Straight Outta the Coffin!
 

My journal for all things goth, punk and alternative.

Hmmm I think I'll start with British hardcore, as although I like some of the stuff coming out of Canada, and there is some good stuff coming out of the States (Trash Talk ect) American hardcore is still suffering from the 5 headed dragon (Metalcore/screamo/Beatdown Hardcore/Melodic Hardcore/Mathcore) so we shall leave it be for now.

So let us begin...

Looking forward to it man!

Thanks Janzoon, but change of heart, I think I'll take this in a lighter direction for now and start with the...

Sisters of Mercy

Beginning with their first track

The Damage Done 1980

It is often forgotten that the Sisters were around long before they put out their first official album, debuting on the scene with the Damage Done in 1980 which is....not so good.

The 7 inch featuring 2 tracks and a filler song is plagued by shotty production, poor mixing, and some atrociously drumming by Eldritch on the A track, small wonder why he chose to go with a drum machine on the next outing.

The Damage Done




Alice: 1982

Thankfully there subsequent release is when the band began to hit their stride by formulating their classic sound around the track Alice, with a B side that features a high energy song with some good echo and a driving bass line.

Alice



So thumbs down and * star for the horribly produced the Damage Done, but thumbs up and *** stars for Alice.

Next up Temple of Love and the Reptile House

Alternative, you say!?! I'll be watching very closely... o_o

Temple of Love: 1983
Carrying on with the momentum of Alice, SOM released the Temple of Love 12 inch, another solid effort. Temple of Love is a well produced epic song, which consequently drags on a bit too long for my liking. In some ways I enjoy the b song Heartland. Not a classic track, but I like dark mood of the song.

Good tracks but not classics so thumbs sideways **1/2 stars.

Temple of Love



The Reptile House ep 1983

Sisters of Mercy's first ep, and I can say I'm not a fan, it may be just my acquired musical taste, but I just find all the tracks, slow sludgy and uninspiring. I'm just not feeling the groove, ** stars thumbs down.

Burn

While I'm here I mind as well get through the other lackluster release before things start to get good.

Anaconda 7 inch

Perhaps Making up for the gloomy Reptile House we get the more chippy Anaconda 7 inch , unfortuantly like many of their earlier releases it fails to inspire. The B side features the instrumental Phantom, a half step back into dub, but overall there is nothing spectacular here, thumbs down ** stars.

Anaconda

I love the Temple Of Love! I first heard that at 14. Cool journal bro. :D

Okay here is where things start to take off and get good with my personal favourite Sisters of Mercy song, on the B side to Walk Away.

Walk Away 12 inch 1984

Walk Away of course is remembered as one of the more popular tracks off the album First and Last and Always, and although it is a good song, the masterpiece really resides on the B side of this 12 inch.

Now I don't like to pump up songs, because then they disappoint, but the Poison Door is one of those timeless goth songs that have you thinking the Lost Boys are floating outside your window. Eldritch is in top form here, outdoing Peter Murphy in my opinion, and everything in this songs composition falls nicely into place from the minor guitar riffs to the drums, bass, reverb effects. Ambience at its best.

thumbs up **** stars

Poison Door

Body & Soul 1984 12 inch
Body & Soul features another of my personal favourite Sisters of Mercy songs, and the one that initially turned me onto the band.

Although not as timeless as the Poison Door, the song train is a electronic driven goth song, packed with all sorts of delayed effects and echos. It might be a bit too much for some people, but Eldritch's vocals are back in top form for this one. As for the other three songs, Body and Soul is a good standard 80's goth song, as is the sleepy atmospheric sounds of Afterhours, can't get into Body Electric though.

Thumbs up for Body & Soul on the strength of Train, *** stars.

Train

First and Last and Always 1985

The Sisters of Mercy's first full length album is by far their best. If I were to rate it solely on its musical tone and atmosphere, I would give it 4 stars, but unfortunately it's missing that classic song to put it over the top. As consequence, you have a lot of great songs that just fall short of brilliance.

Thumbs up ***1/2 Stars.

Black Planet



First And Last And Always



Nine While Nine (Hmmm shades of Johnny Marr?)