Here we are, passed the halfway mark for the year and getting into the summer slump for new releases. Things a noticeably slower at the moment but that doesn’t mean they’re aren’t some great albums being released. So here we go with this month’s write up. Sorry it’s late but life has been getting in the way.
The bastard.
Midwife
Luminol
Madeline Johnston has made a name for herself making beautiful, pain filled music over the last few years, Luminol takes the sound she’s been working on and perfects it.
It’s the kind of album you have to brace yourself for. On the opening song, in the midst of the hazy guitar her fragile voice opens the album with the lines “I can’t kill the evil thought, I can’t turn it off”. There’s no percussion on the song and the track feels like falling into mist. Enemy, the second track opens with “My body is against me, My body wants to kill me”. Luckily there is more to hold onto, there is a beat and the guitar has much more attack but there still is no light here. It’s only on Promise Ring do a full band appear, and it feels like gravity is taking over, the shoegaze guitars pulling the listener down. And it may be down, but it’s a direction, something to hang onto, a respite, it’s brief but welcome.
With this album, you’re going to need to turn it up. If you put it on in the background it’s just going to fade away. A quiet ambient album with flashes of shoegaze guitar. What you need to do is stop and make sure you’re playing this loud enough for it to envelope you, surround you in warm fuzz. Just let it take you away from your thoughts.
This is a short album, but even though it’s a brief 33 minutes it’s the perfect length for something this intense. It’s like a musical plunge pool for the soul, dive in, scurry out and relish that feeling of being alive.
Paradise Lost
Live at the Mill
It’s been a long time since I saw the Lost live, 1998 to be exact. The world has changed a lot in that time but I’m glad to say that PL have stayed constant. Not that they still sound the same, it’s pretty incredible that a band has released as many albums as they have and not one of them sounds alike. No, PL are a constant because they’re still amazing live. Tracks from the 80’s blend in perfectly with the modern songs, with the older numbers benefiting from Nick’s voice being much stronger now than it used to be.
At this point you should know if PL’s goth metal is for you. If it is, this is a great album to tide you over until their tour next year. I can’t wait, as I’ve said, it’s been a long time.
Erdve
Savigaila
Erdve’s first album stormed out of Lithuania taking the world by surprise. A brutal assault of blackened, sludgy hardcore, it was like a kick to the face. To me it sounded like Neurosis without any of the post metal parts to let the listener relax.
The first two tracks pick up from where the first album left off, two tracks as brutal as they are great. It’s track 3 where the band change gear. Votis is more post metal and a lot more chilled than anything released by the band so far. I think this change of tack works for the better, if everything is 100% all the time the music starts to lose its impact for me and just becomes grating so the intensity drop just serves to lull you into a false sense of calm before the attack starts again.
Saying that I’m not sure there’s a need for a track to be as full on as Sugretinimas but this kind of music is meant to challenge so I’ll just have to rise up to it.
Sometimes you need an album that will give you a hug, and let you know everything will be alright.
This is not that album, this is the car crash you walk away from unscarred, full pumped full of adrenaline and reborn. You’ll always need to be in the right mood for something this full on and uncompromising but when you are, it works like nothing else I’ve heard all year.
Where We Sleep
The scars they leave
I’ve been following Beth since her last band, Blindness split up a few years ago. They were a fantastic band but never really caught on apart from a very dedicated fan base. Since then she’s released a few singles and an ep that suggested that she was going in a (slightly) different direction but The Scars could easily be a next Blindness album.
Not that this is a bad thing.
That album opens big as the bass line of Drive pushes the track forward. Beth’s old bandmate Debbie Smith (Ex Echobelly, Curve) turns up on this track providing the kind of guitar noise I love to hear. It’s a breathtaking opener and sets the album up perfectly. Debbie is also on another track Missing Something but this doesn’t mean there aren’t fantastically noisy guitars on other tracks. WWS songs have plenty of those lovely shoegaze guitars, This Way being a great example. But it’s not all full on indie belters, We can disappoint each other, is much more subdued , a purely electronic track filled with loss and loneliness with Beth’s voice holding you in the palm of her hand.
So, if you’re looking for some great indie/shoegaze with a touch of Curve’s sound this album will make your month.
The ways of exile 