I'm listening to this under protest… just for the record.

A sixteen song tribute to the Godfather's-or Godmother's of Goth as it were and not even the slightest trace of a "Black Planet!"

How could this be?

But still in all I suppose there's plenty else to look forward to so we'll let it slide. And how about this-a tribute album, to a group like the Sisters of Mercy, and being released by a label other than Cleopatra!

I don't know what it is, the stars are aligned in all the right places or something… but one way or the other theirs was a voice that should've been heard-and now, resoundingly, there are legions of them, calling in the distance, echoing sounds of silence in the stillness of the night…

"Body & Soul," the first offering comes by way of The Escape and note for note it's amazingly true to life.

Dreadful Shadows does an interesting version of "1959," with something of a clumsiness in rhythm but a good song's a good song regardless and they don't embarrass themselves here either.

Interestingly, Monochrome features this sort of twisted irony and that is that each and every artist/band that appears here either already sounds like the Sisters' or drew upon them at some point or another-lest we forget when the "flood" first began…

German's lately have become widely recognized for the newest advancements in the new wave of beat pop and electronica craze and the advent of industrial complexities that've overtaken the nations far and wide and in the wake of it all, there've been some real technological breakthroughs.

So quite unlike what I had expected, here lie many of them on display… displaying a world of dread all in full tribute to an entity who's presence could never be fully realized until it was gone… and yet, are they really?

For who fancy the nostalgic beauty that prevails upon the uncovering of an artist's bold interpretation of an uncovered obscurity… a faint trail left by the pale moon as it sneaks behind the graying sky, many of the songs are pulled from the Sisters' rare variety-those recalling the blurred origins of the likes of "Anaconda" and "Body Electric," and later compiled on "Some Girls Wander by Mistake."

Interesting yet, Scarlet Harbour runs through all of 43 seconds worth of "Home of the Hit-Men…" not exactly the full display of talent that maybe another two or three minutes would've provided.

"Vision Thing," from the hyped up album of the same name finally gets recognized by way of an acoustic trail set off by Marquee Moon which finally bursts into more of an electric rage-fitting of the original though comes across a bit thin overall.

I will admit this though, "Vision Thing" was Sisters of Mercy at their peak of production and most of the older songs that appear here fall right in with those early and very roughly done classics.

That said, I would still have liked to have heard more from the album but I won't dispute Endless's version of "Temple of Love" nor Babylon Will Fall and their tackling of "Dominion: Mother Russia" off the classic "Floodland" LP!

Another of the highlights belongs to Syria handling admirably the addictive bassline that defines "Lucretia My Reflection" before obscuring the obvious and jet-setting off on their Switzerland Club Mix which leaves a numbing fix still among your senses long after "Something Fast" blows by at the end of the tribute.

Monochrome is as classy a tribute as you're likely to find and one that not only boasts the individual talents of the many bands who appear-contact info provided-but I do believe if we looked hard enough, we'd find Mr. Eldritch somewhere off in the distance smiling to himself…

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