Fragments Vol. 3 // Reviews
This summer I’ll be out of Athens again to work all the season. The ‘Fragments’ column will replace my ‘Reviews’ section until I get back to my base. There are some new releases that we think should be heard (at least) and of course, it is our obligation to the artists who trust us with their EPKs. Throughout the whole long summer will be ‘Fragments’ in WL//WH to assist these remarkable artists, and also you who are looking for new stuff from the body of the greater dark alternative front. Summer with good company and cold beers…from your loudspeakers, and loud, please!!!
- PAINTED ROMANS – “Song & Century” LP [Shaky Sky Music]
On May 5th the awesome act from Trondheim, Norway, published their new full-length entitled “Song & Century” with 10 brand new songs. Painted Romans weave darkwave music while blending it all with dark folk chants, and apocalyptic narrations, with a gothic scent all over, and of course, they are among the most important Scandinavian post-punk acts. Try “Greasy Chain”, “Devil in Souvenirs”, “Mission”, “Sing To The Child”, or “More Than Your Taste in Music”…actually try the entire album!!!
- THE BELLWETHER SYNDICATE – “Vestige and Vigil” LP [Sett Records / Nexilis Records / Schubert Music Europe]
Based in Chicago, The Bellwether Syndicate is William Faith (vox, guitars), Sarah Rose Faith (vox, guitars), Philly Peroxide (keyboards, percussion), Stevyn Grey (drums), and Corey Gorey (guitars). Formerly of seminal goth acts Christian Death, Mephisto Walz, and Shadow Project and co-founder of Faith & The Muse, William Faith moved from his native LA to Chicago in 2010, forming The Bellwether Syndicate with Sarah Rose Faith a.k.a. Scary Lady Sarah, one of the scene’s most eminent DJs and club promoters and host of Nocturna, the longest-running goth event in North America. I don’t really think you need to read more about this stunning new release, I could write, and write, and write more and more about it but names like TBS are like a warranty to a brighter dark future…“Vestige & Vigil” LP is already out since spring 2023 (P.S.: the album is stunning)!!!
- THE DOORMEN – “The Truth in a Dark Age” LP [Mia Cameretta Records/ Goodfellas – Believe Digital]
The Doormen new wave band from Ravenna, Italy, recently released their brand new album “The Truth in a Dark Age”. With 8 brand new songs in the quiver, the Italians compiled a simply stunning and modern post-punk release that is groovy, fearless, and so fresh. I am really amazed by the scene’s new trend which has a clear tendency to color ‘the old waves’ with other creative pigments like the shoegaze and the coldwave shades too. Such experiments may end up with colossal failure or shiny glories. Here we have the second option (with the glories) with a record that was created by an obviously talented team of musicians, and an album that stays on repeat for a long time already!!!
- LOCUST REVIVAL – “Good Grief” LP [Self-Released]
This must be my summer’s dark arcanum, the new album by that peculiar threesome from Brisbane, Australia. Peculiar; because Locust Revival are still weaving music that is a genre forever beloved by many of us, shady as we like it, melancholic, danceable, occasionally groovy, darkwave to deathrock (rules), gothy, and all given seriously in a record that will attract a lot of people who I think will hear what I heard in “Good Grief” LP, the weirdness and its innerness openly displayed within the 10 new marvelous songs. Press play and jump in!!!
- GIRLS UNDER GLASS – “Backdraft” LP [Dependent Records]
After a very long time, the German gothic/ darkwave legends are back with an imposing new album. “Backdraft” LP has 10 brand new songs that are all filtered through the industrial veil. Don’t think that you’ll hear GUG playing again like in some of the previous works that sent them to the airports of the world, but better consider the new album as a new chapter from the horizon they discovered for themselves and for others as well. All music we are dancing to after 3 AM in our Batcave dens is here in all grand beauty and with the required expectations!!
Written by Loud Cities’ Mike
