To paraphrase Bart Simpson, “Making teenagers depressed is like
\nshooting fish in a barrel.”<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, that quote can extend into my mid 20s. That would
\nbe one of the only reasons that I could be attracted to
\nFloodland<\/i>, a breakthrough album for the band, Sisters of
\nMercy. Introduced to it by my roommate, it quickly became a
\nsoundtrack to playing “Goldeneye” on the N64 with a nice glass of
\nmerlot.<\/p>\n
But to do this review, I have to drop the “G” bomb on you
\nreaders. For those unfamiliar with Sisters of Mercy, they’re one of
\nthe cornerstones of the much misunderstood “goth” genre of rock
\nmusic.<\/p>\n
Emotions are more bloated than Fat Bastard’s belly on
\nFloodland<\/i>. One the first track, “Dominion\/Mother Russia,”
\nAndrew Eldrich croons and moans such lines as “When I lick your
\nwings” and “Mother Russia rain down, down, down.” Jim Steinman, a
\nproducer known for putting a pristine sheen on recordings, is a
\nperfect pick for a producer for the Sisters of Mercy.<\/p>\n
If goth wasn’t invented before
\nFloodland<\/i>, it would have been invented shortly after. The
\nalbum cover, black as an oil slicked river, shows Eldrich’s face,
\nghost white, and donning sunglasses, of course. Most of the songs
\non
\nFloodland<\/i> run above six minutes. Perfect for such
\nover-the-top emotional bloodletting.<\/p>\n
The music, so good on
\nFloodland<\/i>, makes you forget the goofy style of goth
\nimmediately. The chilling church organ beat of “Flood I” seems to
\nflow effortlessly out of “Dominion\/Mother Russia.” Two songs, and
\nyou’re already almost fifteen minutes into this monster of an
\nalbum.<\/p>\n
When the Sisters of Mercy focus on rhythm, they’re gripping as
\nhell to listen to. The hot-rod race theme of “Lucretia My
\nReflection” is propelled by a simple bass line and a metallic drum
\nbeat. And with lyrics like, “Hot Metal and methrdrine” and “I hear
\nthe sons of the city and dispossessed\/get down get undressed,” you
\nswear you feel like you’re in the parking lot of your old high
\nschool on a Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Sadly, when SOM try to achieve crediability by writing a pensive
\nballad, the become laughable, almost. The hoaky, “1959” does not
\nhelp the cause. Eldrich seems to break down during the chorus, but
\nthe lyrics are as vague as a script on MTV’s “Road Rules” show.<\/p>\n
Things perk up with the anthem heavy, “This Corrosion.” Though a
\nten-minute song may seem a bit excessive, especially with a chorus
\nthat is repeated continuously throughout most of the song, the
\nmusic is so compelling you have no idea that ten minutes has just
\npassed.<\/p>\n
As good as “This Corrosion” is, the rest of the album doesn’t
\nquite live up to the heights achieved by the first couple tracks on
\nthe album. They’re still gripping, however. It just takes a little
\nmore work to digest tracks like “Flood II” and “Driven Like The
\nSnow.”<\/p>\n
\nFloodland<\/i> is basically an album for those days in which
\nyou’re riding out a deep depression (sorry Shirley Manson) and you
\ndon’t want anyone to screw with your funk. It’s brooding to the
\nhighest degree. The only albums that could possibly out-brood
\nSisters of Mercy may be those from Portishead or Joy Division.<\/p>\n
It seems unfathomable that the media could even attempt to
\nassociate music like the Sisters of Mercy to entice kids to behave
\nin a sadomachastic way. The reaction I usually get from listening
\nto
\nFloodland<\/i> is usually to wear black and write a poem about
\nhow my deliquent MCI long distance bill is causing me to have an
\nulcer. Though their general vibe may be harmless, their music
\ndefinitely is not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6786],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-39093","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\/39093","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39093\/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=39093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39093"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39093"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}