BB Black Dog - No6 (CD Review)

Dale Rowles (High Bass/Vocals)

Sven Breuel (5 String Low Bass)

Axel Boldt (Drums)

01.A Great Night Out

02.Pay To Play

03.John Deer Cap

04.Hairy Teeth

05.Nazi Gold

06.Blue Eyes Brown

07.A Star

08.To The Light

09.A Great Song

10.Good People Of The World

11.Kings

12.Groupie

Live Tracks 2019:

13.Labba Boy

14.Music Teacher

15.Groupie

16.Good And Bad Live

CD Booklet Short Story By LM Cooke.

Derbyshire based band with English and German members, formed early in 2007 with a pretty unique set up with 2 bass players and a drummer. Playing a mixture of Psychedelic and Classic Rock with Stoner and Blues influence, then add to that mix some quirky lyrics and clever timing changes and dress it up in Steampunk outfits.

They have a fearsome reputation live having played well over 1000 gigs in Hamburg, Berlin, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, London, Birmingham and tours across 2 continents. Epic Stage shows add Pole Dancers, Burlesque, Belly Dancers, Fun and Games and audience participation.

Aside from being musicians they are well respected due to their work on promoting Steampunk and arranging events Like the Steampunk Solstice, the Phoenix Alternative Festival, the Steampunk Illuminations and many more.

Drawing on a wide range of experience from not just the Band but our growing group of Helpers.

They also run www.steampunkrecords.com, helping and promoting other Bands in the Genre, via Non Profit Co-op, as well as Raising money for Charity.

They are not just 'another band' they are a movement with a huge following.

This is album number six, a seventh has just been completed and is due out later this year and features some guest performers.

The booklet contains a short Sci-Fi story by respected Steampunk/Fantasy author LM Cooke and tells of the bands adventures in space.

Onwards to the music...

 'A Great Night Out' has an upbeat Rock 'N' Roll feel, the lyrics are just awesome, funny and a tad gross, a night out on the pull clearly didn't go as planned!

Some funky fuzz bass work for 'Pay To Play' tells the tale that every musician will be used to, club owner takes the money you "may" get a beer if lucky.

'John Deer Cap' is a slow, Doom laden brooding piece with fantastic harmony vocals, the song explodes towards the end.

Well now 'Hairy Teeth' brings together some of those amazing qualities that make the band so unique, beautiful vocal delivery, slightly off beat drumming, screaming bass work full of fuzz and laden with swamp blues slide work.

BB go old school punk rock for 'Nazi Gold' if it were possible for Discharge to record with say Cream,  then I guess it could sound like this one!

More heavy funk with melodic vocals and a tale of the human cost of drug addiction.

Loving the slow near acoustic sounding 'A Star', songs builds with minimal instrumentation to create quite a stunning overall sound, hints of psychedelia give it another layer to contend with.

'To The Light' has a dub feel, kind of reminds me of The Stranglers 'Peaches'.

Now Dale sings "I want to write a great song, not the same old shit" on 'A Great Song', the joke here might be that despite the comic delivery and the slightly off key, weird jazz meets a touch of Death Metal music it is well "A great song!"

Heavy Jazz rhythms, funked and fuzzy bass work, another great vocal performance and an excellent punch line to end 'Good People Of The World'.

'Kings' is a masterclass in how to take very serious and angry lyrics and merge them perfectly with melodic and heavy music, whilst 'Groupie' with its tongue in cheek lyrics prove that you can get near the mark, or perhaps go a tad further and still produce class.

The four live tracks are great, full of energy and that bass sound live is to die for, heavy fuzzed out, stoner/doom/psych, what a band!

Rating 10/10

For Fans Of: Mudhoney, Primus, Melvins, Electric Wizard, Monster Magnet

LINKS:

Steampunk Records

BB Black Dog (Facebook)

Feline & Strange - Trigger Warning (Album Review)

Feline & Strange - Trigger Warning

01.Ouverture
02.Inappropriate
03.tw: Radio Apocalypse
04.Pretty Please
05.I Am An Iceberg
06.tw: A Secret
07.Castle In The Woods
08.tw: We´re Fucked
09.Restart From Zero
10.tw: Happy Little Island Dance
11.Another Dream
12.tw: The Last Show On Earth
13.Lobotomy
14.tw: Monster In The Dark
15.Night
16.tw: A Tea Party
17.Medusa
18.tw: One Of Us
19.Not A Man
20.tw: The Neighbours
21.Please Die
22.tw: Help
23.Can`t Breathe
24.Apocalypse
25.Vanity Fair

Feline Lang (Vocals/Piano/Synths/Ukulele)
Christoph Klemke (Cello/Percussion)
Rah Hel (Drums)

Guest Musicians

Taylor KouqJ Bull (Bass/Upright/Hammer on stone)
Matt Miller (Tuba)
Mishkin Fitzgerald (Accordion)
Matthew Victor "Ghastly" Rogers (Additional Ukulele)
Sam Lee (Announcements)
Sam Lee, Julie Zakar, Cameron Ellis Lamberson, Taylor KouqJ Bull, Christoph Klemke, Rah Hell (Additional Vocals)

It is clear from the albums cover, seemingly more suited to Sunn 0))) or Ulver, that they are taking a trip to the darker side, 'Trigger Warning' is Feline & Strange’s most political album so far.
At times heart-wrenching, furious and tragic. Sometimes sarcastically silly, feminist and humanist.
It is depressing and disturbing, Just as the world is these days.

The message is both simple yet complex:
“You are not alone with all these emotions. We are here, and we hear you. We see you and we lend you our voices.”

The songs show no mercy to any human abyss. Feline is addressing war, despair, abuse, rape, hate, discrimination, depression, madness and suicide, as directly as ever.

The work is also deeply connected to Taylor´s coming out as a trans woman. After a nearly lethal fight against society, expectations, and work related prejudice, she opened up to Feline as literally the first person on the world besides her partner, less than two months before pre-production in Berlin was scheduled. She kept saying: “I must remember this album is not about me.” And Feline kept responding: “It is. It´s about everyone.”
This work is the culmination of 18 months writing and recording and may be their most ambitious and inspiring output to date.

We begin with 'Ouverture', a couple of minutes of pure musical madness, mournful cello and piano join with frantic drumming and disturbing vocal effects, quickly this moves to the avant jazz/electronic sounds reminiscent of Delia Derbyshires 1969 masterpiece An Electric Storm In Hell.

Moving to a more modern electronic sound 'Inappropriate' has a wonderful near sarcastic vocal style, this takes us to the first of a number of spoken links, 'Radio Apocalypse'.
 
'Pretty Please' is that unusual mixture of dark cabaret and punk of which the band excel in, has a very catchy piano riff running throughout.
 
Heavy as hell 'I Am An Iceberg' mixes angry vocals with a solid drum rhythm, weird musical notes bring the avant garde element, yet somehow this could almost be anthemic, you just know that live everybody will be chanting "I am an Iceberg you only see part of me, when i melt down i will take you down with me".

Clever horror film ambience with 'A Secret' leads us to the beautiful piano opening to 'Castle In The Woods' a downbeat folkish ballad that gets more theatrical as it progresses.

Haha 'We´re Fucked' is one twisted little ditty end with distortion that flows into the classic awesome synth pulses of  'Restart From Zero', it moves darkly, almost menacing then explodes into "Faust" like experimental jazz rock.

'Happy Little Island Dance' acts as the introduction to 'Another Dream' which sounds like an 80's style electro pop song, really upbeat and yet slightly unsettling.
 
'The Last Show On Earth' is followed by 'Lobotomy' a happy little tune with an early 60's cheesy Rock N Roll vibe, could have been on the Rocky Horror soundtrack!

Getting freaky again with the f/x for 'Monster In The Dark' which appropriately you find during the 'Night'. Brooding, operatic and Gothic, this has all the quality of a symphonic rock classic, beautiful cello playing, perfect arrangements, perfect song!

You get the feeling that something not good is happening with 'A Tea Party', maybe one of the other links will give a happy ending?
Loving the harpsichord on 'Medusa', another dark ambient piece with more outstanding vocals and cello once more the song ends with a little experimental madness.

'One Of Us' has a nasty streak in it, placing a mirror in front of prejudice and ignorance.

Very clever lyrics on 'Not A Man', smashing stereotypes left, right and centre with humour and aggression.
The piano riff from 'Pretty Please' returns briefly for 'The Neighbours'.

I get the feeling that this is a very serious song about sexual abuse, yet whilst listening to 'Please Die' I can't help but smile, I suppose it's just the way Feline shouts all the ways she wants the person to die, but then maybe I should smile at the demise of an abuser!

Electronic treatments, disturbing cello and spoken word, seems 'Help' does not give these little links a happy ending after-all.

Another heavy and dark musical mixture, blending strange drum rhythms and timing changes with electronic pulses, 'Can`t Breathe' creates an unnerving aural nightmare, Feline screaming "I can't breathe' as if she were suffocating for real.

'Apocalypse' and 'Vanity Fair' bring this album to a close, another exemplary mixture of styles, musical ability and strong vocal performance.

The band have matured, never standing still they continue to push their own unique sounds forward. They care about their music and their fans, not content with making great music they also care about how it is made available, not just the "download" option which is the rather boring standard for many musicians these days, this album comes in a variety of well packaged and thought out formats, details of which can be found by following the link below to their Bandcamp page.

Rating: 10/10
For Fans Of: Nina Hagen, Faust, Tomorrows Gift, Dresden Dolls, Nico & John Cale

Feline & Strange Bandcamp

Feline & Strange Facebook

Various Artists - Steampunk Records Sampler 1 (CD Review)

Steampunk Records Sampler 1

01. Victor and the Bully – Butterfly Effect

02. Professor Elemental & Tom Caruana – Mectoria

03. The Wattingers – Dead Man’s Hat

04. The Heaven and Hell Orchestra – The Bad Vision

05. BB Blackdog – Thousand Years

06. Off Limits – Calling Witchcraft

07. Aeronautica – Pech and Schwefel

08. Feline & Strange with Mishkin Fitzgerald – Cassandras Twin

09. Darwin Project – Run Red Run

10. Gurdybird – Papa Zulu

11. Capt Roswell & The Lost Alien Tribe – Alien Eye

12. LM Cooke Music – Moon Song

13. Miss Von Trapp - Do Your Gears Hang Low

14. Cabaret Berlin – Beautiful Berlin

15. The Big Fibbers – Steam Tramp Blues

16. Victor Sierra – El Mundo Superior

17. The Dark Design – Haggard Rider

18. Kiss Like Ether – Heaven Can Wait

19. Montague Jacques Fromage with Victor & The Bully – Walk A Little Lopside

20. My Wooden Leg – Cop City

21. Lies Of The Machine – Psychocircus

22. New Jacobin Club – Angel MMXIV

Trying to review a 22 track sampler cd that you cannot buy is a bit of a bugger, however it does act as a good guide to what the record label is offering on a selection of Various Artists compilations you can buy as well as releases from many of the individual acts.

I have said this before and I will say it again, the notion of Steampunk as a music genre is a nonstarter, there is music performed in numerous styles by people who identify with the Steampunk culture, this can influence their writing style and their appearance and the way they market their image.

Some music here is clearly influenced from a different age and for any pedants amongst you would no doubt identify some chosen genres as ‘Dieselpunk’ or even ‘Cyberpunk’, personally I prefer to take the music as I hear it regardless of what it is or isn’t supposed to be.

That said I will now attempt to put some of these acts into an identifiable music genre which I hope will make the review easier to digest.

Well just spent the best part of an hour hunting down these bands on good old Facebook, so I think I have a bit of an idea what to expect from some of the acts, some seem quite interesting others slightly disturbing.

Kicking off with ‘Victor and the Bully’ a great upbeat neo rock n roll sounding song, a bit like Rocket From The Crypt. The band also return in collaboration with American Steampunk legend Montague Jacques Fromage, this time a completely different sound, more poppy, upbeat and happy with Mr Fromage delivering, as ever, a superb tongue in cheek funky rap.

The ‘Wattingers’, have a super sleazy swamp blues vibe, defiantly one for Nick Cave fans, need to hear some more to get an overall idea of what they about.

Not too sure what to make of ‘The Heaven and Hell Orchestra’, I suppose if Therion had been around in the 1930’s they may have sounded a bit like this.

As ever ‘BB Blackdog’ blow the hell out of the speakers with their strange eclectic mix of Psychedelic rock and the bass crazed antics of Primus!

Totally stunning mix of neo folk and hard rock comes ‘Off Limits’, great vocal style and loving the use of violin, one for Skyclad fans.

Accordion into Celtic rock and sung in German, I feel that we have in ‘Aeronautica’ a band who like Turisas, Alestorm and Rammstein.

Want a totally breath-taking four minutes? Then ’Feline & Strange with Mishkin Fitzgerald’ song “Cassandras Twin” will do just that. Amazing operatic performance with simple piano and electronic backing, could be from the soundtrack to “Repo! The Genetic Opera”.

Taking a complex instrument the Hurdy Gurdy and bringing it into the 21^st century with a slight techno backing, may seem a hard thing to pull off with class, but ‘Gurdybird’ seem to do this with ease.

If you like post 1980’s Hawkwind then ‘Capt Roswell & The Lost Alien Tribe’ with its drums n synths backing to some Hillage inspired riffery then this is the band for you.

Dark and atmospheric Acid Folk is on offer from ‘LM Cooke Music’ I highly recommend her album ‘Nursery Rhymes for the Apocalypse’.

Time for some modern interpretation of classic British music hall from ‘Miss Von Trapp’ in the style of legends such as Lily Morris and Marie Lloyd.

From the music halls of Britain to the clubs of Weimar era of the early 1930’s and ‘Cabaret Berlin’ bring us a perfect recreation of singer and pianist as if they had somehow time travelled to the here and now.

‘The Big Fibbers’ with their “Steam Tramp Blues” is an oddity almost as if John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett were doing a version of the Stray Cats!

I have no idea what ‘Victor Sierra’ are on, but if Rob Zombie did a slow and weird cover of a Brujeria song it might sound like this?

‘The Dark Design’ have a cowpunk vibe, if that’s not a term you have heard before, well back in the early 1980’s there was a brief and strange mix of post punk and country & western music.

Some industrial tinged proto cyberpunk from ‘Kiss Like Ether’, very 80’s but the mix is quite thin.

‘My Wooden Leg’ great name for a band, this is a bit quirky, touch of Primus in there and some Zappa like guitar work.

With a song called “Psychocircus” I was expecting perhaps a cover of the Kiss song, but strangely ‘Lies Of The Machine’ have some interesting elements of Death and Black Metal, nice clean vocals and then deth growls, then throw in some symphonic vocals, needs more investigating but if you like Dimmu Borgir or Cradle Of Filth then check this band out.

Finally ‘New Jacobin Club’ with a sound that seems to blend 70’s Blondie with 90’s metalcore, again another band I feel the need to check out.

So as you can see plenty of different music styles to get your interest going and next time you see the word ‘Steampunk’, well don’t be put off, there really is some stunning music out there!

Steampunk Records Facebook Page

Feline & Strange - Science Fiction (CD Review)

Feline & Strange – Science Fiction

01.Science Fiction (A Space Opera)

02.Hello World

03.Because (A Wedding Waltz)

04.Why Me

05.I See You

06.Leaving For The Seaside

07.Love Is (Utterly Overrated)

08.I Should Have Told You Before

09.Anybody

10.You Said

11.Going Away (Farewell Letter)

12.End Of The World

13.Lost In The Moon

14.Epilogue

Feline Lang (Vocals/Programming/Accordion/Castanets)

Christoph Klemke (Drums/Percussion/Violincello)

Matthias Haecker (Keyboards)

Ulrich Christenn (Trombone/Trumpet/Alto Saxophone/Tuba/Flute)

Marc Andre Haller (Bass/Double Bass/Chapman Stick)

Guest Musicians

Timothy Beuther (Drums)

Stefan Kelber (Violin)

Brigitte Langnickel-Kohler (Concert Harp)

Feline is the daughter of harpist Brigitte Langnickel-Köhler and pianist Reinhard Langnickel, Brigitte first appeared on record in 1975 backing the Hannover Boys Choir on the LP ‘Ein Kind Ist Uns Geboren’.

Growing up with a musical family Feline went on to study acting and singing in Berlin.

By 2003 she released her debut album ‘Tango L’Che!, performed in theatre productions including ‘Kabale and Liebe’ and appeared in the 2004 movie by Marcus Mittermeier called ‘Muxmäuschenstill’. There have also been television appearances and operatic performances in ‘Carmen’ and ‘Dulcinea’.

In 2009 whilst working with an operatic ensemble she decided to go in a new direction and formed a duo named " Feline and Strange ", the idea was to mix Jazz with electropop influences and at various times the duo were joined by numerous different musicians for live performances, eventually releasing an album in 2011 called ‘Behavior!

Moving forward and aided by new musicians including Marc Andre Haller former bassist with folk/psych band Habakuk, the band take a slight change in musical direction and start to pick up a cult following with the steampunk community based in Berlin.

From that point on their reputation grew and the word spread, it was in fact Radio presenter and Steampunk author Steven C. Davis who at a recent meeting handed me this CD to review.

Though I am not quite sure that this style of Cabaret Noir could be classed as Steampunk, surely due to its historical time frame it would be Dieselpunk, I won’t let such things cloud my review and pour myself a nice glass of absinthe and then press play.

The album begins with ‘Science Fiction (A Space Opera)’ and we begin the journey through this concept album with the lyrics taking the form of a novelette written by Feline and included in very small writing in the booklet.

With a subtle electronic backing and laid back brass arrangements Feline delivers a semi operatic and tone perfect vocal.

‘Hello World’ is slightly more upbeat, again it is the brass arrangements that come through the mix, reminiscent at times of the less Avant-Garde moments of legendary German band Vampires Sound Incorporation.

After a nice waltz we get something slightly more dadaesque with ‘Why Me’ mixing as it does quirky little keyboard sounds with changing rhythms, the vocal is a little more playful and some really nice synth work towards the end.

‘Leaving For The Seaside’ has the opening lyric of: “I woke up in a dusty town (Somebody should have come with a vacuum cleaner)” what a line!

Something darker with strange flute and some other slightly disturbing instruments with ‘I Should Have Told You Before’, a nice mixture of vocal styles and wolf howls all help create an atmospheric piece of outstanding music.

Back to some nice electronics with a jazz influence, ‘Anybody’ begins with a quiet vocal and just builds as it goes along, a gentle song that gets the toes tapping and when that drum and keyboard gets going towards the middle I can seriously get a vision of Densmore and Manzarek of the Doors then joined by Lol Coxhill, by far my favourite track so far, could do with another ten minutes or so to really let the musicians go wild.

‘You Said’ is given the old fashioned treatment of sounding like a 78RPM polka recording.

This is followed by a melancholic performance, perhaps to be expected with a piece titled ‘Going Away (Farewell Letter).

‘Lost In The Moon’ throws into the mix little moments of inspired Avant Garde madness in an otherwise mature sounding smooth jazz piece, we then end with the unlisted track ‘Epilogue’ which is an upbeat danceable song resplendent with whistles!

This is an album that far exceeds its given genre limitations, it is vibrant full of interesting styles and has a wide appeal, whatever music you like this deserves your attention.

Rating 10/10

For Fans Of: Nico & John Cale, Marianne Faithfull, Siegfried Schwab, Dagmar Krause, Ute Lemper, Annexus Quam, Tomorrow’s Gift, The Dresden Dolls.

Feline & Strange Facebook Page

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

Alexandra Zerner - Opus 1880 (CD Review)

Disc 1
1. Overture
2. Chaos of Cards
3. The Oracle
4. Mirrors
5. Quest of Light
6. The Sound of Dreaming
7. Questions
8. Letter to Nowhere
9. Diamind
10. Pinch of Time
11. The Missed Dance

Disc 2
1. Desaturation Point
2. Master of Lightning
3. The Other Side of the Sky, Pt 1
4. Unfairlytale
5. Cumulonimbi
6. Dolphins
7. Electric Kisses
8. Sensosphere
9. Five Gardens
10. The Other Side of the Sky, Pt 2
11. Youtopia

Alexandra Zerner - All instruments

Guest musicians:
Angel Wolf-Black (Vivaldi Metal Project) – vocals on "Chaos of Cards", "The Oracle", "Quest of Light", "The Sound of Dreaming", "Questions", Letter to Nowhere", "Pinch of Time", "The Missed Dance", and "Master of Lightning"
Bobby Koelble (Death) – lead guitars on "Desaturation Point"
Franck Hermanny (Adagio) – bass on "Electric Kisses"
Gretchen Menn – lead guitars on "Unfairlytale"
Iavor Pachovski (Yuvigi) – lead synth on "Master of Lightning"
Ivan Ivanov (Velian) – vocals & narration on "Overture", "The Oracle", "Questions",
"Master of Lightning", and "Sensosphere"
Misha Iliev – vocals on "Dolphins"
Mistheria (Vivaldi Metal Project) – piano on "The Sound of Dreaming"
Nora Kalcheva (The Strings) – cello on "The Sound of Dreaming"
Svetlana Bliznakova (Sevi) – vocals on "The Other Side of the Sky, Pt.1 & 2"

Bulgarian prog-rock solo artist Alexandra Zerner presents "Opus 1880", the third full-length and a double CD concept album, combined with a steampunk sci-novel written by herself in collaboration with Slav Georgiev. "Opus 1880" offers an experience of two hours of colourful progressive rock and more than 100 pages of science fiction.

The album, which took about two years and a half of production time, was written, recorded, mixed, mastered, and produced by Alexandra Zerner in her own home studio, except for the guest musician parts.

A very mixed album, some neo classical piano based works act mainly as fills, then some symphonic rock that at times borders on commercial rock, tracks such as ‘Chaos Of Cards’ have ‘Heart’ like harmonies blended with sumptuous keyboard work.

‘The Oracle’ on the other hand is full on heavy metal, prog tinged of course and towards the end almost Dimmu Borgir sounding melody and spoken passage.

For vocal and piano perfection then the mournful ballad ‘The Sound Of Dreaming’ is by far one of the best examples I have heard for quite a while.

Then there are songs that are pure acid folk that just flow through the speakers, ‘Letter To Nowhere’, ‘Cumulonimbi’ & ‘The Missed Dance’ could be from an old ‘Trees’ album in 1970.

Superb jazz guitar work can be heard in the power metal, progressive, hybrid ‘Desaturation Point’.

So as I said a very mixed album, this is what can happen when you plan a double album and have so many guests, often playing very different styles of rock music.
The question is of course: does it work? The answer is “Yes”, whilst the styles range from folk and prog to power and symphonic metal, they flow in and out you don’t get a chance to get fed up with one style before a different one comes along, it’s almost like listening to a various artists compilation album, but, providing of course you like these styles, never a duff track.
Not being a great fan of the Power Metal genre, there was enough progressive influence to make this a highly listenable album.

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: Heart, Tristania, Epica, Purson, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, Nightwish

Ague - Powered by Effluvia (CD Review)

01.Risus Sardonicus
02.Fifty Drachms (To Kill A Man)
03.Apoplexy In Summer (Industrial Accidents)
04.Parker's Expedition
05.Ubersoldat (Gbe Age)
06.Fifteen Leagues To Providence
07.In Contempt Of Quinsy And Dropsy
08.Posing As Babalon
09.Hand Of Cinder, Hand Of Ash
10.Chapel Perilous

Half-Rats (Vocals/Instruments)

Guest
Steven C Davis (Narration on track 7)

Steampunk, Victorian Goth (Dreadpunk), there are many possible genres that could be named for this American one man band formed in December 1884, though i suspect that 2014 may be a closer date.
Multi instrumentalist Half-Rats explains: "Plain speaking...I'll say that my music is not about impressing the wrong quantity, it's about vexing the right one. Fulfilling all of the duties of my given office...such things as being the living conduit and messenger for a dead world, guarding the affects of the deceased and establishing a bastion in this time - availing myself of all resources provided here to awaken the masses; reconciling past and present to set into locomotion a vehicle to a better future."

He has created a clever "back Story" a shortened version:

In post-civil war Detroit; a man, an act existed, compounded of a singular deviancy of character and incongruity of thought in relation to the mode of its day. My presence here is owed to an unnatural power, an ancient and terrible force of primordial origin - held by ethereal beings known to me simply as the "Hellbourne". Prior to the discovery of this queer source of power, I lived, and it can be fervently argued, on the periphery of polite society - A rogueish Heir with friends of questionable moral character - both rubbing shoulders with and coming to blows with casuals, publicans and the insane...My music and lyrics treated the problems of the day, and in no sense was I welcomed even in the bawdiest of establishments - The act was certainly considered odious in the newly-reformed vaudeville shows - not due to tawdry seduction, but to the brash truth! Still, I stayed the course. If you have made the assumption that the singular event that changed my already calamitous lifestyle afforded me no opportunity for salvation - you would be correct.

Corrupt police, disease, finding myself accidentally transported to the year 1916, frictions with socio-political movements, supernatural forces, bar brawls, pistols, the malcontent back-alley butcher, mad professors, reanimated super-soldiers...It was all there for me to contend with.

A touch of swing meets classic americana and 'Risus Sardonicus' launches us into the complex and (as yet) unkown world of Ague. This light near acoustic opener is then followed by a much darker piece: 'Fifty Drachms (To Kill A Man)'. A great vocal performance that is not a million miles away from Rufus Wainwright or Danny Elfman, excellent guitar playing and some nice keyboard work in the mix as well.

With its carnival keyboards 'Apoplexy In Summer (Industrial Accidents)' is a happy sounding song with some great backing harmony vocals, yet somehow its a disturbing piece, reminiscent at times of the Stranglers 'waltzinblack'.

'Parker's Expedition' has this wonderful old fashioned feel to it, another stunning vocal performance, this one has more than a touch of the cabaret about it.

Cannot go wrong with some harpsicord and 'Ubersoldat (Gbe Age)' has a great intro by said instrument and it is present throughout the strange mix of drums and more harmonic backing vocals.

'Fifteen Leagues To Providence' takes us back to early 1950's jazz and rock n roll with its solid guitarwork and hand clapping style backing music. This has a dark, almost, New Orleans "night tripper" vibe!

The intro this eight minute epic 'In Contempt Of Quinsy And Dropsy' is spoken by Steampunk author Steven C Davis over a quiet keyboard backing, telling us the tale of Dr.Parker and the effergies of the songs title.
The music then takes over and treats us to an almost symphonic rock song, good use of keyboard orchestration, driving drum patterns and another solid vocal performance.

Up next is the surprising 'Posing As Babalon', i say that because it has some pretty heavy guitarwork and a dark gothic undertone. The ghost of proto-doom metal lurks here, added to the driving drums and guitar playing is a great old sound "farfisa" keyboard sound.

Once again 'Hand Of Cinder, Hand Of Ash' offers us some more in the way of heavier music, this is another well orchestrated piece with some punchy powerchords coming through, all this creates a dark gothic rock monster which at one point includes some pure demonic vocals that would not be out of place on a cradle of filth album!
Yet somehow this song manages to mix in some 1950's guitar riffs and have an operatic edge as well.

I wonder where this final track will go? Well 'Chapel Perilous' returns us to that jazz/swing sound, a perfect way to end a very clever album full of different styles and superb sound production.

Rating 9/10
For fans of: Danny Elfman, Joe Black, Dr John, Midnight Syndicate, Juke Baritone, Wednesday 13

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