New Music! Chandeen, Tiamat, ISC, Mechanical Moth...
I mentioned earlier that I am looking to expand the darkwave/electro-goth section of my music collection and find anything that bridges the gap between that and gothic metal. I started by looking at some groups I already have music by and then seeing what other projects those members have been a part of. I also began going through my Synthetic Music Collection artists and browsing music one artist at a time.
Tiamat
I heard about Tiamat years ago when I downloaded a collection of gothic metal videos and there was one by Tiamat in there. The dude kind of creeps me out but some of his/their music is pretty good. Tiamat is a Swedish band that originally did progressive doom/death metal. The singer-main songwriter left Sweden for Germany and re-started the band after several albums and began adding darkwave elements. Tiamat has since come full circle, combining all elements of their past and present to create some rich, if dark, music. The vocalist sings in a rough, gritty, low-tenor/baritone, very similar to the guy from In Strict Confidence. The music itself is sometimes straightforward hard-rocking metal with crunchy guitars and lots of cymbals, other times it is more introspective with beautiful guitar/keyboard textures. There are even some songs that seem to use old-world instruments in gritty little accoustic-traditional pieces. Very eclectic; I want more.
The three songs I pulled were from their latest album, Amanethes:
• "Katarraktis Apo Aima" - heavy, dark piece
• "Will They Come" - contemplative metal balad
• "Amanitis" - sounds like an old Italian folk song
Erben der Schopfung
This is the group Elis was before they changed their name and lost their keyboardist. :D (In fact, the first track is called "Elis" and is where the band took its name from). I think the old keyboardist had a lot of influence on the band because it is a cross between gothic metal and electro-goth music with 'dancier' beats and more keyboard elements. The songs are all more laid back and it is hard to tell them all apart like you can with later Elis tracks. Sabine's voice is subdued and always sung in falsetto and is difficult to understand, but still unmistakably Sabine and very beautiful. Same constant guitar roar as Elis, no lead guitar, no real drums (I think it is all drum machine), but you can see how they would evolve into Elis. I got their entire album, Twilight and I recommend the whole thing, but these songs are standout:
• "Eine Rose fur den Abschied"
• "My Star"
• "Sleep and Death"
I still prefer Elis, the band this group turned into, but this is a welcome addition. I will be obtaining the CD at some point.
Chandeen
Chandeen is very difficult to put a genre to. They are often labeled as "darkwave" but the songs I got are nothing like the darkwave I have and I would never mix Chandeen in with darkwave. They are self-described as "electronic poetry". They are a German group but do not sound like any other German group I know (German techno bands tend to have a distinct flavor) and have been described by fans as being remeniscent of Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins and Delerium. To me it fits in well with world/jazzy-easylistening-pop sort of stuff. At least, the songs I got - apparently they add trip-hop stuff to their later work. The songs I got are from mid-career. Anyway, the reason I looked into this group is Antje Schulz used to be one of their main vocalists - she does all the female vocals for In Strict Confidence and I love her voice.
Songs I got (*starred are recommended, though they are all good):
• *"Ginger"
• *"Easy to Fly"
• "Anyone's View To The Inside"
• "Imagination"
• "Drift"
In Strict Confidence
Speaking of Antje Schulz... ISC has released quite a few songs since their album Holy, which is my favorite and the most recent of their work I had heard til now. Most of the songs are from The Serpent's Kiss, a 3-CD set that is $75 in the US. Apparently its an EP and Exile Paradise is the main album but the song listing made it appear the other way around. Anyhoo, Where Sun and Moon Unite is anothe EP from this trio that I also got songs from. I cherry-picked 7 songs and they are all awesome; I cannot wait to get the rest.
I have ISC's discography up through Holy and they started out an electro-industrial act with gothic undertones creeping into later work. Mistrust the Angels introduced Antje Schulz's vocals to supplement those of Dennis Ostermann. Holy came right after - it was these two albums that saw a shift away from industrial to a more polished darkwave sort of feel. And now with Exile Paradise, the songs really gleam. The lighter songs are lighter than before, but they still have dancy, gritty songs too. The overall sound is just really full, clear, and polished. I love it. Songs I got (and all are recommended) are mostly from The Serpent's Kiss:
• "Godless Sinner"
• "Away From Here (Whisper Version)"
• "Regicide (Flying Dagger Version)"
• "Bitter Truth"
• "With Your Love"
• "Promised Land (Extended Version)" - from Exile Paradise
• "Paradise Regained" - from Exile Paradise
What's kind of neat is that "Bitter Truth" and "With Your Love" seem to be a pair of songs with nearly identical structures, only BT is sung by Antje and is a bit more sad while WYL is sung by Dennis and is more positive. Interesting! :)
Mechanical Moth
This is a true German darkwave group, a duo-then-trio-then duo again, who appears on The Synthetic Music Collection with their song "The Unseen", which is by far and away their most energetic song I could find. Most of their stuff is pretty down-tempo, industrial, fuzzy/gritty and has a minimalist quality in that it isn't a wall of sound like ISC is. I only grabbed two songs and have only heard them once each:
• "Herz Aus Stein"
• "Hope (A Deaf Lie)"
I think they'll go in with my darkwave collection okay but I was hoping for stuff with more energy. Definitely good for late-night listening though. The songs have a military-march feel to them. They remind me of old-school L'Âme Immortelle, another industrial duo where both the male and female members sing, and the guy generally does a real harsh vocal. In fact, the guy sounds a lot like Thomas Rainer from L'Âme Immortelle, but the female vocals are totally different (Sonja Kraushofer, the female vocals of L'Âme Immortelle, sounds more like Madonna).
I ought to write up something on the darkwave/electro-goth stuff I have already...
Tiamat
I heard about Tiamat years ago when I downloaded a collection of gothic metal videos and there was one by Tiamat in there. The dude kind of creeps me out but some of his/their music is pretty good. Tiamat is a Swedish band that originally did progressive doom/death metal. The singer-main songwriter left Sweden for Germany and re-started the band after several albums and began adding darkwave elements. Tiamat has since come full circle, combining all elements of their past and present to create some rich, if dark, music. The vocalist sings in a rough, gritty, low-tenor/baritone, very similar to the guy from In Strict Confidence. The music itself is sometimes straightforward hard-rocking metal with crunchy guitars and lots of cymbals, other times it is more introspective with beautiful guitar/keyboard textures. There are even some songs that seem to use old-world instruments in gritty little accoustic-traditional pieces. Very eclectic; I want more.
The three songs I pulled were from their latest album, Amanethes:
• "Katarraktis Apo Aima" - heavy, dark piece
• "Will They Come" - contemplative metal balad
• "Amanitis" - sounds like an old Italian folk song
Erben der Schopfung
This is the group Elis was before they changed their name and lost their keyboardist. :D (In fact, the first track is called "Elis" and is where the band took its name from). I think the old keyboardist had a lot of influence on the band because it is a cross between gothic metal and electro-goth music with 'dancier' beats and more keyboard elements. The songs are all more laid back and it is hard to tell them all apart like you can with later Elis tracks. Sabine's voice is subdued and always sung in falsetto and is difficult to understand, but still unmistakably Sabine and very beautiful. Same constant guitar roar as Elis, no lead guitar, no real drums (I think it is all drum machine), but you can see how they would evolve into Elis. I got their entire album, Twilight and I recommend the whole thing, but these songs are standout:
• "Eine Rose fur den Abschied"
• "My Star"
• "Sleep and Death"
I still prefer Elis, the band this group turned into, but this is a welcome addition. I will be obtaining the CD at some point.
Chandeen
Chandeen is very difficult to put a genre to. They are often labeled as "darkwave" but the songs I got are nothing like the darkwave I have and I would never mix Chandeen in with darkwave. They are self-described as "electronic poetry". They are a German group but do not sound like any other German group I know (German techno bands tend to have a distinct flavor) and have been described by fans as being remeniscent of Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins and Delerium. To me it fits in well with world/jazzy-easylistening-pop sort of stuff. At least, the songs I got - apparently they add trip-hop stuff to their later work. The songs I got are from mid-career. Anyway, the reason I looked into this group is Antje Schulz used to be one of their main vocalists - she does all the female vocals for In Strict Confidence and I love her voice.
Songs I got (*starred are recommended, though they are all good):
• *"Ginger"
• *"Easy to Fly"
• "Anyone's View To The Inside"
• "Imagination"
• "Drift"
In Strict Confidence
Speaking of Antje Schulz... ISC has released quite a few songs since their album Holy, which is my favorite and the most recent of their work I had heard til now. Most of the songs are from The Serpent's Kiss, a 3-CD set that is $75 in the US. Apparently its an EP and Exile Paradise is the main album but the song listing made it appear the other way around. Anyhoo, Where Sun and Moon Unite is anothe EP from this trio that I also got songs from. I cherry-picked 7 songs and they are all awesome; I cannot wait to get the rest.
I have ISC's discography up through Holy and they started out an electro-industrial act with gothic undertones creeping into later work. Mistrust the Angels introduced Antje Schulz's vocals to supplement those of Dennis Ostermann. Holy came right after - it was these two albums that saw a shift away from industrial to a more polished darkwave sort of feel. And now with Exile Paradise, the songs really gleam. The lighter songs are lighter than before, but they still have dancy, gritty songs too. The overall sound is just really full, clear, and polished. I love it. Songs I got (and all are recommended) are mostly from The Serpent's Kiss:
• "Godless Sinner"
• "Away From Here (Whisper Version)"
• "Regicide (Flying Dagger Version)"
• "Bitter Truth"
• "With Your Love"
• "Promised Land (Extended Version)" - from Exile Paradise
• "Paradise Regained" - from Exile Paradise
What's kind of neat is that "Bitter Truth" and "With Your Love" seem to be a pair of songs with nearly identical structures, only BT is sung by Antje and is a bit more sad while WYL is sung by Dennis and is more positive. Interesting! :)
Mechanical Moth
This is a true German darkwave group, a duo-then-trio-then duo again, who appears on The Synthetic Music Collection with their song "The Unseen", which is by far and away their most energetic song I could find. Most of their stuff is pretty down-tempo, industrial, fuzzy/gritty and has a minimalist quality in that it isn't a wall of sound like ISC is. I only grabbed two songs and have only heard them once each:
• "Herz Aus Stein"
• "Hope (A Deaf Lie)"
I think they'll go in with my darkwave collection okay but I was hoping for stuff with more energy. Definitely good for late-night listening though. The songs have a military-march feel to them. They remind me of old-school L'Âme Immortelle, another industrial duo where both the male and female members sing, and the guy generally does a real harsh vocal. In fact, the guy sounds a lot like Thomas Rainer from L'Âme Immortelle, but the female vocals are totally different (Sonja Kraushofer, the female vocals of L'Âme Immortelle, sounds more like Madonna).
I ought to write up something on the darkwave/electro-goth stuff I have already...