So this means that David Bowie really has a dark side?

No kidding… I mean I know "Let's Dance" and "Blue Jean" and the whole of his last release weren't quite representative of Bowie's… darkside, but come on now!

It certainly is interesting to hear, right from the recycled electro-Goth beats of Crimson Joy and their "Space Oddity" which leaves you in kind of an altered state of mind… ready for anything, and ready to accept whatever cruel fate reality lays upon you.

Bowie's history needs no introduction and he won't get one here-but with the popularity of the almighty dollar… or tribute I should say, what we're looking for is something expansive, a little less ordinary and something wholly unique.

And I think with this new release, they've hit the nail right on the coffin.

No, Bowie was never this huge Gothic creation or underground cult hero for very long though in his earliest moments, he was an anti-fashion… a spike in the heart of mainstream and someone who today's Goth-oddities could look back proudly on-even if only for his "Ziggy Stardust" moments of glory.

And not surprisingly, those exploits of his "tainted" past are on full display here… if only in those rare moments when the flickering lights manage to overcome the otherwise darkening effects of a haunting brood bent on laying their UN-holiest of foundations to what otherwise was a credible encounter!

Truthfully, this is an odd compilation and a tribute to an even odder persona whose undergone more transformations throughout a lifetime of performing that they could release six more tributes to him and still never fully reveal themselves.

Many of the artists-if not all-are of Western European origin, and many have already solidified quite a niche for themselves as singular performers-a flood of static electricity scratches and claws its way through the speakers and all is as it should be… dark, mundane, at times fiery but usually subtle.

This is Bowie-are you ready-like you've never heard him before!

Highlights here-and it'll take a few listens-include Dreadful Shadows doing "Outside," Burning Gates doing "Time Will Crawl," (Fields of the Nephilim-"Moonchild?") which earns top honors here because first, I love the song, and second, I love F.O.T.M… and there's Sepulcrum Mentis and they're freaky version of "Scary Monsters," a gothic masterpiece if ever there was one.

Strangely enough, one of the few songs that actually sounds like Bowie comes in at the halfway point and Cream VIII doing "Big Brother" and Exedra with "Be My Wife!"

And this is even looking past this horrific version of "Blue Jean" which absolutely doesn't fit-and yet something tells me this Gallery of Fear thing has a lot more talent than what lies beneath this rock!

These are either all bands/artists you've never heard of or might just be beginning to as the Gothic/Darkwave community begins its underground communal across the flaming bridge of sighs.

Fans of Sisters of Mercy, Mission UK and the latest electro-magnetic beat club craze will absolutely want to hear this for the bands themselves… but being a listener of Bowie doesn't hurt either!

Released by SPV Records

Review by Vinnie Apicella