It’s amazing what a major difference a few seemingly minor
\nadjustments can make. After a competent, but unspectacular debut
\nalbum, seminal goth rockers Sisters Of Mercy returned in 1987 with
\nFloodland<\/i>, a landmark goth album. Anyone looking to get into
\nthe genre, or at least learn more about its early masterpieces,
\nmight as well start right here.<\/p>\n
Strong melodies permeate the densely layered tracks, and each
\nsong holds its own this time around. They got legendary songwriter
\nJim Steinman to produce and co-write two of these tracks, and the
\nresults are typically dazzling, if you’re into extremely overblown
\nmarriages of pop and classical the way I am.<\/p>\n
Yeah, he’s the guy responsible for making Meat Loaf a huge star,
\nand while his completely over-the-top trademark bombast is kept in
\ncheck somewhat comparatively here, it can’t just be a coincidence
\nthat he happened to produce the two best songs. He added a couple
\nof very memorable pop hooks, combined with dense arrangements,
\nwithout really changing the sound of the band. Not only are the
\nmelodies infectuous, but the music itself is far more diverse now,
\nwhich was the problem with the debut. It’s a touch heavier, and
\neverything from the playing to the vocals sounds much more
\nenergetic…where the first album was sombre and quiet, this one is
\noften powerful and dramatic…if
\nFirst And Last And Always<\/i> (the 1985 debut) could be seen as
\na sort of companion to the Cure’s minimalist masterpiece
\nPornography<\/i>, then this one would be a parallel to the Cure’s<\/p>\n
Disintegration<\/i>, except this one came out first, so perhaps
\nthe influence went the other way.<\/p>\n
And dare I say it, but in a few little places,
\nFloodland<\/i> almost sounds…upbeat! NO! That’s not goth!!! But
\njust listen to some of these huge choruses, complete with layered,
\noverdubbed vocals, fluid, imaginative guitar riffs, danceable
\nbeats, and operatic choirs, without ever losing that slightly dark
\nedge, thanks mainly to lead singer Andrew Eldritch’s stunted,
\nforboding bartione.<\/p>\n
How about the anthemic first track, “Dominion\/Mother Russia”,
\nwith great use of female backing vocals and neo-baroque melodicism?
\nAnd check out the brilliant use of a full operatic choir on the
\n11-minute epic, “This Corrosion”. Or the piano ballad “1959” where
\nEldritch reaches the point of nonsensical mumbling! What about the
\nexcellent, up-tempo “Lucretia My Reflection” which irresistably
\nbeckons one to the dance floor to shake that pvc clad ass like a
\nmummy in the catacombs ?? The genius of it all is how the album
\ncontains poppy hooks without sounding commericial, and lyrically
\nit’s even darker and more sinister than before, so now you can slit
\nyour wrists with a smile!<\/p>\n
Overall, it’s still a hell of a forboding, moody piece though. I
\ndon’t recommend that you listen to it alone and in the dark.
\nHaunting melodies, ghostly wails, mysterious keyboards, and
\nEldritch’s low, emotionless singing adorn the proceedings and make
\ncertain that all remains shrouded in black. There are points in the
\nalbum when I feel that blood is about to start slowly oozing out of
\nthe speakers…either that or pitch black tar. Nah, that would be
\nmore like Black Sabbath, so let’s stick with blood!<\/p>\n
Despite the much improved songwriting, melodies, and production,
\n(again compared to the debut album) there’s really no excuse for
\nthe songs to be so damn long. Out of ten songs, six of them are
\nwell over six minutes in length, with “This Corrosion” clocking in
\nat an insane 11 minutes, for which they obviously felt like they
\nhad stumbled upon a chorus melody that’s so catchy that you would
\nwant to hear it about 87 times. I mean, sure Steinman brought some
\nmuch needed life into this band, but c’mon! A bit of editing would
\nhave made the record that much stronger.<\/p>\n
A minor additional fault of
\nFloodland<\/i> is that while during the first half the intensity
\nbuilds up really well, it reaches the peak with “This Corrosion”,
\nwhich is the midway point, and the second half is considerably less
\nenergetic. The remaining songs aren’t bad by any means, but they
\nare all slow, very very darkly sombre excursions of heavily
\nsynthesized ambient keyboards. The album suffers from un-even flow
\nin other words, but it’s not a huge flaw.<\/p>\n
Some could complain about the cold, heartless drumming (via drum
\nmachine again), but for the type of atmosphere the Sisters Of Mercy
\ncreate, it’s totally appropriate. Personally, I think it’s kinda
\nnifty how each smash of the simulated snare drum sounds like blood
\nsplattering on the walls!<\/p>\n
All in all, a reasonably diverse album that nevertheless remains
\na defining moment in 1980’s goth rock, and exerted a huge influence
\non all the brooding art pop that has come our way in the 15 years
\nsince its release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":26257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6786],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37479","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-sisters-of-mercy","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37479"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37479"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}