorious compilation albums featuring a whole range of talent from artists like Eden’s Sean Bowley and his side project Sunwheel to fully functioning bands like Bel Canto, Black Tape for a Blue Girl and Miranda Sex Garden.

[#578] Part One is possibly the most accessible of the three. A little catawauling here and there but a nice build up towards (and what was my introduction to) Ordo Equituum Solis‘ Playing with the Fire.

Dreamily swimming onwards through Die Form’s Cantique and culminating in Winter Moon Descending by Annabel’s Garden

[#579] Part Two takes a different approach. The songs here have a much more floaty dreamy kind of feel with a slight dash of hauntology. This album was my introduction to the whole Heavenly Voices trilolgy and as a result not only are there many artists who have appeared previously in the Music Project, for example Collection d’Arnell Andréa and Black Tape, but also many who are yet to come. Possibly my most favourite tracks from this album are Sunwheel’s Walk Upon the Grass (which, incidently, I was intending to shoot a music video for but couldn’t find a willing person to film in time! Maybe a later opportunity will arise) The Sea is My Soul by 24 Hours and the haunting 56 in 81 by Eleven Shadows.

11K190SNXWL Finally Part 3 [#580] copies of which are currently changing hands for around £300. Featuring a much more accessible approach to the genre with more familiar artists like Miranda Sex Garden and Bel Canto. Again, this album introduced me to many artists and it is easy to see why people prize it so highly. Emerging from Part 2’s forest of floaty vaginas into a dystopian landscape of industry like a stumbling ninny, the listener finds Part 3 rips up the leafy glades of Part 2 and drills deep concrete foundations of industrial darkwave right into your mind.

Legend has it that there is actually a part four and a part five compilation. Rumours, whispers abound. Sadly the Hyperium label closed shortly after the death of its founder in 2002, but many of the acts continue on in the worlds of Darkwave and etheralwave.

Bel Canto Black Tape for a Blue Girl Collection d'Arnell Andréa compilations dark wave Eden Etheral Wave gothic Miranda Sex Garden Ordo Equitum Solis Sunwheel Various Artists

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Greatest Lovesongs, Vol.666 – HIM [#558]

by stegzy

In my opinion, HIM was borne on the back of the mid nineties semi-successes of corporate-goth bands like Evanescence. Unremarkable, goth themed performers singing grungy devil worship innuendo laden lyrics while also providing music for the occasional occult themed movie soundtrack.

I was told I wouldn’t like HIM.

They were right. I don’t. HIM are too similar in sound to the likes of Scream Silence and Rasmus and then the whole chicken/egg thing starts in my mind.

I keep this album purely to be reminded that someone murdered Chris Isaak‘s Wicked Game and Blue Oyster Cults Don’t Fear the Reaper and that I’m glad I didn’t pay for album.

1997 gothic HIM

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Gothic Spleens – Dead Can Dance [#544]

by stegzy

As we finally come out of the (reduced) gothic compilation portion of the project, we see the peaks of “Greatest Hits” ahead of us but until then there are a few more albums we need to visit.

Gothic Spleens is another bootleg album for Neoclassical/Goth group Dead Can Dance. Recorded from a live radio broadcast from Hamburg’s Musikhalle in 1990. It has a similar track listing to Golden Age but certainly doesn’t disappoint. Even if we’ve heard it all before.

1990 bootleg Brendan Perry compilations Dead Can Dance gothic Lisa Gerrard Live NeoClassical

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Gothic Erotica – Various Artists [#543]

by stegzy

Another gothic compilation. This time with a sleezy kink feel to the songs. Or so it’s suggested by the albums title. I’ve been more aroused sat at the back of the 81 bus than the music in this compilation.

That aside, it’s not a bad compilation. Lots of old and new favourites turn up to the mix including Mephisto Waltz, Nico, The Mission and Bauhaus. There are also some good covers too, Brix Smith does a version of Bowie’s Space Oddity, Ghost Dance do a version of the Yardbird’s Heart Full of Soul, Bauhaus’ Bela Lugosi’s Dead is given the Electric Hellfire Club treatment and Patti Smith Group’s Because the Night is reimagined by Beki Bondage.

Some songs in the compilation I can do without but it’s not something I could delete at this moment in time.

1999 compilations dark wave gothic Various Artists

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Goth Box – Various Artists [#540]

by stegzy

Had I started this project at “G” back in 2012, at this point we would be at Gothic Compilation Vol 342. But rather than shed even more readership, I opted to weed out those compilations and reduced them to the selection that follows.

Today’s album, four volumes, G, O, T and H. In a box. Goth Box. Genius. Made up of four volumes, it is a showcase compilation of gothic artists from Europe featuring artists such as Inkubus Sukkubus, Big Electric Cat, Bauhaus, Mephisto Waltz, Lycia, Love is Colder Than Death and Black Tape for a Blue Girl.

I really like this compilation. It scares me like all good goth music should, in that I’m not entirely sure what it is I like about it all. It’s a compilation that I dip into for a bit, then quickly dip out of. The arrangement features gothic music from most of the goth subgenres including cybergoth, fluffy goth and neoclassical goth across the decades. There’s something for every wanna be goth, though there are exceptions and omissions that I, personally, would have included had I been compiling the compilation.

The compilation is massive, coming in at a whopping sixty tracks long and would make the perfect gift for any wannabe goth or moody teenager looking to discover their own identity. Rather than list the tracks and artists featured,I’ve opted to let you discover the album yourself through the wonders of Amazon.

1996 Bauhaus Black Tape for a Blue Girl compilations gothic Inkubus Sukkubus Love is Colder than Death Lycia Various Artists

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Ghosts from the Darkside III – Various Artists [#520]

by stegzy

Compilations, it seems, are like buses. You wait for ages then two come along at once.

Ghosts from the Darkside III (I’ve no idea what happened to Ghosts from the Darkside I) is pretty much the same as Ghosts from the Darkside II, darkwave/goth music somewhat difficult to ingest aurally driving to and from work.

This time Tristania, Clan of Xymox and L’Âme Immortelle join the dark pageant but again, the rest of the acts I’d never heard of, nor did I find any affinity with.

Unfortunately, this eagerness to embrace the dark resulted in me getting quite a few albums and fan compilations like this and, advanced warning here, very soon we will see examples of other Gothic compilations on the music project.

1-01	–Flesh Field	Animal	5:34
1-02	–Funker Vogt	The Journey	5:52
1-03	–Terminal Choice	The Saviour	6:46
1-04	–In Strict Confidence	The Truth Inside Me	5:05
1-05	–Yendri	Bodyless	5:49
1-06	–Diary Of Dreams	Winter Souls	5:45
1-07	–Clan Of Xymox	Crucified	6:00
1-08	–Sanguis Et Cinis	Phantom	4:57
1-09	–Illuminate	Energie	4:58
1-10	–Umbra Et Imago	Mea Culpa	4:47
1-11	–Samsas Traum	Für Immer	5:23
1-12	–Mondsucht	Verlies Der Ewigkeit	4:28
1-13	–Mantus (2)	Feuer	7:08
1-14	–Exovedate	Truly	2:30
1-15	–Ophelia’s Dream	Quando Corpus Morietur	3:09
2-01	–L’Âme Immortelle	The Immortal Part	4:53
2-02	–Claire Voyant	Love The Giver (Eskil Simonsson Of Covenant) Remix – Eskil Simonsson	5:28
2-03	–Love Like Blood	Bleeding	6:02
2-04	–The Garden Of Delight	Chaos AD	5:09
2-05	–Tristania	Beyond The Veil	6:39
2-06	–Grabesmond	Totgeboren	3:45
2-07	–Stillste Stund	Drei Sind Eins	4:28
2-08	–Cinema Strange	Lindsay’s Trachea	5:17
2-09	–S.P.O.C.K	Klingon 2000 (Radio Mix)	3:49
2-10	–Klirrfaktor	Dekadenz	4:10
2-11	–Cleaner	Anti-Arctic (Hard Vox Version)	5:38
2-12	–Absurd Minds	Fairy Stories	5:12
2-13	–Hocico	Spit As An Offence (Suicide Commando Remix) Remix – Suicide Commando	5:25
2-14	–Siechtum	Gesellschaft Mord	3:36
2-15	–Dulce Liquido	Illusión Hecha Mentira

2000 Clan of Xymox gothic Industrial Rock Tristania Various Artists

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Ghosts from the Darkside II [#519]

by stegzy

A compilation of highlights of Goth, Darkwave and Dark Electro bands.

During my exploration of usenet newsgroups, specifically the goth-industrial binary group, I happened upon a whole treasure trove of gothic compilations (as you will hear about a few weeks later on in this project). In an effort to grow my “repertoire” with goth music I would download compilations as a way to find new bands.

Ghosts from the Darkside II is pretty hard going. I’d heard of a few of the bands featuring on this album through other explorations, such as Inkubus Sukkubus, Black Tape for a Blue Girl and Blutengel so it was natural for me to give it a go. However, I’d not really heard of any of the songs in the compilation either. There are quite a few German bands in this compilation so I suspect this is an album aimed at people who attend Wave Gothik Treffen.

After several listens I’m still not enamoured with the album. Perhaps it’s because I’m older now and I’ve reached “Full of Goth” or perhaps it’s because I just don’t like what I’ve heard.

Tracklist

1-1	–Swartalf	Invocation	4:03
1-2	–Non Compos Mentis	Without Bloodshed	6:10
1-3	–Ikon (4)	Fatal Attraction	3:17
1-4	–In Extremo	Ai Vis Lo Lop	4:02
1-5	–Morthem Vlade Art	Beyond Sorrow	5:19
1-6	–WeltenBrand	The Fall Of Trisona	6:35
1-7	–Diary Of Dreams	Drop Dead	7:11
1-8	–Nekromantik	Girlstickboy	4:05
1-9	–Blutengel	Beauty Of Suffering	6:13
1-10	–Fiction 8	Second Skin	3:32
1-11	–Girls Under Glass	New World Order	4:20
1-12	–Das Zeichen	In The Garden	3:58
1-13	–Theatre Of Loneliness	Holocaust	4:16
1-14	–black tape for a blue girl	Given	4:20
1-15	–Hagalaz’ Runedance	When The Trees Were Silenced	2:45
2-1	–Exovedate	Ego Sum Mons	4:30
2-2	–Untoten	Gothik Years	5:54
2-3	–Chaos God	Judgement Day	5:36
2-4	–The Dust Of Basement	God’s Own Fairytales	5:28
2-5	–The Second Sight	Answer	3:29
2-6	–Die Form	Spiral 2	4:12
2-7	–Vespertina	De Profundis	4:20
2-8	–Inkubus Sukkubus	Starchild	4:44
2-9	–Sanguis Et Cinis	Nicht Mein Schicksal	5:33
2-10	–The New Creatures	My Child Queen	4:53
2-11	–This Burning Effigy	Exquisite	4:58
2-12	–Hexedene	Only Human (Original Mix)	4:30
2-13	–Attrition	The Thin Veil	6:12
2-14	–Louisa John-Krol	Alexandria	5:30
2-15	–Summoning	Angbands Schmieden	3:28

1999 Black Tape for a Blue Girl compilations gothic Inkubus Sukkubus Various Artists

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Forever & Ever – Fields of the Nephilim [#487]

by stegzy

More brooding beats from the cadaverous cowboys that are Fields of the Nephilim taken from the soundtrack of their video release Forever Remain.

I suspect after Ginger Chris’ cassette finally drove the music industry into an irretrievable spiral of descent, my enthusiasm for music waned too. As I wandered around the global car boot sale that was the early internet of 2004-2010, I would pick up remnants of forgotten things called albums from the digital flotsam and jetsam and store them for humanity on my hard drive. If it wasn’t for my actions I’m fairly certain the music industry would have been completely destroyed by home taping.

Forever & Ever is a rip of a live video album and features many of FONs “greatest hits”, all favourites of mine. I could have quite happily left my appreciation of the band there but subsequent releases enticed me in with the promise of good music. I suppose by then, the zeitgeist had leaked from the loosely sealed bottle of life and I began to realise that the new rules and flavours brought about by the demise of the music industry were bitter and unpalatable.

1991 best of compilations Fields of the Nephilim gothic Live Memories Soundtracks

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Fallen – Fields of the Nephilim [#459]

by stegzy

Often with the music project I come across albums I wasn’t even aware I had. As is the case with Fallen, I often find that I’ve not listened to the albums before either.

Sadly I’m at an age where listening to music on a regular basis is no longer necessarily a possibility. Life styles change as we age and we swap dark clothes and music for peaceful evenings in tweed. Then listening to things that probably would have had your younger self bouncing up and down or wearing out the belt on the turntable now seems like an effort and the content seems trite and an inconsequential and unnecessary re-egging of old pudding.

As we already know from Fields Of the Nephilim‘s previous gracing of the music project, I was quite keen on the band in my younger days with a resurgence during the darker days of midlife crisis. I keep remembering that Carl McCoy is about the same age as my older brother and then I’m often amused by the mental imagery of my older brother growling along to rock songs trying to look dark, sinister, forsaken and undead. And looking like someone’s dad at a bad karaoke.

And that is what Fallen is like. Fallen is FON’s 2003 resurgence album featuring Carl and a whole new bunch of mates. Popular in Europe, popular amongst fan’s thirsty for more after an eleven year hiatus but I found it kind of like a shabby chic kitchen table. Firm, well put together but a shade of its former self. With a chalky coat of paint.

2003 Fields of the Nephilim

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Fairytales of Slavery – Miranda Sex Garden [#456]

by stegzy

We’ve met Miranda Sex Garden on the music project before; Medieval Baebes’ Katherine Blake’s other band and their weird mix of ethereal a cappella and dark wave. I’m always surprised by how much I enjoy listening to MSG. Often I approach them with a soupçon of trepidation but I always end up having a good old shoegazey shuffle.

Fairytales of Slavery is MSGs penultimate release from 1994. It is not as finely honed as Carnival of Souls and you can almost detect a bit of lethargy in the overall production but it still rewards the listener with an interesting sweep across the dark wave genre brought to you via Blake’s unusual showcase of talent.

Probably very popular with Whitby Goth Festival goers.

1994 Miranda Sex Garden

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Disintegration – The Cure [#375]

by steelrattus

Disintegration – The Cure

Steelrattus here again, with the fourth of my guest posts in this seven day run.

Oddly, I’ve already encountered this album twice in the last week. Firstly, it was mentioned in the latest episode of Mr. Robot. Secondly, it features in a bizarre scene in the film Ant-Man. If I were superstitious I’d probably cross myself with a black cat as this is the third time the album has crossed my path this week. But I’m not superstitious, so I shall just marvel at the coinsequences.

Disintegration is one of the two albums in this seven day stint that I am already familiar with. <Anecdote>1989. I was at Sixth Form College, probably my happiest time while being edumacated. Finally I was surrounded by intelligent charismatic peers. The only problem for this historic recounting is that I’m not certain how I ended up buying Disintegration. I do remember that there was a guy in the year above us who I locked onto, from a distance, as a bit of a role model. He was classic-80s-guy, with a chiselled jaw, and blow dried Don Johnson hair. And I remember him wearing Cure t-shirts, which seemed at odds with his look. So it was perhaps due to this guy and curiosity that I ended up buying the CD – yes, I had owned a CD player for 1-2 years at this point, and this must have been one of a few albums that I owned by 1989.</Anecdote>

I still feel much the same when I listen to the album as I did when I first listened to it all those years ago, and was blown away by the sound. The album opens with the epic and strident Plainsong, with its rumbling powerful sound. This then launches into the heartbreak of Pictures of You, which became a “favourite” breakup song of mine. There are echoes of Plainsong in Closedown, another dark powerful song. This is followed by the much more upbeat Love Song – yes it is, listen to the lyrics – although The Cure somehow still seem to make love sound mournful. Then seemingly back to darkness again with the much more abstract Last Dance. This is followed by the most famous of the tracks on the album, and arguably The Cure’s career, Lullaby, which is more abstract again, and clearly not drug influenced. For me at this point the tracks begin to blend a bit, with the dark sound of Fascination Street, Prayers for Rain, The Same Deep Water as You, Disintegration, Homesick, and finally the close out track Untitled. This is not to belittle these tracks, they are all excellent, but just don’t stick as individually in my mind as those that are earlier on the album. They almost feel like a themed B-side, although I’m not sure offhand whether they would have been the literal B-side to the album.

As a sufferer of depression, Disintegration feels like the quintessential depression album… my quintessential depression album at least. I can’t think of an album that oozes depressive feelings quite like this album, and I have to be careful listening to too much of it, particularly the latter half as it can crash my mood. It’s no surprise that Robert Smith, the lead singer, lyricist, and co-producer, was suffering from depression and a crisis-of-age at the time the album was written. This aside from problems within the band. Despite this though I feel the album is a work of genius from a band that was at its peak.

Cure (The)

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Dead Can Dance (1981 – 1998) – Dead Can Dance [#348]

by stegzy

A four volume compilation of various works by the band Dead Can Dance.

Being a bit of a DCD nerd, I couldn’t turn my nose up at this. Sure I have most of the tracks already on other albums but there are some tracks on here that aren’t available on conventional releases.

Radio recordings and rare songs appear here along with the foetal essence of some well known DCD songs. It also came with a DVD of the live Toward the Within concert which will appear here on the music project in a few years time.

Dead Can Dance Lisa Gerrard

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Dead Can Dance – Dead Can Dance [#347]

by stegzy

If you’ve been following this project closely you’ll remember that I embarked on my musical journey via the dark forests of goth back in the drug fuelled 90s.

You might also recall how because of a gothic party held by Fields of Nephilim Cassette giver Chris, I went out and bought Dead Can Dance’s Aion. What you might not know is that this particular album was the cement in my goth music extension.

Dead Can Dance is Dead Can Dance’s first studio album. As first albums go, it’s marginally different from the style that they would adopt in later albums but the early shoots of their style can be detected in the last 5 or 6 tracks on the album.

On first listen I remember feeling suitably lacklustre and gloomy yet also quite pleased with my purchase. The pathways to darkness were beginning to open for me and the strange mumbling and incoherent lyrics surely meant something profound or at least mystical.

Then came the internet and with it lyric sites while at the same time, audio technology improved and so did the clarity through speakers as better systems were afforded. The mysticism of the mumbled incoherence disappeared and left wise observations and thought provoking words in its place. It remains a good album, but probably not a good place to start listening to Dead Can Dance unless you’re open to dramatic shifts in style.

Dead Can Dance Lisa Gerrard

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Dawnrazor – Fields of the Nephilim [#343]

by stegzy

Carl McCoy and chums again, this time it’s the band’s debut album from 1987.

If you cast your mind back to Cassette I told you about how I was given a tape with FOTN songs on and how influential it was on my life. Well the majority of the songs on Cassette are from this album.

Damned cowboys. Bloody good album.

1987 Fields of the Nephilim

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Consign to Oblivion – Epica [#303]

by stegzy

Staying in Europe; This time with big hair, symphonic orchestral choir backed operatic female singer led metal band Epica.

As with Nightwish, Edenbridge and Therion before it, Epica arrived in my life during a scour of Usenet for interesting new music based on them appearing on a compilation and by how much people protested about me playing the music.

Tight leather pants wearing flame headed Simone Simons compliments (in the loosest sense of the word) grunt vocalist and guitarist Mark Jansen in a band backed by choir and orchestra playing predominantly some variation of symphonic heavy metal akin to other European, Scandinavian and Dutch bands of the time.

For some (usually long haired youths with confidence issues, tattoos and bad facial hair) the presence of someone like Simons on posters, album covers and Youtube videos tends to encourage popularity even if the majority of your music is shite. See Within Temptation for example. Sadly, in my case, it isn’t lack of tattoos and bad facial hair that puts me off, however it is age, sensibility and the loss of friends that has brought me to the point where I listen to this music and think: “WTF is this shite I’m listening to?”

Consign to Oblivion? Consign to the bin more like.

Epica

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Comalies – Lacuna Coil [#291]

by stegzy

Following the download of a really good compilation of European gothic rock I decided to seek out the artists that appeared on the compilation and download their stuff too. Longer term readers will recall that this is, in hindsight, not always a good idea.

The problem with this kind of strategy is that you often end up with albums that are complete tosh bar one or two songs. Indeed, such is the case with Comalies. Which, while enchanted by the gorgeous lead singer Cristina Scabbia and the song Swamped, I sourced obtained and listened to with excitement. An excitement that faded fast when presented by unsophisticated dirge.

It’s a shame when that happens.

Lacuna Coil

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The Cataclysm – David Galas [#253]

by stegzy

The Cataclysm – David Galas

Possibly one of the most remarkable yet uncelebrated albums I have ever had the pleasure of listening to is Cataclysm by David Galas. I have to say that in my personal all time top ten favourite albums, this ranks in the top 5.

Galas, previously with Lycia, released a number of albums between 2007 and 2011 and Cataclysm was the first of his solo releases. I came across the album in 2008 and it changed my life.

Primarily my interest was due to an incorrect review on a website which described the album as “a miserable concept album about Chernobyl”. This was, of course, total bollocks but it didn’t stop me listening to the atmospheric sounds, gloomy lyrics and melancholy melodies while mentally visualising images from an illustrative Chernobyl based film which could pass as it’s music video. Of course, there is no such actual video and it certainly isn’t anything to do with Chernobyl, but a visual backdrop like that would make a fantastic accompanying video to the album.

Galas has a very unique style. His work is instantly recognisable and his musical talent makes most of his contemporaries look like amateurs. Sadly Galas has moved away from his solo career and back into group work. This is mainly due to his own personal reasons but I can’t help feeling disappointed that he was only able to squeeze out three albums.

David Galas

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Cassette – Fields of the Nephilim [#251]

by stegzy

Cassette – Fields of the Nephilim

No. This isn’t some long forgotten album or boot leg. This is a special compilation made for me by Chris Herbert in the 1990s after I expressed an interest in goth music. Chris was happy to oblige and provided me with a cassette, which I still have, with some Nephilim songs on.

At first, I thought it was a bit too dark, but over the years it grew on me. To such an extent that it’s possibly one of my most favourite compilations and one of my most cherished cassette tapes. Even though, now, I still have most of the songs on it in much better and clearer format.

It’s possibly the nice line up of FoN’s Celebrate, Love Under Will and Last Exit for the Lost that has had the most effect. I still remember sitting in parks on cold wet days in February, sulking and listening to this on my crumby Walkman while waiting for youthful opportunity to knock. It also used to accompany me on my long daily commute from my flat on Patterdale Road to Bootle New Strand. Much respect to Chris. Cheers mate, you’ve truly made your mark on my life with this compilation.

Last Exit for The Lost

1995 compilations Fields of the Nephilim Memories

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Carnival of Souls – Miranda Sex Garden [#247]

by stegzy

Carnival of Souls – Miranda Sex Garden

Longer term readers will already know, I came to the goth scene quite late. I’d heard about Miranda Sex Garden in rumours and whispers, so when I came across their entire back catalogue I was overjoyed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Miranda Sex Garden

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Call on the Dark – Various Artists (#238)

by stegzy

Call on the Dark – Various Artists

I think it’s probably best that I warn you in advance. When I get to “G” there will be a whole load of compilation albums similar to this resulting from my search into gothic music. If you read regularly you’ll already know of that search.

Call on the Dark is a compilation album. No idea where I got it from but it’s more than likely I downloaded it because it has a track by Fields of the Nephilim. Anyway, the compilation consists of the following:

Annwyn, Beneath the Waves – Faith and the Muse
Flash in My Veins – Silke Bischoff
Dawnland – Love Like Blood
Demon – London After Midnight
Kick It – Nitzer Ebb
Bin Ich Es Denn – Das Ich
Dawnrazor – Fields of the Nephilim
Dreamland – Girls Under Glass
Chains – Dreadful Shadows
If Only – Born for Bliss
Disorder – Shock Therapy
Godsent – Dreamside
Kleine Schwester – Umbra et Imago
Precious Limetree – Darc Entries
To a Loyal Friend – Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows

Nephilim aside, there’s nothing much to like about this compilation. I suppose I keep these kind of things just incase I find something I like but 8 years on, I still haven’t.

1997 Faith and the Muse Fields of the Nephilim Various Artists

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Born of the Night – Midnight Syndicate [#212]

by stegzy

Born of the Night – Midnight Syndicate

If you ever want to give your neighbours the impression you are a goat worshiping Satanist or maybe get the locals gossiping about you being a bit odd. Then all you have to do is put this album on, invite a few local dignitaries round for a glass of red wine and roll your eyes uncontrollably while chanting in Latin every hour or so.

Seriously.

This album will make you seem like either a teenager trying to be all out goth or a middle aged nut case who wants Peter Sutcliffe or Charlie Manson as bunk mates. If you were holding a seriously dark Halloween party then yeah, this would go down well providing, of course, there are no plans to dish out psychotropic drugs with the jelly and ice-cream.

Midnight Syndicate

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The Best of Gothic Rock – Various Artists [#167]

by stegzy

The Best of Gothic Rock- Various Artists
Only it’s not.

It’s not what I’d class as “Gothic” anyway. At least with my modern more refined ears. Instead I would call these two compilations “The Best of Big Boobed Operatic Singers Accompanying Euro Goth Metal Bands” .

Both albums contain a nice introduction to bands such as Nightwish, Within Temptation and Lacuna Coil. Ideal music for a middle aged wanna be goth to indulge in, reinvent themselves and annoy the wife with.

As we will see, these albums had a profound influence on my own musical tastes and we will be seeing a few of the bands featured, multiple times over the course of this project.

Track listing as follows:

Volume 2 =
1. Within Temptation – Mother Earth
2. Nightwish – Bless The Child
3. Beseech – Illusionate
4. Trail of Tears – Liquid View
5. Lacuna Coil – Swamped
6. Therion – Ljusalfheim
7. Myriads – The Sanctum Of My Soul
8. Flowing Tears – Serpentine
9. Within Temptation – Deceiver of Fools
10. Moonspell – Nocturna
11. Sentenced – Guilt and Regret
12. Divercia – Everlasting
13. After Forever – Monolith of Doubt
14. Tristinia – Tender Trip on Earth
15. Sirenia – Sister Nightfall

Volume 3 =

1 The Rasmus – In the Shadows 4:16
2 Within Temptation – Running Up That Hill 3:57
3 Epica – The Phantom Agony 9:00
4 Nightwish – End of All Hope 3:54
5 After Forever – Intrinsick 6:52
6 Tristania – A Sequel of Decay 6:31
7 Apocalyptica feat Nina Hagen – Seemann 4:00
8 Tarot – Pyre of Gods 4:34
9 Sonata Arctica – Victoria’s Secret 4:43
10 Sirenia – At Sixes and Sevens 6:44
11 Therion – Enter Vril-Ya 6:37
12 Penumbra – The Last Bewitchment 5:10
13 My Dying Bride – My Hope, My Destroyer 6:47
14 Autumn – Along Ethereal Levels 4:05

2002 best of Nightwish Sirenia Therion

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BBC Live – Fields of the Nephilim [#127]

by stegzy

BBC Live Sessions – Fields of the Nephilim

I came to Goth quite late although I was a fan of Strawberry Switchblade when they came out in the early eighties. FON was my late introduction to the Goth genre arriving in my mid to late 20s.

Ginger Chris, a goth friend who dressed in black and sported a fine set of natty dreads, insisted that the best band in the world was Fields of Nephilim and that no Goth would be accepted into the fold without a prior love or experience of Fields of the Nephilim.

So he gave me a cassette with some of their music on.

During a very very dark period of my mid twenties, I broke out the cassette and lowered myself on the express elevator into darkness through the medium of Fields of Nephilim. The compilation tape had all manner of songs on it and many I enjoyed.

When the internet, free downloads and USENET arrived, I immediately took it upon myself to get as much FON as I could. This is the first in the 19 albums I’ve managed to obtain over the years.

More of a bootleg than an official album, this appears to be a fan recording of five songs as performed on the BBC sometime. Possibly in the 1990s. Tracks include: Endemonadia, Love Under Will, Moonchild, Bluewater and Chord of Souls.

1992 BBC Sessions Fields of the Nephilim

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Stegzy's Music Project

A commentary on Stegzy's album collection

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