A Gothic Dream!

Release the dread that's built up inside for so long… crank up the volume and let your sadness unfurl and wave freely in the wind with this brilliant two-disc set featuring the latest and greatest in the New Wave and Gothic scene.

The Mission… U.K. or not U.K.?

No questions asked… do they belong on any fans list of top all-time-bet your Bauhaus on it!

"Wasteland" starts us off and how great is it to hear this timeless classic, first introduced by The Mish' way back in '86 and here, time standing statue still, it still moves and shakes with all of the charm and grace as any who've proceeded it.

And then there's Bauhaus… the famed Beggars Banquet standards and their live outing that's set more than a packed arena on their collective rears-"Bela Lugosi's Dead" and nine minutes worth of the life and times of two true legends in their respective fields.

Fast-forward up into the mid-90's and The Merry Thoughts getting a little more electronic, though no less atmospheric and their reigning, "Goddess…" an Eldritch sound-alike at its most veiled, and a welcome addition from the originally released "Psychocult."

Skimming along the glossy surface of disc one, we hit upon a heavier edge that happens to support the likes of Killing Joke, and their sultry all-time favorite "Love Like Blood," before giving way to Girls Under Glass and their programmable and beat heavy "Grey in Grey," done back in '92.

Before the set draws to a close, the likes of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds can be heard doing their melancholic "The Weeping Song," a soft and gentle classic that whispers in the wind long after the last notes have faded…

Upbeat and ranking high on the dancability factor, one of the sleeper hits here, "Shadow Dance," claws its way into the picture compliments of Eyes of the Nightmare Jungle… and, so what's in a name?

And later, one of the U.K.'s fashionably loud cult faves can be heard on the song that first allowed the light to shine in on their darkened souls, Fields of the Nephilim and a Gothic/Rock masterpiece by McCoy and his legions of the dark, "Moonchild." Released back in '88, it still stands up as one of the most devilishly intense and thunderous tracks you'll ever come to fear… one of those bands that yesterday, today or tomorrow will always possess that underground characteristic to their sound.

And now for disc two… Part two finds the machine of not always so loving grace tilting in a decidedly heavier direction-at least at the onset, with the freaky Alien Sex Fiend leading the way with their very "old" sounding and English strains of "I Walk the Line" which then or now still sounds like it emanated from your parents garage… and Type O Negative, something of a surprise though no less Gothic in spirit, they're the heaviest example to come across here and their massive radio hit, "Christian Woman," the extended version of course and after all this time, it still sounds stellar!

Diamanda Galas and their "Double Barrel Prayer," another cobweb comber that begins with disturbed ranting in the beginning and though I'm not up on them, I can imagine the handful they must have been in their day!

Moonspell, Gothic/Metal powerhouse from Brazil gets up close and impersonal with an adverse reaction to "Opium" from their almost-but-not-quite crossover in '96, "Irreligious;" an album that hinted but didn't quite arrive at the experimental heights that the one to follow would!

Of the many, other highlighted moments, include Love Like Blood's "Doomsday," Lacrimosa, No Return, and Theatre of Tragedy taking a hard glance back to their not so distant past for the "Velvet Darkness They Fear" record.

It's a virtual united nations of underground talent assembled together on this stellar two-disc set spanning twenty years worth of brilliant and very underwritten history, that fans who live for the days when the leaves turn brown will not want to suffer without!

Released by SPV

Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu]