Fear Of The Storm - The Key Of My Silence FLAC album

This cassette comes in a CD-sized box which encloses the cassette, a 20 page booklet & some genuine Italian air. "Blood" thunders in like ULTRAVOX's "Young Savage", slowed down a little but still with the primal thrust & similar, slightly Eastern-tinted guitar sound (although the vocalist isn't as distinctive as FOXX) - a good, stirring opening track. "Tears Of Sand" keeps much the same tempo with a slightly laggish drone bass & small fractal guitar sounding like a cleaner, tighter version of early CURE with an IAN CURTIS-influenced vocalist. A good, flowing song with a warm, album-track-ish flavour. "The Key" has a bassline reminscent of JOY DIVISION or early NEW ORDER with guitar used to create strange effects & a certain Eastern flavour. The vocalist forces his words through some odd effects, sounding like PETE MURPHY after hving swallowed a rough chorus pedal. It builds around seemingly simple sounds into a hypnotic thing with a tune like a roughened version of SPK's "In Flagrante Delicto". "Around The Fire" meets at the crossroads betwixt ATARAXIA and the more mellow, atmospheric Gothic music - a nice medium-pacer with a cool, relaxed chugging electric guitar sound, as of scraped strings, while the vocalist moves between light CURTISisms & heartfelt howls.
The second side starts up with "Jungle and Desert", another atmospheric Gothic Rock-based thing with a lighter, less gravity-bound voice wedged amidst the ragged, fuzzy guitar sound, itself boughed up by rock solid bass & sharp drums. "Towers Of Silence" ponders it's dark sound with a high, angelic female voice before kicking into a punchy medium-pacer with hints of SIMPLE MINDS & U2 held within it's dark, distinctive sound which again uses a simple solid bass & pulsating bass drum over which the guitar glitters it's fragentary rhythmic noises. "Epitaph" has a lot faster sound, again reminding me a little of SIMPLE MINDS "Upon The Catwalk" crossed with a more dramatic Goth sound - hearing this you realise they have an interesting, distinctive sound which might just be potentially commercial enough to push them into a more mainstream audience. With the right song, a little more hook & perhaps some lighter elements, they might become big in this still-flourishing scene. "Fear" is a slower, more dream-state track which hangs a regular rising & falling bassline on sharp snare while the guitar shimmers in glittery silver speckles in the background, like sunlight off small regular waves. Again this sound reminds me of a more mellow, almost ethereal reinterpretation of early BAUHAUS.

A good album showing heaps of potential - the sound's about right & the songs aren't bad. Watch out for them, you might like them.

Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.