GOTHIC "Grim"
self-released | 2xCD | 2004

From the very depths of the Italian underground comes a group (multimedia project) Gothic, whose indie approach goes deeper than just the surface of words - it seems to be present in every aspect of their activities. Since 1989 the group [vocalist, who also plays keyboards/synths, a guitarman, sound engineer (!), and a person responsible for artwork (!!!)] have self-released 10 tapes and 2 full-length albums. Starting from death/black metal, they have evolved to some forms of music that are, due to being very eclectic, hard to pigeonhole. Indeed, the music of the combo doesn't bring me down on my knees, but, on the other hand, I couldn't say it leaves me indifferent either; and my full respect for them for their brave attempts to make a new (?) quality in music. One word: bizarreness! This laconic, perhaps, but suitable, I guess, description applies to every aspect of "Grim." The first disc contains 75 tracks, but only the five opening ones and the final one are "real tracks", the rest are nothing but a few second silence spells. Gothic derive their sound only from the guitar, keyboards/synths, and voice. Having such limited means at their disposal, they manage to make a neck-breaking conglomerate of different styles within a single track! Just jumping from one motive to another, they present their versions of electro body music, quasi drum'n'bass, dark electronica, new romantic, electro gothic and B-horror movie soundtracks. The blocks of multi-style music sometimes irritates with a quite artificial sound. Sometimes they make good impression because of their unusual approach to making music. Once, John Zorn, and Bill Laswell recorded their versions of grind core, and metal ( Naked City , Praxis). In some way, Gothic try to do the same things with gothic, and some electro-related genres. The question is how seriously the attitude is. Their music sounds sometimes just cheesy, and funny! Hope it's not an unsolicited side-effect! The other disc comprises 90 tracks, and it's similar to the first - eight opening tracks, and the final one are music, the remaining are nothing but silence. The musical contents it's not as weird as in the first case, Gothic go more into a rock direction, and the guitar sound is now in the forefront. Frankly, it reminds me of some black metallers who tried once to go beyond metal cliches, and started to melt metal with industrial, electro genres and even jazz - Beherit, Pan-Thy-Monium, Diabolus Rising and others of that ilk. Sure, Gothic aren't as aggressive, but they do their best to make some unusual things! It must be hard to promote stuff like theirs! It doesn't really fit into any genre, and listeners need to be open-minded to fully enjoy it! On the other hand, Gothic need to make a great effort to work out a truly enjoyable, and unique style (no 'funnies', just music to listen to)! Good luck! For those who don't fear risk - try this!

[krzysztof sadza]