The Wounded - Atlantic

Genre(s) - Gothic/doom metal/rock
Origin - The Netherlands
Year of release - 2004
Bitrate - 192 kbps
Size - 65.33 MB

A majestic opus of downcast gloom rock is not an export product you might expect from the picturesque province of Drenthe, or maybe again, it's exactly what you can expect - I wouldn't know what to do with myself either except for masturbating, drinking pils and playing depressive music. Living in the inhabited world I don't need to play depressive music because I have internet so I can listen to others doing it for me. All this tells you nothing about the album and is discriminating to non-Randstadters, I'm sorry. Atlantic is as vast and deep and churning restless as the ocean mirroring steel-grey skies. Singer Marco van der Velde has an astounding emotional voice and gives a great performance on songs like 18. Carat Dust or the lethargic, extra-extra-tortured Nirvana cover. The long closer and title track is a great hypnotic trip though lands of guilt and dejection. It's been six long years without an album now, I hope The Wounded will soon be patched up enough to write some more material. Who else hurts you so well?

1. Hollow world
2. 18. carat dust
3. Running on empty
4. Day of joy
5. Northern lights
6. "Prelude"
7. Smells like teen spirit (Nirvana cover)
8. We are darker
9. Atlantic
   

Load it down

L'Âme Immortelle - Gezeiten

Genre(s) - Electronic darkwave, Neue Deutsche Härte
Origin - Austria
Year of release - 2004
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 52.69 MB

For those it may concern: L'Âme Immortelle are the closest thing to German Electro I still had pre-uploaded on Mediafire. They're Austrian and sing in English half the time, and like ASP as well they gradually incorporated more rock influences, stapling crunchy angular guitars to the electronic backdrop in places where the sound (apparently) could use some heaviness. Some of the beats also seem to be played on an acoustic kit, so it's really just the closest thing. It's a very enjoyable album all in all, which took me a while to fully appreciate. The band feautures male and female vocals, of which especially Sonja Kraushofer's are very good (she also sings for ethereal band Persephone). There are some slower songs that, save for Ohne Dich, do not become tedious if you take time to learn to enjoy them. Without You, luckily, is not just an English version of the aforementioned song despite the name - which is actually a bit odd if you think about it.

1. Es zieht sich davon
2. 5 Jahre
3. Fear
4. Stumme Schreie
5. Fallen angel
6. Gezeiten
7. Rain
8. Masquerade
9. Kingdom
10. Calling
11. Ohne dich
12. Believe in me
13. Without you
    

Load it down

Rasputina - Frustration plantation

Genre(s) - "Cello rock", dark cabaret, gothic
Origin - United States of America
Year of release - 2005
Bitrate - 192 kbps
Size - 59.63 MB

Another album that defies any succinct description, but we have no choice but trying to give you one, regardless. It all started with Melora Creager's wish to give the cello (I do love celloes) a prominent place in rock music. Consequently the music she creates under the name Rasputina is most often referred to as "cello rock". Gothic elements are present, but it doesn't sound like any established style of gothic music I know. If there's one band Rasputina's quirky visions can be compared to I would suggest the Dresden Dolls, even if musically it really occupies its own category. Frustration Plantation apparently deals with the Old South, and not just lyrically. The whole release breathes this theme - it tends to remind me of the American Gothic painting: intruiging because of its unmistakable origin and hidden (unintentional?) dark undertones that you hardly pick up on unless you look or listen intently. The title makes a good new genre designation for this band; American Gothic is exactly what this sounds like. Especially recommended songs: Wicked Dickie, If Your Kisses Can't Hold the Man You Love and, most of all, High on Life.

1. Doomsday averted
2. Secret message
3. Possum of the grotto
4. If your kisses can't hold the man you love
5. The mayor
6. When I count...
7. High on life
8. Wixked dickie
9. My captivity by savages
10. Saline the salt lake queen
11. Oh, injury
12. When I was a young girl
13. Momma was an opium-smoker
14. November 17dee
15. Girls' school
    

Load it down

The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland

Genre(s) - Gothic rock
Origin - United Kingdom
Year of release - 1987
Bitrate - 128 kbps
Size - 54.81 MB

This Corrosion. The reason this album is up is This Corrosion. I recommend First and Last and Always to everybody. Floodland ain't got a shit on that one. Except for one. One shit. And that shit is This Corrosion. Sure, Dominion is good, but it's coupled to the rather bland Mother Russia. Everybody knows Socialism in one country can't be done. Stalin talking out of his ass again. Most people only figured that out in 1989, but not me. Lucretia is just fine too. But is it enough to save the album? Tis not. Then what is? I think you already know. That's right, This Corrosion is. And it does more. It makes this album cool. That's right, this album is fucking awesome, because of... can you fill in the blanks? Of course, if 1959 (WTF! worst year I ever lived through) had been replaced by Temple of Love I'd have had a roaring orgasm right now. We'll have to make do with This Corrosion, already making me leak precum by the milliliter. Did you know it's like, ten minutes long? That's awesome. That's fucking awesome. I bet you're going to download the album now. Awesome.

Q: what makes Andrew Eldritch so awesome?
A: wearing sunglasses at night, son. Wearing sunglasses at night.

1. Dominion/Mother Russia
2. Flood I
3. Lucretia, my reflection
4. 1959
5. HEY NOW HEY NOW NOW BRING THIS CORROSION TO ME
   
6. Flood II
7. Driven like the snow
8. Never land
9. Torch
10. Colours

Load it down

And Also the Trees - (Listen for) the rag and bone man

Genre(s) - Postpunk, gothic rock
Origin - Inkberrow, Worcestershire, UK
Year of release - 2007
Bitrate - 128/192 kbps
Size - 46.67 MB

Twenty years after the release of the live album The Evening of the 24th that was one of my first uploads for this blog, came the album that initially got me into them. Despite their categorisation as a gothic rock-slash-postpunk band, And Also the Trees seem to contain many elements from neofolk before it even existed as such, in that the compositions are so much more quiet and nature-inspired than bands the genre denomination may remind you of. I like the Sisters of Mercy and Chameleons too but this sounds nothing like it. Listen to This Beautiful Silence or Accordeon Man and you will get my drift. That's not to scare the gothic and postpunk fans off. This is sprawling, beautiful, mood-invoking music for (dark) romantics of any kind to wet their pants over.

1. Domed
2. The beautiful silence
3. Rive droite
4. Mary of the woods
5. The way the land lies
6. The legend of Mucklow
7. Untitled
8. Candace
9. Stay away from the accordeon man
10. The saracen's head
11. On this day
12. A man with a drum
13. Under the stars
    

Load it down

[repost] This Ascension - Sever and more

Band/artist - This Ascension
Genre(s) - Ethereal, gothic rock
Origin - United States of America
Album - Sever
Year of release - 1999

Sever is the last in a line of four full-length albums issued by This Ascension, and definitely among the most extraordinary and versatile discs in their genre that I have ever heard, mostly due to the prominent use of driving electric guitars. Some of the most guitar-heavy tracks (namely Dorado and Amapola; great tracks the both of them) even sound more like space rock than darkwave or neoclassical. Some of the tracks do stick more to genre conventions, but do so with flair; the best example of this is Mysterium. This dual approach could easily have proved disastrous in making the album sound fragmentized, but Sever retains a decidedly ethereal nature throughout with its mystic atmosphere and Heavenly Voice of singer Dru, keeping the album cohesive and in balance. Also take note of the closing track, a wonderful Christmas carol, the ethereal way.

Note: I am reposting this because I have two older albums lying around fully rar-ed and uploaded for a last.fm friend a few months ago. Thought I might as well post them along. I chose to upload Sever for a reaon, but these are also really decent. See below!

1. Fuego cayendo
2. Mysterium
3. Forever shaken
4. Serpent's serenade
5. Dorado
6. Fatal dawn
7. Columba aspexit
8. Interlude
9. I wish
10. Amapola
11. Here alone again
12. Love lost years
13. Carol of the bells
    

Load it down

1989 - Tears in Rain
here

1991 - Light & Shade
here

The Birthday Massacre - Walking with Strangers

Band/artist - The Birthday Massacre
Genre(s) - Gothic rock
Origin - Toronto, Canada
Album - Walking with Strangers
Year of release - 2007

Rabbits, kids' stuff, silhouttes... that must be The Birthday Massacre. TBM are an interesting band that features chunky guitars, old-school synthesiser, frontwoman Chibi's gorgeous vocals and a preoccupation with the colour violet. The idea was to create some sort of anachronistic blend, dubbed "post-retro" by the band, of modern rock and old-fashioned gothic electronic. You'll have to judge for yourself if they succeeded at that, all I can tell you that, and in contrast to the associations that the term gothic calls up, it's not dark or negative at all. It's refined, catchy, uplifting, quite danceable music. The songs are straightforward verse-chorus units for the most part, and most of the refrains kick plenty of ass. Not unlike the Sisters of Mercy, TBM tracks like Falling Down, Kill the Lights, Looking Glass and the title track fill you up with a hedonistic euphoria more effective than a river of coffee.

1. Kill the lights
2. Goodnight
3. Falling down
4. Unfamiliar
5. Red stars
6. Looking glass
7. Science
8. Remember me
9. To die for
10. Walking with strangers
    
11. Weekend
12. Movie
    

Load it down (56.91 MB)

Anathema - Judgement

Band/artist - Anathema
Genre(s) - Atmospheric rock
Origin - United Kingdom
Album - Judgement
Year of release - 1999

Like Katatonia, Anathema used to be important doom band before crossing into unmetal territory and like Katatonia, they now play dark atmospheric rock. However, I think it is safe to say that Anathema is generally more detached and depressive, but their tracks can also seem more uniform than they really are as they're mostly centered around ethereal guitar harmonies that ooze distress and hopelessness. Their best songs are scattered quite evenly among their releases, Judgement was my choice only because on this one I know which ones they are! The title song (always the fucking title song!!) starts out with a decent main melody that steadily gains in intensity, then explodes in some wicked riffing. Anyone, Anywhere is a doomy song feauturing great interplay between guitars and piano, One Last Goodbye has some of the best vocal deliverances on the record and a beautiful solo to boot, and Wings of God is climactic gloom rock at its best. These last six words, methinks, are a great way to sum up the whole record.

1. Deep
2. Pitiless
3. Forgotten hopes
4. Destiny is dead
5. Make it right (F.F.S.)
6. One last goodbye
7. Parisienne moonlight
8. Judgement
9. Don't look too far
10. Emotional winter
11. Wings of God
12. Anyone, anywhere
13. 2000 and gone
14. Transacoustic
    

Load it down

Katatonia - Viva Emptiness

Band/artist - Katatonia
Genre(s) - Dark modern hard rock
Origin - Sweden
Album - Viva Emptiness
Year of release - 2003

Katatonia started out as a quite influential death-doom band with their widely praised album Dance of December Souls. A couple of albums later, their music can hardly still be described as metal. However, Viva Emptiness is as dark as many a doom metal album, and not even significantly less heavy. You could call it the spirit of doom captured in a rock song structure. This rock sound of theirs is crunchy, modern and exceptionally well-polished, leaving plenty of room for melodic details. The distorted guitars are quite heavy but cleaner guitars and background keyboards add a delicacy that greatly enhances the mood of the album, which is rather tense and anxious. The singer, Jonas Renske, brings this very well, in his vocals lies a great part of the album's emotional power. What makes this album special to me is the outstanding songwritership behind it - on no other release have Katatonia written compositions that are so refined and individually rewarding as on this one. So if I point out a Criminals, a Walking by a Wire or an Omerta that's because of their impact on me, not because they're that much better than the rest.

1. Ghost of the sun
2. Sleeper
3. Criminals
4. A premonition
5. Will I arrive?
6. Burn the remembrance
7. Wealth
8. One year from now
9. Walking by a wire
10. Complicity
11. Evidence
12. Omerta
13. Inside the city of glass
    

Load it down

The Sisters of Mercy - First and Last and Always

Band/artist - The Sisters of Mercy
Genre(s) - Gothic rock
Origin - United Kingdom
Album - First and Last and Always
Year of release - 1985

The eighties have never been my favourite musical decade, and they never will be. Simplicstic, horridly fake-sounding drum patterns, utterly static song structures, plastic keyboard ditties and a rotten attitude spoil things for me quickly. Music for/by the instant gratification generation. Every once in a while, however, a good artist from those times pops up, demanding the credit it's due. I guess this must be having its effect on me: I no longer even cringe when Toto comes up on the classic rock station. But back to the album at hand. The title is trying to confuse me but First and Last and Always is definitely the Sisters' first album, not their last. It doesn't have the band's mindblowing anthem This Corrosion but as an album it holds together better than Floodlands which has a lot of boring moments. Something I can't explain is how the Sisters of Mercy incorporate all the negative traits of 80s rock but somehow manage to create a blend of them that transcends its faults. The melodies are strong, it's both dark and catchy, and Andrew's vocals are compelling. I could listen to this all day long.

1. Black planet
2. Walk away
3. No time to cry
4. A rock and a hard place
5. Marian
6. First and last and always
7. Possession
8. Nine while nine
9. Amphetamine logic
10. Some kind of stranger
    

Load it down

Faith and the Muse - Annwyn, Beneath the Waves

Band/artist - Faith and the Muse
Genre(s) - Ethereal, gothic rock
Origin - United States of America
Album - Annwyn, Beneath the Waves
Year of release - 1996

Quite in accordance with This Ascension, this band preaches a vision of ethereal (basically a swirly, atmospheric kind of darkwave or gothic with ties to neoclassical and shoegaze) a bit more diverse and edgy than their peers. Like the previously shared TA album, Annwyn, Beneath the Waves combines bombastic percussion-driven chantfests like Cantus or Arianrhod, more gothic rock oriented material like for instance the title track, more traditional ethereal fair and the rather angry song Cernunnos. Throughout is a Celtic pagan, anti-modernist theme. I think out of both bands, this is probably the better one.

1. Annwyn, beneath the waves
2. The silver circle
3. Cantus
4. The dream of Macsen
5. Fade and remain
6. Arianrhod
7. Branwen slayne
8. Hob y derry dando
9. Cernunnos
10. The hand of man
11. The sea angler
12. The birds of Rhiannon
13. Rise and forget
14. Apparition
    

Load it down

And Also the Trees - The Evening of the 24th

Band/artist - And Also the Trees
Genre(s) - Gothic rock, post-punk
Origin - United Kingdom
Album - The Evening of the 24th
Year of release - 1987

One of my more recent discoveries, And Also the Trees play goth rock of a rather (there's that word again) pastoral, almost folky nature, reflecting and inspired by their rural surroundings. The effect is a shimmering sensuousness that a lot of their urban collaegues lack in favour of decadent self-indulgence. The lyrics (read, for example those of Gone... like the Swallows) and their presentation are also fantastic. If Ian Curtis was a farmer (and a better songwriter; AND if he had a good voice), he might have made something almost half as good as this. Anyways, The Evening of the 24th is a live album that surpasses their studio offerings by more than a few steps in emotional intensity. No matter what music you like, you need this.

1. A room lives in Lucy
2. Twilight pool
3. Vincent Craine
4. Wallpaper dying
5. Shantell
6. Gone... like the swallows
7. Headless clay woman
8. Slow pulse boy
9. Virus meadow
10. So this is silence
11. The renegade
    

Load it down