Having roots that stretch back as far 1994, My Life’s Despair is a doom and goth metal band centred around drummer/multi-instrumentalist Larshus. Although he spent a decade working with other underground bands somewhere between hatching his original idea for the project and the time of its actual fruition, it’s easy to hear that a lot of thought went into making things more theatrical than your average doom metal band. ‘Invoked With Passion and Pain’ is My Life’s Despair’s first full length and is a surprisingly enjoyable affair with some of the musical ideas showing a defiant sense of grandiosity that befits the album title. Provided, that is, you’re happy to overlook the demo quality of the production, the thin drum sounds (possibly programmed) and just concentrate on the actual material. This is one of those albums whereby it is best not to look at what it is, necessarily, but rather more what the band were aiming for.
Tag Archives: goth
FOREVR – Demonstration EP
This debut EP by Australian-based duo FOREVR is one of those discs you’ll either love or hate within seconds of hitting the play button. With no time to warm up, the band have already shifted from silence to a complete wall of sound in a split second, as the intro ‘Yucatan’ crushes with a huge droning noise. Overdriven guitars with amplifiers turned up to twelve (one even louder) gleefully throw out distorted shapes as chief musician Donovan Miller hammers at an array of effects pedals. From somewhere within, vocalist Sam George-Allen melds her voice accordingly, a filtered sound rising and falling throughout, wisp-like and ghostly as if she’s channelling Elizabeth Fraser on a collaboration with the equally uncompromising A Place To Bury Strangers.
ANATHEMA – Fine Days 1999-2004
In the twenty-first century, Anathema have often been mentioned in the same breath as Opeth and Porcupine Tree due to their increased movement towards thoughtful progressive rock structures. It hasn’t always been that way, of course. Like Opeth, the band began life as a totally different musical beast, playing in a melodic death metal style. Shifting line-ups naturally resulted in shifting sounds, and by the time the band signed with the legendary Music For Nations label for their fifth album ‘Judgement’ in 1999, they’d settled on a rather tough but accessible blend of gothy and alternative rock.
UK Decay: Upcoming live shows
As part of the ongoing promotion for their 2013 comeback release ‘New Hope for The Dead’ (released early summer 2013), UK Decay have a couple more upcoming live shows:
AESTRID – Box
With a huge set of influences from 80s new wave, synth rock (more specifically the more commercial end of Krautrock) and more than a touch of 80s goth and 90s alternative for good measure, this second album from Dutch electronica/alt-rock band Aestrid represents the sound of a band reaching early maturity. Although its base sounds will probably sound familiar to listeners over a certain age, the albums eleven songs blend dense sounds with a sense of optimism in a way that is almost magical.