Reactive Black is a duo from Hamburg with the intention to describe musically the self-destroying tendencies of mankind and the darkness of exsistence. The members are Sassy Skeleton (it's not a joke) and Rotten (Ok...) and they play a melodic rock gothiced by the jarboesque voice of Sassy. She sings... or maybe talk the lyrics under some riffs and synths. It's hard rock, well played and produced and, when the voice is filtered, it work well. By the way, they have few ideas to escape the high wall of a too used musical form and stereotyped attitude.
This album has, at least, a wonderful track "Fading away" where the spoken word under a downtempo beat and athmospheric synth create an atmosphere of real decadence but the rest of the album is boring.

After four albums and twelve years of existence High Tone are releasing one of the most various and inspired albums of the dub genre. The French combo with the double CD OUT BACK release sixteen new tracks that will please lovers of throbbing sounds as well open minded reggae enthusiasts. "Dub Axiom" and "No Border" are the titles of the two CDs which compose OUT BACK: the first one contains upbeat tracks that know how to spread bass waves into the air of your room while the second incarnate the experimental and cinematic side of the band thanks to a lesser use of electronics and to the use of acoustic instruments. If "Dub Axiom" starts with a blast thanks to the bass distortions of "Spank" and "Dirty urban beat", "No Border" starts with "Bastard", a track that mix bass distortions to clean reverbered / acoustic guitars and ambient electronic arrangements. High Tone are able to blend the classic reggae dub sound of Lee Scratch Perry to modern influences (Scorn, Portished, etc) creating a fresh powerful formula that wins with the hands down. Rich melodic / rhythmic textures will make you feel dizzy while your feet won't stop dancing.

Chaos Magick-soaked as well as partially inspired by visionary writings of authors such as H.P.Lovecraft and some alchemistic and Gnostic issues and musically by the genuinely epic side of goth-rock, The Eternal Arcane, the second part of a tetralogy started with their previous release Into The Arms Of Chaos and already faced by bands like McCoy's Fields Of The Nephilim in Elizium or The Sisters Of Mercy in Floodland , is the new conceptual-tinged album by the appreciated Austrian band Whispers In The Shadow. I admit I had to examine the matter closely by collecting background information about CMT paradigm, octarine magic, the psychohistoric mechanism of the Aeons (according to some chaoists, we're experiencing a transitional phase completing the so-called Pandaemon age, characterized by a decline of what they call the materialist paradigm, a peak of the magical one and a resurgence of the transcendental paradigm, inspiring monotheistic religions and even their apparent antithesis such as freemasonry or satanic cults'¦maybe the track From Aeon To Aeon is partially inspired by these beliefs), Pratchett's hypothesis , angelic hierarchies (in If Uriel falls, Ashley Daynour mentions this Archangel in its lyrics ' 'What if Uriel falls? / And time stops forever/ What if Rome burns again? / And all the angels sing together / This song' -, governing Aquarius constellation, which is going to influence mankind's future according to a plenty of new age theories) and other similar stuff. I don't want to pass myself off as an occultist or a sorcerer, but I argue a smattering of these subjects could be useful to better appreciate WITS' musical language and its intrinsic positivity'¦it could sound quite strange for a gothic release, but it's just a silly commonplace the consideration that such a work could spread bad meanings and it definitively doesn't have nothing to share with nihilist meme akin to most metal bands even from the stylistic viewpoint, as some standards of the so-called new metal caress a few tracks of this work-out mainly the most industrial-rock tinged tracks such as Blood, sweat and tears, maybe the only authentic metal 'barracking' contained in The Eternal Arcane, slightly sharpened by nice guitar divertssment and a funny glowing synth sound.

I prefer by far the ruthenic new wave-stained style expressed in tracks such as Amenta Descending or God Of Confusion (those IO IO IO IAO you're going to listen is not a cat's caterwauling, but it could refer to some rituals of the chaos magic according to which the sound of vowels could help in channeling some energies in the body of practitioner'¦for instance an high-pitched I sound inherit with the visualization of energy in the head area'¦) as well as the solid rock riffs of The Wheel Of Pain and the enchanting epic gears of the title-track, containing a quotation from Algernon Blackwood's 'The man whom trees loved' (whose plot speaks about a woman unable to avoid his beloved husband the transformation of his personality she always loved'¦it could be actual by the way as well as explaining the abundance of trees in The Eternal Arcane's artwork as well as the choice of a crucified woman for the graphical representation of The Wheel Of Pain!) which could stand as an anticipation of the following third part of this trilogy. Curt Benes's drumming solo in the involving track entitled The Lost Soul, probably the catchiest track of the Eternal Arcane, is worthy of being mentioned and praised.

Active during the first half of the 80's, Aerial Fx were a band from Oxford that were know before their Island Music deal as Exit 13. They incarnate the story of many indie band of that signed a deal with a major label just to be fired soon after. Aerial Fx after the 7" released on Island released their first album and only album in 1982 on Kamera Records (label that had on their catalog also The Fall, Palais Schaumburg, Allez Allez, etc). After a small line-up change they signed for EMI but because of musical disagreements with the label they never released a record with them. They continued until 1986 to play but at that point with no label, they decided to end their musical adventure under that name. The Aerial Fx's story seemed to end there but nowadays the vocalist/guitarist Chris Hufford (well-known in music industry as the manager of Radiohead, Supergrass and Gamma Hayes and active with his i.d.m., ambient project Anti Atlas) decided to allow the Russian label Other Voices to release some unreleased song from the 1980 and 1984 period. The CD contains twelve tracks ("Make it for you" is here both in the 7" and 12" version) which are in balance from post punk, new wave and pop (try to imagine a blend of China Crisis, Gang Of Four of the third album period and Comsat Angels) and shows a band that should have gained success and that make me curious to listen how sounded their first album. If UK new wave is your cup of tea check Aearial Fx.

This is something very unusual for Chain D. L. K.- a purely POP album. We don't get much pop music here; sometimes popular artists within the broad umbrella of our 'out-there' variety of musical genres, but hardly ever pop or even alternative rock music. This is no ordinary pop album though; it is retro-pop (late 60s, early 70s) with psychedelic overtones, Beatles, Beach Boys, Bee-Gees, and Hollies like harmonies and a generally upbeat tone. If this wasn't that damn good I would be temped to toss it in the 'not qualified for this site' pile, or just give it a brief, token review. But truth be told, it's that damn good.

The mastermind behind Marsmobil is Roberto di Gioa, located in Munich Germany, although he was born in Milano, Italy. On this album di Gioia does all the vocals and plays all the instruments (keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, etc.) even though other members of the band (Matteo Scrimali, Ferdinand Kirner, Christian Diener) are listed on the MySpace page as band members. Roberto has an extensive background in jazz- he was the keyboardist for Klaus Doldinger's Passport; toured with Art Farmer; played with Bill Frisell, Woody Shaw, Mel Lewis, Till Bronner and a lot of others. But Marsmobil doesn't really have anything to do with jazz. As I said, this is psych-retro pop-rock that will transport you back decades to a time when all pop music didn't sound like crap, at least in my opinion.

On first listen (which was quite some time ago) I knew I was in for something different. The first track, 'Patience' begins with a pulsing bassline and pleasant vocals backed by those retro-pop ('Good Vibrations') harmony vocals. It's a slight tune but a nice intro of what's to come. 'Crazy Confused Colored Light' takes a walk down 'Penny Lane' and recalls 60s pop groups like the Cowsills, Peppermint Trolley Company, the Family Tree, the Lemon Pipers and dozens of others. It's a snazzy little tune with an infectious hook, a perfect piece of pop-psych. Even the 'Illusionist' shtick is forgivable. Damn! This guy knows his retro-pop'¦much better than Prince's trip 'Around the World in a Day'. 'Ordinary Boy' and 'Moon of Dust' take you even further into Magical Mystery Tour land. The Macca-esque piano-based 'Gonna Be My Day' drifts lazily along followed by the Lucy-in-the-Sky like 'Jane' with Bee Gees style harmonies on the chorus. These hooks just won't quit!

'Never Forget' has an early 70s funky pop bassline progression and reminds me of some group I know I've heard but can't seem to remember. 'Lolly' features a 'Daytripper' guitar riff and mystical keyboard plinks and arpeggios. It's the heaviest track on the album with a healthy does of psychedelia and fuzz guitar nostalgia. Di Gioa's guitar playing is lot closer to Neil Young than George Harrison on this track, but considering what most psychedelic bands of the time sounded like, it's pretty much on the money.

I have to digress here for a moment with a couple of contemporary comparisons. Two bands that seem to be mining similar terrain to some degree are The Apples in Stereo and New Pornographers. These are two highly rated (and charting) indie groups. Marsmobil holds its own with these bands. In fact, I find Marsmobil more engaging overall compared with the aforementioned bands, and I think that Robert di Gioa captures the sound of the time much better than either of them.

To get too deep into every track would make this an arduously lengthy review, but one more needs to be singled out ' 'Monday Tuesday'. This is a PERFECT pop song that should be in the charts. Its simple infectious hook is just too irresistible, too flawless. The rest of the album is filled with a myriad of delights that do not disappoint. In fact, the only weak track on the album is an instrumental called 'Helix Pomatia,' but at less than 2 minutes, it hardly a flaw in this gem of brilliance. I hear a hundred things in the music of Marsmobil, shades of David Bowie and ELO, Blossom Toes, the Move, Beatles, Beach Boys, Bee Gees, the Hollies, early Traffic, and even the Commodores. Yet, Marsmobil sounds exactly like none of these. It is its own entity. I'm sure you'll come up with your own comparisons. As for the cover of the CD, I don't know what the bikini bondage babe standing in front of that painting (Brueghel? Bosch? Somebody else?) has to do with the music but whatever it takes to get your CD noticed, I guess.

It's too bad that Marsmobil doesn't have 'Monday Tuesday' posted on their MySpace site. (They do have other songs from the album, and I highly recommend you go there and listen.) You'll just have to buy the album for that one. It's definitely worth it though. If really great retro psychedelic pop appeals to you at all, this album is A MUST.