Artist: This Eternal Decay
Title: NocturnAE
Genre: Gothic Rock / Post-Punk
Release Date: 7th January 2022
Label: Trisol Music Group
Album Review
Something of a super-group in line-up - there are members of SPIRAL69, AVANT GARDE, SPIRITUAL FRONT and DATE AT MIDNIGHT here - THIS ETERNAL DECAY release album number three and begin to claw back any ground lost during The Plague. Momentum is important, but if you’re good enough, picking up where you left off will not be a problem, and the band sound, if anything, leaner and lighter, more cohesive, and absolutely of the moment, despite a flutter and a flicker here and there of their more than worthy influences.
‘Death Doesn’t Lie’ is a deceptive little trickster of an opener, skulking around in THE CURE and DEPECHE MODE territory and topped with the distinctively plaintive vocals of Riccardo Sabetti, before the full-on gallop of the fabulous ‘Disappear’ seems to instantly shrug off any past association and becomes completely 2022. ‘Lights’ steps admirably into ACTORS territory, and ‘No Apologies’ tumbles darkly down a synth-led rabbit-hole, shaking an angry paw at the world and being all defiant.
‘Darklove’ jams the brakes on and is in danger of running out of fuel, but knows exactly when to kick itself up the arse. ‘Scars’ goes skipping about in the clouds almost merrily, while the title track is more than happy to tumble about in synthetic percussion on a smoky dancefloor. By the time it gets to the chorus, you could imagine Siouxsie belting this one out, bizarrely. And then it’s time to show-off the special guests - AVANT GARDE on the funereal elegance of ‘Two Shades Of Black’, and HAPAX on the punchy power-pop of ‘She Walks Away’… before the tender outro ‘A Deaf Prayer’ wraps the whole thing up in a delicate cocoon.
What is especially satisfying on ‘NocturnAE’ is the overall feeling that this set of songs has been tautly conceptualised - nothing is here that shouldn’t be, and nothing is missing either. It shows a maturity of song-writing, but also of editing - knowing when to stop, and instinctively sensing when something is right, and just allowing it to exist. This is neither hurried, nor over-thought, and it works beautifully as a complete piece of art.
Tracklist
01. Death Doesn’t Lie
02. Disappear
03. Lights
04. No Apologies
05. Darklove
06. Scars
07. Nocturnae
08. Two Shades Of Black (feat. Avant-Garde)
09. She Walks Away (feat. Hapax)
10. A Deaf Prayer (Outro)
Line-up
Riccardo Sabetti
Pasquale Vico
Andrea Frida
Alessio Schiavi
Website
https://thiseternaldecayband.bandcamp.com / https://www.facebook.com/thiseternaldecay
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
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