Despite my predilection for progressive rock and acoustic music,
\nI get in occasional moods for loud, aggressive, dark, and edgy
\nelectronica and hard rock. The problem with the musical spectrum
\nthat ranges from Tool to Nine Inch Nails to Disturbed is easy to
\nidentify; when it sucks, it sucks really really bad, and it sucks a
\nlot.<\/p>\n
Thank the Unseelie Court for bands like Black Dahlia; they’re so
\ngood they almost single-handedly redeem the genre. On their debut
\nCD,
\nTemptation Halo<\/i>, the St-Louis based indie performers of
\n“dark electronic sleaze” (their words) blow the doors off, serving
\nup a heaping helping of gothic goodness that’s light-years (or
\nwould that be dark-years?) ahead of most purveyors of the
\ngenre.<\/p>\n
First off, let’s talk about the sound. Black Dahlia manages to
\nsound textured without sounding muddy; nothing disappears in the
\nmix, and you get moments where individual instruments stand out and
\ngrab you like the keyboards in “All For Nothing” or the dark,
\nringing guitars on “Requiem.” Kudos to the production and
\nengineering, which was handled by the band members; Temptation Halo
\nis really, really crisp, playing up the music’s strengths.<\/p>\n
In terms of musicianship, there isn’t a bad performance on the
\ndisc. Lead vocalist Christoph D’Vincent Hrivnak has a great, great
\nset of pipes; he alternately soars and growls with a brilliant
\ncapacity for expression on his voice. Guitarists Joel Emory and
\nJimmi Griffin are terrific, alternately providing the background
\nunderpinning and letting loose like demons (especially on “Lust
\n(Starfucker),” where they take the paint off walls). Aaron X’s bass
\nthrobs like a heartbeat, balanced elegantly by Michael St John’s
\nthundering drums. All the members of Black Dahlia are veterans of
\nthe St Louis indie scene, and you can tell; these guys have the
\nskills and the cojones to use ’em.<\/p>\n
Best of all, maybe, is that Black Dahlia is pissed off, and lets
\nyou know it. Under the dark electronic veneer is an attitude like a
\npunk band on too much caffeine and sugar; on songs like “Hate” and
\n“Bitter And Blasphemous” they transcend the trite shock-value of
\nmost goth and metal music to really say some things that need
\nsaying. Imagine, if you will, if Rage Against The Machine,
\nDisturbed, and Trent Reznor had a bastard child — I suspect it’d
\nsound a lot like Black Dahlia.<\/p>\n
On “Hate,” Christoph snarls “Wake up — it’s almost over \/ I may
\nbe evil or just misunderstood.” On the contrary, I think Black
\nDahlia understands themselves pretty well; they’re right, they’re
\ntight, and they’re one of the best things I’ve heard this year.
\nCheck ’em out before they make it any bigger — because I suspect
\nthey will.
\nTemptation Halo<\/i> is brilliant.<\/p>\n