Saturday, April 11, 2009

Stealthspectre's Experimental Insanity - Darkness Falls

Hear The Track Here

Despite my great and rapidly advancing age there are still many things I like about todays modern music scene and one of them is 'so-called' Goth music. From the heaviest of metal to the alternative, I find the goth genre has much to offer musically so I got to admit to some joy in my life when I reviewed Stealthspectre's Haunted Realm of The Undead (Vox version) (March 2009). Not only is this artist goth influenced but he's also pretty good at it. Haunted Realm sounded pretty much like its title; unsettling, dark and with a sombre beauty that is the hallmark of the genre. My only problem with it was the sound quality of the vocals, they just didn't punch through as much as they ought to - and that's a small quibble in the scheme of things because the musical quality was spot on.

The thing I suspected when reviewing Haunted Realm is borne out with Darkness Falls. Here is an artist under limitation of the technical side. Musically and lyrically Stealthspectre knows exactly what he's about because Darkness Falls is a killer song, whether you like the dark side of music or not. Moreover, it seems churlish to the extreme to be talking about this set against the neatness of the song but - for my money - the impact of the track is blunted by the compression of the music and vocals. Had this track have a production quality in common with the overall songwriting ability there is no doubt in my mind that this track would have got a Must Have from me. Which also goes to show that, sooner or later, here is an artist that is going to come up with one.

Hand on my heart, I swear that the first influence that sprang to mind when first getting acquainted with the track was none other than Marianne Faithful - and I mean that as a compliment btw. Strange then because I'm absolutely certain that Stealthspectre is a bloke, a geezer, a man and Marianne (despite her vocals) is all woman. Nope, its the tone of the vocal that does it, and it fits this song like a glove, IMHO Stealthspectre couldn't have sung it any better, it's certainly the highspot of the track for me. Sure, its a voice that you have to warm to but the song itself will help with that. The quibbles about production notwithstanding I am definitely going to hanging on to this track and that should tell you something. There is only one comment on this song at present and it says 'this song ownz!!!!' and that I completely agree with.
Great song and a whisker away from a must have. Highly Recommended dark alternative.

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