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Band: Kirlian Camera
Album title: Radio Signals For The Dying
Release date: 23 February 2024
Label: Dependent
Genre: Darkwave, Dark Electro, Dark Rock
Tracklist:
01. Il Tempo Profondo
02. Stella Ominis
03. Winter (In memory of Adrian Borland)
04. Götter, geht weg!
05. Monarch Architecture
06. Wrong (Depeche Mode cover)
07. Madre Nera
08. Luminous Shade (incl. Julian Assange's speech excerpts)
09. The Great Unknown
10. C. R. U. D (Corpse Recovery Unit D)
11. Deleted MSG
12. Genocide Litanies
13. Il Tempo Profondo (Radio Signal version)
14. Esilio
15. We Have To Amputate
16. Homicide Aristocracy
Kirlian Camera - one of the most creative and original bands of the last two decades, has dropped another gem - a double album, Radio Signals For The Dying, officially to get out on 23 February.
The group, which has been operating in changed line-ups for more than 40 years, led by the founder, multi-instrumentalist and composer Angelo Bergamini, experienced a true renaissance in 2000 when Elena Alice Fossi joined as singer and composer, and then albums, such as the cult Coroner's Sun (2006), Not Of This World (2010), Nightglory (2011), and Black Summer Choirs (2013), elevated Kirlian Camera to the top of the world in dark electro, industrial and darkwave music. In a way, I could -despite their different musical direction - compare Kirlian Camera with Slovenian Laibach, which has proven over the decades with innovation, provocation and occult transcendental subversiveness, that music can still be a powerful tool for communication. Besides Angelo and Elena, today, Kirlian Camera also includes bassist Mia W. Wallace (Abbath, Nervosa,...) and guitarist Alessandro Comerio (Triumph Of Death, Forgotten Tomb,...).
On the new double album, Radio Signals For The Dying, Kirlian Camera sounds modern and full of creative energy. The new offering is very dark and not only a continuation of the masterpiece Cold Pills (Scarlet Gate Of Toxic Daybreak) released three years ago, even though it does not deviate much in the genre. Radio Signals For The Dying is, without a doubt, a typical Kirlian Camera product, although with many non-typical elements. The songs are extremely dynamic, and cinematic, enriched with neoclassical elements, dark rock, ambient cuts, turbulent industrial undertones, and melancholic dark pop sensibility. Throughout, you can feel the melancholy that gently permeates and fills the sound spectrum through charmingly haunting melodies and unique multi-layered seductive dark vocals reinforced with industrial/electro beats.
Songs like "Stella Ominis" - a take on Solitary Experiment's beautiful "The Great Unknown", "C. R. U. D (Corpse Recovery Unit D)", or the whimsically elegant gothic drama "Esilio", are real treats that testify to the power of the Kirlian Camera quartet, and in no case do they lag behind older hits such as "Nightglory", "Crystal Morn", "Kryostar", and the like. The almost epic ambient psychedelic masterpiece "Genocide Litanies" sounds like a kind of soundtrack for a psychological movie. Yes, the songs are full of drama and sensitive erotic charge. Dance elements smoothly join with classics, while dark electronic elements and mysterious gothic atmospherics create a multidimensional cinematic sound that hides behind many layers. I must also mention the Depeche Mode's cover "Wrong", which sounds very moving and emotional. I won't claim that the Kirlian Camera's version is better than the original, but it's definitely worth listening to. The extremely rich sound image is emotionally strong, but the message itself should not be overlooked, because of which the Kirlian Camera often receives a harsh response in certain circles. The lyrics are full of subversive content that has always been at the heart of their art. In the past, their unforgiving, sometimes outrageous joy in provoking and holding up a mirror of truth to the world has repeatedly sparked controversy, and I'm almost sure that it still will.
Regardless of which song is highlighted, each of the 16 is a story in itself and serves up a lot of interesting things. Even though the album holds almost an hour and a half of audio material, the listener will not get bored since the structure of the songs ensures that you never know what the next moment will bring. Radio Signals For The Dying is a true magical sonic adventure and a priceless creation that, I'm sure, like most things from Kirlian Camera, will stand the test of time. It's a journey to occult dimensions and magical places of dangerous beauty and joyful darkness. Kirlian Camera proves that it is an integrity in the dark electro and wave music field, for rare ones can create such a powerful soundscape: full of beauty, charming, unique, and a beastly killer.
The review was written by Tomaz
Rating: 9,5/10
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