Sorry, Heels - She (CD Review)

Sorry, Heels - "She"

01.Through The End

02.She Burns

03.Follow Signs

04.Something Real

05.The Spell´s Ballad

06.My Dolls House

07.Another Lapse

08.The Void

09.The End Of Desire

Davide Messina (Guitar, Keyboards)

Simona Pietrucci (Vocals)

Additional Musicians:

Ettore Pistolesi (Vocals, Guitar)

Filippo Strang (Drums)

Bubi (Vocals)

Italian band formed in 2010, Various line-up changes mark a radical change in Sorry, Heels' sound, abandoning rock standards and diverting their compositions towards electronic music, while maintaining references and sounds linked to new wave and early post-punk.

This album is a work dedicated to the love journey of a woman who faces infatuation, falling in love, disappointment and frustration. Both the lyrics and the sounds were written in an attempt to evoke all the various stages she has gone through.

 So we have the concept Starting from infatuation, 'Through the End' and passion with 'She Burns'.

These are delivered with haunting vocals, minimal synth and drum backing and occasional guitar, each perfectly balanced to create quite a cold electronic ambience.

We continue with rejection on 'Something Real', my fave track so far, all the previous elements are still present this has the added aural pleasure of some dark gothic guitar work.

Obsession gets two songs, 'Follow Signs' and 'The Spell's Ballad' as does loneliness, with 'My Doll's House' and 'Another Lapse'. The latter of which becomes my second fave song here with more dark and disturbing gothic undertones and some great Bass riffs.

Finally, repentance with 'The Void' followed by a somewhat depressing acceptance that nothing will change with 'The End of Desires'.

Rating 8/10

For Fans Of: Portishead, This Mortal Coil, Cocteau Twins, Black Tape For A Blue Girl

XCIII - The Blue (CD Review)

XCIII The Blue

01.Sway

02.Abstract

03.Life Seeks Death

04.The Blue

05.S.A.L.T 

06.Sway Remix 

07.Abstract Remix 

Guillaume (All instruments, Vocals)

Maélise (Additional Vocals)

Sarah (Additional Vocals)

 XCIII is an Avantgarde Rock / Metal project located in France. The bands name is a reference to Charles Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs du Mal", poem 93, titled "A une passante".

Its aim is to combine different styles going from Black Metal to Trip Hop with no limitation, but with the will to keep a musical and lyrical coherence between all the tracks. 

A kind of "Art Total" where music, lyrics and pictures respond to each other. The former idea to play a folk black metal disappeared by the time Guillaume composed new songs, which were more open to new horizons, including Experimental and Progressive elements.

The gradual transformation of XCIII has reached a provisional end with The Blue EP, which was released on the 10th of December 2019 to celebrate the ten years of the existence of the project. Even more sensual and direct, it overlaps all the band's experiments of the last decade, even more eclectic, with some hint of industrial Metal, but also more pop-influenced atmospheres. Several songs were specially composed in order to be played live. The 2021 digipack version contains a bonus track as well as two remixes by BartosAntos and by Maquerelle.

'Sway' starts with a simple guitar riff then via a sampled speech begins to form with synthesizers, as it builds female vocals come in and the song starts to take form, relentless in its building of instrumentation the final piece creates a nice easy to listen 'pop song'.

Getting a touch weirder is 'Abstract' reversed synth pulses and sampled vocal builds and then the whole song changes with some heavy guitar playing and and some more spoken words.

Track Three is 'Life Seeks Death' a strange but well composed mixture of pop music with "hints" of the heavier stuff.

It is 'The Blue' that stands out for me, a superb atmospheric near gothic song, haunting vocals and great keyboard work.

'Salt' has an 80's sound that would have been perfect for '4AD'.

That just leaves us the two remixes, which don't seem to add anything interesting to the normal versions and seem a touch pointless.

Rating 7/10

For Fans Of: Portishead, Massive Attack, Garbage, Brian Eno

Camille Sauvage ‎– Fantasmagories (1974)

Camille Sauvage ‎– Fantasmagories

Editions Montparnasse 2000 MP33

1974

01.Terrifical Night

02.Musique De L'Au-Delà

03.Magma

04.Vivisection

05.Ectoplasme

06.Enferissimo

07.Charette Fantôme

08.Le Jugement Dernier

09.Pavillon Des Agité

10.Rapacité Nocturne

11.Requiem Pour Satan

12.Rapsodie Pour Belphegor

Camille Andre Sauvage was a French soul-jazz-funk clarinettist, library composer and orchestra leader, born 4th April 1910.

His library compositions were a mixture of experimental jazz and electronics.

This album is full of atmospheric and creepy sounds, where bells and keyboards intertwine with jazz rhythms and strange timings.

Many of these pieces would easily fit with White Noise An Electric Storm In Hell from 1969.

 128Download Here

Hour Of 13 - Black Magick Rites (CD Review)

Hour Of 13 Black Magick Rites

01. His Majesty Of The Wood

02. Return from the Grave

03. House of Death

04. Black Magick Rites

05. Within the Pentagram

06. Harvest Night

07. The Mystical Hall of Dreams

Chad Davis (Vocals, All Instruments)

For the best part of two decades American doom band Hour Of 13 have made quite an impact under the careful watch of mainman Chad Davis.

Along the way and over the course of three albums and numerous EPs, HOUR OF 13 have built a formidable discography that's amassed a fanatic following awaiting each offering Davis and his rotating cast of cohorts creates.

This is the first new recordings in over eight years, Black Magick Rites was available digitally on November 1st, 2020 for only 24 hours. Just as uniquely, Black Magick Rites also marks the first album where Davis handles not only all instruments, but also all vocals. 

 From the off, this is a superb album, none of the usual clichés of twenty minute dirges and stereotypical "Occult" lyrics.

That this album was produced by one (very talented) man is astounding.

Amazing vocals, great guitar playing, solid drumming brilliantly mixed together, cannot fault this in anyway, shape or form.

Rating 9/10

For Fans Of: Electric Wizard, Witchfinder General, Witchfynde, Angelwitch, Cathedral

ZOË - Back Into The Light (CD Review)

ZOË Back Into The Light

01.Back Into The Light

02.Voices

03.Down In A Hole

04.In Praise Of Laziness

05.Go Like A Bomb

06.By Your Side

07.White Trash

08.Wild Wild City

09.Band Of Brothers

10.Cut Class

Fred Barroit (Vocals, Guitar)

Aldo Ségard (Guitar)

Holy Capitaine (Drums)

Clem Burette (Bass)

French band 'ZOE' return after a five year break and with the addition of a new bassist.

They mix Rock N Roll with 70's hard rock and a straight forward attitude that has seen them tour all over Europe and release three albums.

What we have here is ten solid tracks of no nonsence hard rock, a couple of tracks 'Down In A Hole' and 'By Your Side' stick out as above average rockers, great guitar playing backed by solid bass and drums.

'Band Of Brothers' is a tribute to Lemmy and manages to avoid sounding like Motorhead.

Rating 7/10

For Fans Of: Viking Skull, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Monster Magnet

LM Cooke - Sun Song (Bandcamp Download Review)

LM Cooke - Sun Song (Bandcamp Download Review)

01. Sun Song (Demo)

LM Cooke (Vocals/Keyboards)

It has been a long time since we have heard from 'LM', too long in fact.

'Sun Song' may just be a mere demo, but it shows amazing progress since 2017s debut album 'Nursey Rhymes for the Apocalypse'.

Inspired by, well in LM's words "This is probably not a traditional sun or summer song in any way, shape or form. It came to me one evening at rush hour in Euston Station while waiting for a train home, but I don't think it reflects any of the bustle that surrounded me at the time."

Such a simple basic rhythm builds the tension, added to that a superb double tracking vocal, multi layered backing vocals, this is a slow and brooding example of well crafted Neo-Folk with some very dark lyrics, oh the sun may be bright yet somehow the line "Let it burn" takes on a different meaning.

I look forward to more demos and hopefully a full album in the near future.

Rating 8/10

For Fans Of: Galley Beggar, Comus, Lisa Gerrard, Alison Cotton, The Trees, Helga Pogatschar

Download Free Song From Bandcamp Here

 

Bladder Flask ‎– One Day I Was So Sad That The Corners Of My Mouth Met & Everybody Thought I Was Whistling (1981)

Bladder Flask ‎– One Day I Was So Sad That The Corners Of My Mouth Met & Everybody Thought I Was Whistling

Orgel Fesper Music AP162

1981

01.It Takes A Bliss

02.Musical Behind Head

Just 500 copies of this album were made, I managed to get my copy from the good old Record & Tape Exchange in Camden back in 1983, wondered what the hell I had brought when I eventually got around to playing it. 

I was drawn to the record based soley on the Pre-Raphelite picture on the label, musically it reminded me of The Residents with its weird mix of sound collage and experimental electronics.

It seems the band were essentially two brothers; Richard and Phillip Rupenus, it has since emerged that other contributions came from Nigel Jacklin (Alien Brains), Sean Breadin and John Mylotte both from the band 'Funeral Danceparty'.

The band quickly vanished, perhaps the world was not ready for their experiments in sound, yet in 2019 the name started to appear again with Fluxxus duo 'Kommissar Hjuler Und Frau' and only recently a brand new 7" single called 'I am as I Have Spoken', the world finally came to accept this for of music as art or is it art as music, either way a fantastic record.

 128Download HERE