I was bit scared at first, as Cantata Sangui’s name sounds so incredibly gothic... and nothing is more boring than another goth band, even one with "a difference." But then, I read that these guys do not have a single guitar in their band, having two bassists instead! "Interesting", I thought, with King Crimson's "THRaKaTTaK" in mind (being a bit naive, of course) and I played it.
Well, it could be worse, definitely but better, too. The music oscillates around sometimes blackened, sometimes more death laden metal structures, pumped heavily with electronics and rocky patterns. As long as Cantata Sangui play hard, it's fine, but they also have very cheesy and sleepy moments, such as "Sidecast" or "For the forgotten one", which, being instrumentally interesting, totally sucks vocally. That seems to be the bands biggest problem; inability to compose smashing vocal lines. Anna's vocals are really all right, but not brilliant in any way, and sometimes she's really going for the well known route, instead of exploration. This is weird, especially if you listen to the first track and feel the same shivers down the spine as I do. Grunting dude sounds better, but there's not much of him here - he performs just occasionally to spice things up.
Another aspect which I don't really understand is having two bass guitars, but not really using them to their full potential. In present version it sounds more just like a marketing catch: "Hey, we have two bassists!" One could do pretty much the same, I think. Unless I am deaf (which is possible after so many hours of listening to crazy shit). On the plus side, nice samples and good keyboard work means I do not notice the missing electric guitars. Sweet additions of choirs, trumpets, saxophones (or whatever it is) and a few other interesting instruments makes the music quite pleasant.
It's a very uneven record. Kick-ass tracks mixed with tracks good for late and boring BBC One show. Cantata Sangui, grab us by the balls and deliver properly next time. You can do it!
http://www.cantatasangui.com
