These vampires work fast, must be out of their coffins the second the sun goes down, having a quick bite then off to work. With a release a year they certainly keep me on my toes and it seems like only yesterday I was covering their ‘Desire Of Damnation’ double live and bits and pieces album and ‘The Addiction Tour DVD’. I guess though due to this ‘Anima Noir’ can be considered the proper follow up album to ‘Pleasure And Pain’ and it really strikes as quite a departure musically as it is certainly one hell of a lot more upbeat.
Basically, although the Gothic ideals are still very much present, this has a more electronically enhanced darkwave feel about it and contains many numbers you could find yourself dancing to in a club rather than hiding in the corner cutting yourself with razorblades. Laying out 10 tracks in 45 minutes it really feels like a perfect little album with no gimmicks and is a thoroughly accessible listen.
‘Kain’ opens and although you instantly know where you are with Sonia’s sultry and beseeching tones it is evident that Fabian has tweaked the keyboards up a notch. In fact as the track becomes familiar you realise that the twisting turning memorable flow of their melody is in fact not a million miles away from John Carpenter’s theme from Halloween (which every day is no doubt like for this coven). ‘Similarly the proggy course of ‘Unspoken Words’ is a bit Knight Rider’ and put a somewhat amused smile on my face when I heard it. Once it settles down the romantic flow is a lot gentler and even has time to allow a neo-classical piano solo.
Not breaking tradition we have a cover up next and an instantly recognisable one for me being The Cult classic ‘Rain’. Got to admit that it sounds a bit different with a lady singing it but they certainly breathe new death into it with EBM sounding keyboards and a cheeky bounce that turns it into a number sounding more of a futurist anthem than perhaps one would expect. ‘Blood Addiction’ is another number that I swear has the melody from another old classic song. It is bugging the shit out of me and as it’s deadline day I’m beaten. Answers on a postcard please put me out my misery. It’s certainly something straight out the 80s’ and kind of like TDV playing with a Depeche Mode number and naturally drenching it in blood.
The simple yet quirky nature of the song-craft here makes for a winning combination. Numbers like ‘Wherever You Are’ insistently get beneath the skin and win you over and then you get the battering ram charge of hectic ‘Two Seconds’ backing it up making you realise that there are many hooks here and you are well and truly caught. These are numbers that are pretty perfect for the live environment and am sure are going to go down very well with the TDV brethren and a drop of claret when we get to catch them on tour.
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