electro rock – Veglam

X-DARLINGS started as a studio duo (Harry Darling of BITCH QUEENS and Isabela Eder of DELILAHS) and has evolved into a full band introducing themselves with this debut album “Dead Toy Capital Of The World.” Opening song “Are You Talking To Me?” hits hard since it mixes infuences such as DEVO and The CRAMPS with a glam vibe. This song actually reminds me of the amazing PINK GREASE. You’ll hear some garage rock’n’roll guitars in “There For You” and in “Laxative”, some modern rock (‘Snap Out Of It”, “Sucks To Be You” or “Particle Collision” that almost starts like BACKYARD BABIES‘ “Minus Celsius”) and some punk rock in “Keep Reading.” While the album definitely has a lot of energy and a will to make us dance, songs like “In Transit” and “Brand New Day” show us that X-DARLINGS also has an interesting quieter pop side. Quite a convincing debut album, check it out! /Laurent C.

VIDEO

Facebook page

https://www.luxnoise.com/

It might appear as a bit surprising when you first see the names SLAYER and GWEN STEFANI listed in the band’s influences on their MySpace page. But think about it, SLAYER has been one of the darkest and most powerful band for more than 25 years now and it’s hard to think about any 2000s pop music album that is more catchy than GWEN STEFANI’s “Love Angel Music Baby”.
Dark yet catchy, this is where ACEY SLADE & THE DARK PARTY are heading to! After the short and almost EBM intro “Darklexia”, the band offers us “Here Today”, a song reminding of BOWIE when he was experimenting with jungle/drum & bass beats. Notice that the album is produced by English drum & bass producer Shaun Morris (DJ Stakka.) This is a quite risky way to start an album, especially for an ex-MURDERDOLLS/DOPE/TRASHLIGHT VISION! But we all know that “safe” often means boring in music nowadays, don’t we?
The catchy/poppy side of the band then shows more in songs like “Sugarcum”, the electro rock “Nothing’s Gonna Change” (and its DANZIG intro guitar riff) and goth rock single “She Brings Down The Moon” (helped with female backing vocals reminding me of the SISTERS OF MERCY.)
Other great moments on the album include dark pop ballad “Baby The Stars Shine Brightly”, electro glam song “Plastic Lego Queen” and closing track “Reptile House”, a slow and heavy industrial rock song. And since a dark party wouldn’t be a good one without a CULT song, you’ll also find a cool dancey version of “She Sells Sanctuary” on the album.
This is out on British high quality label TrashPit records and you’re all invited to the party!/Laurent C.http://www.myspace.com/aceyslademusic