Denying the Towers Our Words Are Falling From, the sixth album coming from the sweaty scores of the German (from Berlin!) wave-gothic rock band Golden Apes ' a certain affection for Nietzsche writings is evident if you just consider the choice Peer Lebrecht and his trusted bards made to name their band'¦-, could undoubtedly stand as the lyrical, intellectual and musical mountain this band could climb. Most lyrics are anchored to the notorious and inspiring German philosopher (even if maybe we're not sure Zarathustra speaking in song like And thus He spoke, as the author inverted the notorious transformation of the lion turning into a child'¦a sign that maybe times have changed!!!) , but they explicitly mention the powerful mystical visions of William Blake as well as Crowley to complete the glittering Triangle of Inspiration , but a lot of lyrical passages seem to refer to tarots, Wicca set of beliefs, Chaos magic, alchemy, ancient rites such as the explicit references to hierogamy (or Hieros Gamos) in a song entitled Liberation, whereas the deep voice by Peer seems acting as a spokesperson for the male element of the rite, while their refined style could let the listener guess which some of the musical holy pictures embellish Golden Apes' altars features sacred icons of the new wave movement such as The Chameleons (a vein which pulses stronger in compositions such as The Mark Of Cain/And from this Heart it will rise'¦ - whose gentle growing tension is really a caress for listener's soul'¦-, Rays of Light or The Silence[that I call Speech]), the lovely or some obscure portraits of the youngest Peter Murphy and even Pink Floyd (have a listen to Sober Light). The lucid dream of Windlands sounds as the best preface to an album with many catching moments, among them I dare to suggest Song Of Innocence, Taming A Dream and Invidia for lyrical intensity and recommend a careful listening of the moving The Sea Inside, the best song of the whole album in my opinion for the wise song structure and the perfect harmonization with the literal and the semantic cut of the words'¦ If I should be more severe and overly meticulous, I could advice them to use larger quantities of make-up removers in order to better mask their musical idols, but I cannot say their sound is good as it sounds in this well-done release, containing a lot of amazing stuff and high-quality songs for Gothic eardrums and souls.

Rapido De Noir are a band coming from France who just released their first MCD titled BROKEN. The four tracks of the EP amazed me for the ability of the band to mix genres and melodies. The opening track, "Broken", sounds like Gang Of Four covered by The Cure helped out by LCD Soundsystem. The way they used choruses and melodic changes is great and is just sad they are without a label supporting them as their mix of new wave and post punk is up to date and within bass guitars effected with flanger and dissonant guitars you'll find synth melodic lines which enrich the whole sound and gives a bit of dance atmospheres. Check them and support them. They deserve it!

Vampyre Songs is just a delicious appetizer before the issue of the forthcoming Twins On Canvas by the French band Double Elvis ' as you could easily guess, they borrowed their name from Andy Warhol notorious series of posters, a nice and somewhat provocative image with an unusual Mr Prestley, portrayed in cow boy garb pointing a gun towards the observer, taken from a publicity for a western movie entitled Flaming Stars -, which could mouth watering all fans of Gothic-tinged rock. It contains two songs which are going to be issued on the above mentioned album, giving an example of their style based on consciousness lyrics ('¦and videos as well'¦have a look to the clip they made for A Sea Of Ashes, dealing with the shameful and delicate matter of soldier children), walls of blasting guitars, vigorous drumming, refined by some melancholic synth slices in the sweet full-blooded Vampyre Song and some caressing rhythmical stepping in A Sea Of Ashes colliding with a punkish soul coming out here and there. A pulsating vein feeding their sound which explodes in the live recording of The Art Of War, included in this EP with an EPK video ' it's really involving the enthusiasm this duo shows off on the stage ' together with the prickly Virginia Tech and the second part of Vampyre Song, a sort of remake of the introductory song plunged in more industrial sound gravy enhancing the emotional flavor of Double Elvis sound. Enthralling music typhoons which are going to blast artificial deserts and false paradises increasing expectations for the imminent issue of their album'¦

Is reissue time for Von Thronsthal. Cold Spring the last year reissued "E Pluribus Unum" and "Imperium Internum", Trutzburg Thule has just printed a 2 CD deluxe edition of "Return Your Revolt Into Style" and Eternal Pride "Bellum, Sacrum Bellum!?". Into this flow of releases, Cold Spring issues CONSCRIPTUM, a double CD of hard to find, remixed, collaboration and unreleased tracks which didn't match the concept of any album. With a total of twenty eight tracks, the casual listener could have a good idea of the different sounds the band covered during these years as well as the fan could have into his hands a bunch of unreleased tracks and unfinished ones which could satisfy the curiosity of who would like to hear what a work in progress sounds like or a track that has been thrown away was. We could find martial classical tunes with powerful upfront choirs, neo-folk tunes with punk/electro influences (like the new "Deutsche passion", born from a collaboration with Spreu & Weizen), different versions of classic tunes (like the opening "Reisswolf", "Junges Europa" and "Domovino"), punk industrial folk songs that sounds like Dead Kennedy's "California uber alles" ("Zerstört Und Auferstanden"), collaborations ("Nem Nem Soha" is a dark martial industrial track born from a collaboration with Sturmast) and new tracks like "Patientin, 25 Jahre", "Götterdämmerung In Ruinen" or "Flut, Trance, Traum" which fortunately didn't get lost (I liked their dramatic touch where choirs, industrial percussions and melody blend). There's also a nice fast version of Death In June's "Runes & Men" (a sort of country folk song with guitars, flutes and tambourines), one of the Skid's "The Saints Are Coming" (an upbeat industrial goth version) and of Leonard Cohen's version of "The blind partisan". "Mars Macht Mobil III" sounds like a bit unfinished (it has an hip hop distorted rhythm with a synth line and different vocal lines) but you have 140 minutes of music to enjoy!

Since the very first notes of the new EP by Anders Gross and his ensemble ' both the masked and the unmasked! -, you'll maybe perceive a nostalgic and dreamy atmosphere: the sparkling sound pearls surrounding the ghostly and childish voice by Tabitha Anders, which looks like a crossbreed between the most depressed tones by Meriel Barham (the voice of the English alternative band Lush, launched by the glorious 4AD) and the entranced and tenuous ones by Slowdive's Rachel Goswell and the melodic steadiness of Anders' musical whirls in the introduction of this good example of 'oneiric shoegazing', giving the name to the whole EP. The preface of the following track, 1847, maybe is what could be considered closer to the unconvincing and partially improper classification of gothic trip-hop, used by someone to describe Anders Gross' music, even if the light distortion on the bass, reminding to me some treatments on the basslines Massive Attack used to spread, is soon replaced by a cradling folk-tinged movement. The only track with no voice, At The Edge, seems to be nothing but a puzzle of some sounds which deeply marked 80s ' I even recognized a reference to U2's With Or Without You'¦ -, but it's really well crafted! Tabitha's soft and feeble tone of voice stands out again in the hesitating False Prophets, a track whose programming is not exactly that kind of food sating the hardest-to-please listeners and even the techno-trance remix of this track by Phantoms of Paradise is nothing special, even if I've found quite funny to hear Tabitha's voice under disguise turning into a robotic creature, while I definitively don't understand the Avoid-a-void remix of Stone Thrower, maybe because the original track is good enough to be treated. The final track, Relief, could let you think someone has seated on the remote controller of your hi-fi system or you could even argue your neighbor is joking with you after buying a powerful universal remote controller'¦no prankster or heedless sitters indeed! Just a sweet pop ballad written by Tabitha, you'll appreciate anyway! There're maybe some slight flaws in this EP, but I couldn't say that I've not been positively impressed by the well balanced sound exhibited by Anders Gross on this occasion. Measured rhythms, lovely melodies, peaceful sound, intimate lyrics'¦ I feel that nemesis should sound out of place!