[hȯr'r vakyüe] DIY death rock from Bologna, Italy. Punker than dark, darker than punk. We call it Vampire Punk because we are punk rockers with a strong D.I.Y. attitude that play dark music.
This 7″ is the 8th release from Black Bug (seen on Hozac Records, Red Lounge Records, Burning Hell Records, Disordered Records and Boom Chick Records), a Swedish synth punk duo now based in Bordeaux, France. Vile visions, despaired in a frowning black tower of pain. Concealed yearns of a desolate heart, trying to scratch that unscratchable rotting itch from within. Centuries of sorrow drenched in gloomy electronics that palpitate like human passions. A call for help, ‘Glam Is Gone’ is the vinyl debut of the French multi-instrumentalist Venin Carmin. She wrote all songs, lyrics and played all instruments by herself. Apparantly for a good reason she recorded the album at ‘Death To Majors Studio’, for this lady is averse to conventions. Venin Carmin has clear references in the New Wave and Post-punk of the eighties but manages to transfer this just as well with a modern twist. That makes “Glam Is Gone” into a contemporary album. The lyrics, written from a female perspective, are about relationships, boredom, sex and violence. Sung in a naive kind of way they are occasionally caustic in its observations. Venin Carmin comes with an album full of goodies that changes flavor before you have in mind. It easily can put you on the wrong track. This moreish! »Against Modern Disease« exclaims the verso of the J-card, and this odd juxtaposition of an entirely modern, electronic language, and an inward search for the atavistic purpose of man is the key to understanding the particular magick workings of Grand Mal x. But even with this realization, it isn’t a lesson easily fathomed. With Before Life GMx return to Beläten with the chronological successor, and thematic precursor to last years Life EP. Where that work seemed to try to lure the listener onto a dimly lit physical dancefloor, Before Life beacons you towards an equally obscure, though entirely metaphysical one. GMx stumble through alternately illuminated and occulted back alley roads, in search of their own personal catharsis. Grand Mal x are here to go. Deeper. |