Blind Divine - Queen of Venom
1 rating since posting on Friday, December 26, 2008
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(submitted by
Morpheus Music
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STYLE Evocative downtempo songs with a haunting, gothic aesthetic and filmic sensibility. Blind Divine play alternative guitar based songs, but the music is far more lush and emotive than the average band. The guitar playing is very varied, plenty of suitable FX drench the strings in distortion, depth or sustain, clear acoustic strumming and fingering too, sharp fret squeaks preserved for effect. In addition to the guitar work there are keyboards, pianos, orchestral strings, recorded voices, chimes, subtle crackles and sonic aging. The beats are excellent: idle trip-hop rhythms that drift along entwined with blissful baselines that work together to maintain a consistently dreamy quality with sufficient muscle and sinew to keep the mix from becoming sugary. Paula's singing retains the gently brooding emotional impact of previous work, she sings with a casual restraint that hints at hidden depths, with a sensual warmth and touching honesty shot through with a vulnerable fragility. Sometimes low and almost spoken (even whispering), rising to passionate highs, layered choruses full of feeling. MOOD Blind Divine do a good job of setting a mood throughout this album - there is an otherworldy quality to many tracks, a feel of timeless nostalgia. There is a cinematic breadth to the music that readily stirs up mental imagery and associative recollections. Plenty of colour, variety and peculiarity here, the lyrics open and revealing - like exploring a forgotten attic brimming with personal treasures and abandoned keepsakes. Indeed Blind Divine are experts at making unusual mood music that is sufficiently catchy for you sing along to. ARTWORK Queen of Venom arrives in a sharp digipack full of combined words and images. The three outer panels of the package have a similar theme - shades of brown and buff with black and red features designed with the bold lines and form of antique woodcuts. The imagery is strongly gothic, old English fonts for text in Latin, lush curlicues and graphic borders surrounding everything. The inside of the package is a contrast - here black dominates, grey words and pictures. To the left lyrics for each track, centrally a shadowy portrait photograph of Paula, to the right the disc on a backdrop of subdued floral tessellations. Below the lyric section is a paragraph laying out credits that include additional musicians, some thanks and contact information. OVERALL Queen of Venom builds upon the strong foundation of Desire to Destroy, released once more through the band's Mysticus Publishing label. The twelve new tracks range from the gorgeously chilled pop sound of Invisible (a song that has a strong hook and instant impact), to the reversed beats and dense guitar textures of Faces Fading, to the delicate pianos, strings and wistful words of Words That Have No Meaning, a spoken male voice musing poetically. The band has been involved in a lot of work for film and television in recent months and this shows in the emotional depth of the soundscaping. The production quality continues to improve and the clarity of sound is top notch. There's a player on the band's web site so you can get a feel for the album there. WHO WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM Fans of the previous material will love this new album it retains all the signature sounds from before whilst deepening the impact and improving the sound quality. If you like artists like Falling You or Collide - Blind Divine come somewhere between these two in terms of their artistic approach. If you like emotive songs and appreciate the more artistic elements of gothic subculture - why not have a listen. - Morpheus Music , posted 12/26/08 |
Blind Divine - Queen of Venom was recommended for:
- Tribe: Delerium
- Tribe: Morpheus Music
- Tribe: Falling You
- Tribe: Ethereal Alchemy & Dark Muses
