I am assuming Dirk Ivens and Dive need no introduction. After almost three years of silence following the "Soes Mix" 12" release on the italian Minus Habens label, the five tracks of his new "Lies in your Eyes" break new ground in the musical evolution of one of the greatest Belgian noise-musicians. Distortion is present as always, but there is room for more rhythmical structures and even more definite vocals get clearance. His long-time collaborator Eric van Wonterghem takes part in this project as well and maybe that is the reason why Dive is going back to the noise-electro of the past. The bodies of the songs are quite minimal but the full force effect is guaranteed, especially if you follow Dirk's directions of playing it at maximum volume! I love it!

Despite the very poor recording quality of their self-produced CD and a hard to describe eclectic mixture of influences, The Id play shows, conferences and festivals all around the world, staging and spreading their political beliefs and showing their support to associations such as Greenpeace. The UK duo hardly conforms to set standards or musical labels and instead absorb ideas from the past and the present, mixing dark, wave, electronics, rock, noise in what they like to refer to as «experimental eclecticism» or «new wave of the new wave of alternativism». Their style is characterized by heavily processed guitars and vocals, draining and stomping drum patterns and sounds, lots of wanted (and sometimes unwanted) distortion/saturation, sequenced and improvised electronics and male and female vocalists talking, shouting and singing. To be honest I am not crazy about this, but on the other hand music is a matter of taste and reviews are a subjective point of view so I suggest you check it out for yourself (which you should have anyway). I am truly sorry I am not impressed with this band's music as much as I am with their attitude. They have my deepest respect for their attitude and for being so politically active. We need more bands that understand the importance of having a political agenda alongside their music! Well done!

What starts out like a female-fronted power-noise album inspired by Dive, instead quite suddenly turns into an electronica record of intense emotional contents inspired more by 80es bands like Ultravox, but definitely not out of touch with the present. The beautiful Elena Fossi, also one of the newest members of the historical electro/dark band Kirlian Camera, further reveals her talent as a songwriter and musician with Siderartica, a three-piece project she heads, aided by her brother Andrea and by Andrea Savelli. The entire album is made with MC-505s, treated guitars turned into frozen harmonies and of course heavy sound processing and vocals (treated, reverberated, whispered, sung, spoken and even operatic): in other words this is not your average pc/mac-chopped-up-samples record! Actually no samples were used at all here, except in the album's only remix by Gianluca Becuzzi (aka Lamachina) which uses Alva Noto samples. Considering the material and the referrals of these sounds I am surprised no theremin was used, but we are not too far off from that anyway. The eleven tracks of "Night Parade" (9 original compositions, one remix and one Joy Division cover of "Atmosphere" - another influence of the Siderartica sound, if you will) delivers joy and sadness, great electronic music and glacial industrial-ambient soundscapes, pounding beats and minimal rhythmical patterns. All this graciously enriched by female vocals singing English, Italian and German lyrics (all printed inside the beautiful, blue-ish, thick and glossy booklet of the standard version). Unfortunately Elena didn't send us the 102-copies limited metal-box edition so we can't tell you anything about how that looks. If you are after the Kirlian Camera/Stalingrad influence you will get some, sure, and even though the cold siberian apocalyptic vision is mostly present and the ethereal vocals remind of KC's female and romantic touch, this is not necessarily as martial, as claustrophobic, as grand and as complex as the sound of the masters. I am not trying to oversimplify here or to file it under easy-listening pop music, not at all, I am just letting you know that you are dealing with a great project, a great sound, but also with a differnt sound, an original creature, and basically with the softer, smoother and more melodic side of this italian singer; not just with a KC clone (as if that would be of any interest to anybody anyway). Elena Fossi's debut is a great proof of musicianship. Get it while you can!

Dunno,this is a little too 80's to me,like they are trying to live up this whole 80's revival thing. Not too much my style actually,but if you're into that give this a try. It has a little bit of goth element to set it apart too. Not really my thing but not bad at the same time,just a matter of taste. RAting:6. Recommended for Apop fans (except these guys are better. Apop now sucks so fucking bad you wouldn't believe it!)

Gothic metal is kind of a vague term once you see into the metal underground,as alot of bands like to use it in the same way bands like Slipknot use it: to market themselves and nothing more. This band,Rotting Christ, I heard quite a while ago when I had their first CD "Triarchy of The Lost Lovers" and I can safely say this band fits the goth-metal mold. Nice dark imagery devoid of the Dio-esque cliches,and most of all mixing mood with melody and heaviness, not allowing the powerchords and riffing to choke the emotion. Not too far from Paradise Lost, whom I still have a thing for. The opening track "Daemons" starts off with a nice little opera atmospherics before jumping into the sludgy speed section. Track 2,"Lex Talionis" which is sung in Greek I believe,does stumble a little bit on the drumming but clears up easily by the chorus. The speed these guys play at it amazing as well,but again not forsaking the emotion involved. Track 4,"Nightmare" is a good slow one that catches me,and probably strikes me as my favorite for it's slow drawling vocals laced in with the snarling vocal lines. Overall,good slow gothic (black) metal with an intellegence and good use of sampling with the Delerium-like opera vocals. Some good atmoshperics here overall, and should please both black metal fans and goth fans alike. Beats Cradle of Filth,that god awful excuse for music. Rating: 10 Also recommended are Septic Flesh,also from the great land of Greece,though at times they are more death metal.