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Band: Clan Of Xymox
Album title: Kindred Spirits
Release date: 9 October 2012
Label: Trisol Music Group
Tracklisting:
01. Venus (Shocking Blue)
02. Alice (The Sisters Of Mercy)
03. Is Vic There (Department S)
04. A Forest (The Cure)
05. Something I Can Never Have (Nine Inch Nails)
06. Red Light (Siouxsie And The Banshees)
07. Decades (Joy Division)
08. Heroes (David Bowie)
09. A Question Of Time (Depeche Mode)
10. Creep (Radiohead)
11. Blue Monday (New Order)
Clan Of Xymox (formerly known also merely as Xymox) established their dark and ghastly sound in the mid 80s, when the gothic scene was on its peak and with albums such as Medusa (1986) created their trademark sound. Their style was pure darkwave as we know it: gothic rock and synthpop combined into an elegant mixture, which was driven by the heavy use of keyboards. Adding darkly passionate lyrics and haunting vocals, Xymox became just about anything you would expect a darkwave band would sound like.
Kindred Spirits, their latest work, is not an original album, but an album of covers. The band took the most valued names of the 80s. Siouxsie And The Banshees, New Order, The Cure, The Sisters Of Mercy and Joy Divison are the names any fan of gothic scene will recognize, alongside other great names, such as David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and even Radiohead.
So what to say when debating covers? Are the originals better? Are the covers better? Well let me tell you, Clan Of Xymox surely took a lot on their shoulders with this one, because those are the names of musicians that surely left a deep mark in the timeline of music. David Bowie is for sure one the legends of modern music, as well as Depeche Mode, all known to a wider public that goes beyond the gothic rock scene. There is no doubt – you can’t be better than Bowie, if you aren’t Bowie. The point of this album was to xymoxize the songs and with "Heroes", "Creep" (Radiohead), "Red Light" (Siouxsie And The Banshees), "Blue Monday" (New Order) and "A Forest" (The Cure) is just what they did. All those songs were covered in a darkwave style, with the use of distinguished heavy keyboards and mesmerizing vocals, giving them that extra dark ambient. Their work on "Alice" (The Sisters Of Mercy) and "Decades" (Joy Divison) is surprising from the angle just how they embed the original works.
So we come to the original question, to cover or not to cover? Looking at the choice of songs and artists, Clan Of Xymox took for this album, it’s needless to say the originals hold much more class than the covers. On the other hand, from the point of view that this is homage to most influential musicians that also influenced Xymox’s work through the decades; I say the choice of songs is brilliant. But all in all, I still prefer hearing Clan of Xymox at their original work; because they still have that primary gothic/darkwave touch that I miss is modern darkwave music. The moral of the story: stay original!
Review written by: Ines
Rating: 6/10
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