Artist: Merciful Nuns
Title: Meteora
Genre: Gothic Rock
Release Date: 12th September 2014
Label: Solar Lodge
Album Review
Any band emerging from GARDEN OF DELIGHT and calling itself MERCIFUL NUNS is unlikely to be an ABBA tribute band. Describing themselves as “occult post-goth”, there is nothing post at all here, their frighteningly good take on THE SISTERS OF MERCY completely rooting them to a time, place and style not their own. In fact, so derivative is second song ‘Phantom Wall’, on ‘Meteora’, the latest album by the band, I had to check it wasn’t a cover version. There are swirls and symbols and the usual occultly trappings all over the artwork, that must be vaguely exciting and intriguing to those who’ve never owned a FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM album, but really, to the rest of us it’s just more cod new-age bluster. But let’s give it a try. Candles lit, indoor sunglasses on, bottle of Blue Nun on the go (well, Wayne Hussey used to drink it) and ‘Meteora’ playing loud and proud…
‘Elektra’ is ‘First and Last and Always’, but not as good, as indeed is ‘Karma Inn’, all the standard Goth Rock elements firmly in place and checklist-correct. Perhaps the reason Andrew Eldritch and co stopped recording was to prevent themselves sounding like this, copies and shadows of previous triumphs. A grave-deep bass slug underpins the genuinely creepy ‘A Day That Fades’, unsettling synths and distantly echoing voices fleshing this out in a creeping, sinister fog. More of this would be preferable, as ‘Eulusian Ground’ quickly jolts you back into lyrical cliché, deficit of tune and the sense of being stuck in an endless SISTERS rehearsal for a B-side compilation. ‘Speed of Light’ has some bounce at least, and the 9 minute-plus final track ‘A Place Beyond’ is as black as black can be, a slow-burning darkly fragile slow-motion run through some nightmarish landscape.
But there’s not nearly enough here to save ‘Meteora’ from itself. Clinging so desperately and obviously to their influences, MERCIFUL NUNS are at best, good copyists. But at their worst, this merely resembles some poorly attended Goth karaoke night where those who have bothered to turn up sit sulkily sipping Snakebite and wondering when the real Andrew Eldritch will turn up. Stick to the real thing.
Tracklist
01. Elektra
02. Phantom Wall
03. Karma Inn
04. A Day That Fades
05. Speed Of Light
06. Eulusian Ground
07. Zero G
08. A Place Beyond
Line-up
Artaud Seth
Jawa Seth
Jon Tmoh
Website
http://www.mercifulnuns.com / https://www.facebook.com/pages/Merciful-Nuns/145696075454608
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 4
Sound: 7
Total: 5.5 / 10
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