Gothtober - Fearing : "Destroyer"

 

This California band at least has a fair amount of hype for it in my in-box , and perhaps the rest of the States considering they have toured with a pretty diverse range of bands. They do play the droney wall of reverbed out dark wave that is the picture of this round of modern goth. I can't say goth revivalist as goth never died it just changed forms over the years and many of the genres staples have keep going. The first song makes me feel like the hype might be warranted as the sound they captured is kept moving in an interesting enough manner, but on the second song I find myself wandering what else they can do as it feels like a slower version of what they opened with. 

The vocals are more spoken than sun in the requisite baritone, but it is hiding in some m many effects, it is hard to tell if he can sing or not, but I know what is for certain is he needs to prove he can do more to me than what he is doing now. As it stands there is less range than Ian Curtis. Talking a little lower seems to be his answer on the title , which finds a moodier phrasing to his talking and the guitars wandering a bit. He does try to sing a little more , his voice goes lower to do so. I feel like this album really hangs on if the singer can deliver. He tries to croak a little lower on "Let it Grow" but it is not wowing me, and actually beginning to bore me. 

"the Sun Sets on Me" might be the best song so far, is slithers out of the shadows with an impressive groove and the haze of gloom the vocal mutter from works well. The guitars have more of an early 80s Cure feel. The song after this just kind of drones past me, though it reminded me I need to email Night Sins management about a show they are playing this week , so maybe there is that mood. The album continues to plod into the gloom, but very little by the way of dynamics until "Gravity" when the tension picks up and allows them to rock out a bit. This where my problem  with a lot of this lies is there are so many opportunities to build it into something that really rocks out but the bands seldom have the balls to go there. He does try to sing more on the last song, which does go some where, proving at three points in the album they can elevate their songs beyond the status quo. I will give this album an 8, they are better than most but show they are capable of more. 

Fearing : "Shadow"

Yeah I am know I am expected to keep up with everything dark, particularlly when it might fall close to the bounds of what could be construed as goth. While this band from California is not goth, they do play a cavernous version of post - punk that is darker than those more content with the punk side of the equation. They have a great guitar tone. The album sounds awesome as well. The production is some of the best I have heard for this sort of thing. They nail capturing the mood of the 80s this genre owes it's existence to without sacraficing sound quality. The vocals are the band's one week spot. On "Catacombs" the work pretty well. They tend to be blanketed in effects. This is good news considering how they are more spoken than sung in a dead pan baritone . Not a Ian Curtis rip off, but not singing as much as Eldritch.

They are not a shoe gaze band , but draw inspiration from it on "Pictured Perfect" . It has more of an atmospheric drone. The manage to balance out sonic shimmer with tension going into "Still Working Hard" . This is where it is evident the vocals are a one trick pony. Not totally tiresome at this point. They are working off more of a sound than a song here. The guitar playing is great and in many ways compensates for their short comings in other areas. "Sherbert" picks up the pace. It took a third listen to this album before this song began to catch on with me. The monotone narrative, not doing much for me at this point. By the time we get to "the Push" the songs have begun to sound the same. It is a good thing the beat to "Good Talks" shifted enough to smooth out that problem. The vocals are not doing anything different.

The vocals drop a little lower on " Trail of Grief" . This contrasts the music that is more upbeat. The more Cocteau Twins like strum of guitar surfaces on "Glow" . Even a marginally more melodic vocals would help at this point. Instead it the same cadence. The bass provides a more ominous under current for "Nothing New". This is perhaps the closest it gets to singing. I will round this down to an 8, as the vocals bore me, though the music is wonderful. They are better than average song writers and things work more often than not are they are better than post punk bands that place more emphasis on the punk side.

Fearing : "A Life Of None"

The search for new Halloween season music is back in full effect, though if you are a regular reader you know I am not fooling anyone and this is just everyday listening. Where many of the goth revival bands get it wrong is just settling for a Ian Curtis imitation for vocals , and that is one of the better case scenarios more of than not it's baritone punk shouting. So when a band comes along that puts passion and resonance in the vocals I am very grateful. The first song its all about the vocals and the shadows of their vibe. This band from Oakland California is hard to pin down into one sub-genre of goth. The first song has more of an indie rock flair , with sonic somewhat in line with a band like the National. However they do not have the mainstream aspirations .The second song the mix is a little weird and the over all flow of the song is not as hooky. Here they step further into the bat cave, in fact the album progressively gets darker as it plays out.

The guitar mix is all over the place and production is a little bit of an issue though it feels like they are going for a death rocked out take on Jesus and the Mary Chain by the time we get to "A Way With Me". They continue to dive down darker in the night sounds with a more pondering pulse of the bass line on "Another Night". This might remind you of Night Sins before they go to dancey and had more of a organic thing going. The vocals go even lower and have more of a hollow sound here. I think I am glad I heard them get other sounds vocally before hearing this one as I need to know he has a dynamic range. I do like it as it almost has more in common with Fields of the Nephillim.


They released this album on Funeral Party Records. Who from what I have heard is a label trying to bring back goth, but they need to hire a p/r firm because I had not heard any buzz about this band or this album until stumbling across them on my friend Ichabod's pod cast. So shout out to Out Ov the Coffin for turning me onto some good music again. Normally I get one of his mix cds at Dragon-con, but I didn't hit the "State of the Goth Scene " panel because Dragon Con really just has the same bands who say the same scene and really have no pulse on the underground because they are to invested in their Hot Topic state of mind with dreams of their 15 minutes of Myspace stardom. Which is why bands like this are important. They pay their respects to the old guard, but are not tied down to goth night with the 50 year olds. I'll give this album an 8.5, its great for what it is, I am not sure how much air time it will get out of me, but if you missed out on the kind of goth the first time around, meaning you are under 35, then you might be more impressed. This is not to discredit what this band does in fact I am going to look foreard to hearing a full length from them.