Various Artists - Raising Steam Volume I - 3 (Cd Review)

Various Artists – Raising Steam

Volume I

01. Miss Von Trapp - Have A Pie: Modern Mrs Lovett

02. Helicopter Quartet - Where Have All The Aliens Gone?

03. Thy Last Drop – Gravedigger

04. Birthrite - Loving You (Ain't So Easy)

05. The Mysterious Freakshow - Hedge Witch

06. Crimson Clocks – Red Violin

07. Montague Jacques Fromage - Merde! Mon Dieu! (Absinthe! Sacre Bleu!)

08. Gladstone – Night Creatures

09. Tom Slatter - Mother's Been Talking To Ghosts Again

10. Metropolis – Sirens

11. The Mechanisms - Riddle of the Sphinx

Volume II

01. The Dark Design - Haggard Rider

02. Gurdybird - Raggle Taggle Gypsy (video edit)

03. Venus de Vilo - It's My Party - I'll Die If I Want To!

04. Ague - Fifteen Leagues to Providence

05. Violent Sky - Frances (In the Gallery of Stars)

06. The Wattingers - Evil Driving Rain

07. Under A Banner – Steam

08. Ghostfire - Griminsky's Soul

09. BB BlackDog - Steam Punk Junkie

10. New Jacobin Club - Angel MMXVI

Volume III

01. Kiss Like Ether – End Game

02. Gordon Midgley - The Tell Tale Heart

03. Victor & the Bully - Every Fight Is A Food Fight For A Cannibal

04. Nathan Jon Tillett – Eternaeon

05. Heathen StrangeFellow & the VaudeVille Vagabonds – Masquerade

06. LM Cooke – Poor Jenny

07. The Filthy Spectacula - Flying Dutchman

08. Dark Sinfonia - A Murderous Breath 

09. Jessica Law - The Mermaid's Revenge

10. The Hare And The Moon - Come Unto The Corn

11. Napier's Bones - Hand of Glory

12. Feline & Strange - The City

13. Valentine Wolfe – Corvidae

14. Krankschaft - Come Fly With Us

15. Nathaniel Johnstone - Seven Veils

What we have here are three limited edition CD-R samplers of the Raising Steam download albums.

Each of these comes in a DVD box with a limited edition pin badge, only available through one of these purchases.

For your money you also get the code to get the entire downloadable versions through Bandcamp, giving you access to another ten or so songs per volume.

ALL monies raised go to the New Futures Nepal charity.

Now you may of course be wondering what the hell is Steampunk music?

The short answer is there is no such thing as steampunk music, not as a specific genre anyway.

What these samplers show is that anything is possible from classic rock to pop, dark and twisted gothic horror, folk music and even traditional British music hall.

So why is it called Steampunk? I hear you shout; my own opinion is that the “Alternative” approach allows for such freedom that many talented artists are simply drawn to something which is not locked down in a specific genre.

I would urge you to investigate if like me you have a wide variety of interests when it comes to music, perhaps the very name of Steampunk has made you avoid the music, something which to its shame the wider music press has been guilty of, thus failing to introduce their readers to some amazing classic rock music!

A few examples:

From Volume I, we have some horror tinged music hall comedy from Miss Von Trapp.  The Helicopter Quartet are clearly emulating one of Karlheinz Stockhausen many experimental compositions.

The track by Tom Slatter is quite stunning, a mix of light modern progressive rock with a vocal delivery that seems to mix David Byrne and Syd Barrett.

Finally Metropolis have a modern Hawkwind vibe with some Tubeway Army thrown in for good measure.

Up next a few from Volume II, how about Gurdybird who has mixed tribal drum rhythms with playing an actual hurdy gurdy!

Venus de Vilo brings a smile with her incredible dark and twisted mix of Nina Hagan and Alannis Morrisette.

A superb mix of seventies hard rock and proto doom Violent Sky are one of the stand outs here.

Ghostfire perform some fantastic female fronted acid folk, followed by some bass driven stoner rock from BB Blackdog.

Last one is New Jacobin Club, providing some folk tinged acoustic music with a very powerful vocal.

What does Volume III kick off with? Kiss Like Ether with some darkwave meets early industrial and perfectly mixed and delivered.

Up next is some weird space synth and then Gordon Midgley treats us to seven minutes of mesmerizing narration of Poe’s classic tale.

Dishing up some folk horror in the style of Marc Wilkinson (Blood On Satan’s Claw) and Magnet (The Wicker Man) comes The Hare & The Moon.

Valentine Wolfe are pure Symphonic Metal and keeping it heavy are Krankschaft (Hawkwind’s Robert Calvert former backing band) blending Amon Duul II with Hawklords.

Last up is Nathaniel Johnson whose take on folk rock is reminiscent of The Trees meeting All About Eve.

Well I have picked out a few, there really is much more on offer, almost every genre is represented here.

For more information, order details and a chance to preview the music go to the Raising Steam Bandcamp page.

Official Bandcamp Page

Symphony Of Pain - Virology (CD Review)

Symphony Of Pain – Virology

01. My Laboratory

02. Darkling

03.  Virus

04.  Down

05.  Green Eyes

06. Suspicion

07.  Ghost Moon

08.  I Can’t Believe

09. Futile

10. War Machine

Tracie Law (Vocals)

Pam Chowhan (Violin/Keyboards/Piano)

Mark Bloxsidge (Bass)

Jonas Costa (Guitar)

Johanne James (Drums)

Guest Musicians:

Jiaxin Lloyd Webber (Cello)

Latana Phoung (Mezzo Soprano Vocal)

It was way back in September 2013 when I reviewed Symphony OF Pain’s debut album ‘Hydeology’, it was a quirky mix of Pop/Goth & Rock.

Much has changed in the passing of time, Tracie and Pam are still the main duo and are now joined by a new set of musicians, of note is another ex-member of Krybgrinder (Dave Dart was on the first release) this time it is drummer Johanne, and for those of us who can go back to that early post NWOBHM era, former bassist with Trilogy Mark Bloxsidge.

The album starts with ‘My Laboratory’ a nod to Mary Shelly’s creation, the vocal is delivered with that same quirky tone that made the debut so appealing, the music however is a lot heavier than I would have expected.

Taking on a more epic/symphonic sound for ‘Darkling’ complete with stunning violin playing, it would seem that the band have really started to adapt their craft to a more mature sound.

Whilst the production and choral backing make the song ‘Virus’ very enjoyable to hear, I am somewhat confused by the lyric which has no connection with a virus whatsoever, if they are trying to convey some form of message about destruction and/or unemployment then it fails on every level, if on the other hand it is implying that humans are the virus, then that doesn’t come across either.

Fortunately ‘Down’ layered with epic violin once again, returns to a more understandable lyric and in fact the whole song mixes Folk and Progressive rock with true class.

This continues with ‘Green Eyes’ which also manages to throw in a tech/industrial keyboard and sampling.

Now having just glanced at the lyrics for the next song I am wondering if this could be a nod to the Prince of Rock N Roll Elvis, because the song is called ‘Suspicion’ and the first line of the song is “you are always on my mind”.

In fact this a melancholy ballad that is more Nick Cave, simple, atmospheric, beautiful melodies, cello, violin and drums in perfect harmony, and by far Tracie’s best and most heartfelt vocal thus far.

An instrumental follows called ‘Ghost Moon’ again very big on the atmospherics and some synthesized sitar in the mix, flowing out of this is ‘I Can’t Believe’ and fairly straight forward hard rocker.

‘Futile’ and another attempt at a “message” lyric, this one I think fairs better than ‘Virus’ but still feels a little confused, I guess its not so much anti-charity but making a comment that due to corruption we shouldn’t need it in the first place.

But then if that’s the case why, despite the commercial rock sound with its infectious and catchy chorus, would you then add to the mix samples of Oppenheimer, JFK and Martin Luther King?

We end with ‘War Machine’, beginning with its rhythmic drum pattern and synth pulse it explodes into a full on assault of screaming guitar work and an evil sounding vocal and then ends all too soon with a melodic keyboard outro.

This album is a huge leap forward from their debut, it is heavier and demonstrates a much more mature sound, in many ways a different band altogether. I confess that I am not convinced that “message” lyrics work within the context of what the band were known for, perhaps this is a transition album, yes there is the goth influence at the start of the album, but by the end we see a band wanting to address certain issues, I guess we shall find out when album number three eventually appears.

Rating 9/10

For Fans Of:   Therion, Current 93, Alice Cooper, Skyclad