The Kiss Abyss – Neither Nor and Never
Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated? Well, that’s not just the famous phrase with which John Lydon ended the Sex Pistols, but the general mood among people who’ve not yet been zombified by the mobile phone that they carry in their pocket.
It took a few bloody wars, corporations buying up all the money-making assets available to them, and a couple of global crises, but, finally, we have a treasured musical style back again – the protest song.
What’s there to protest about? To misappropriate a Marlon Brando quote: “Whatch got?” Your cranky aunt may have had the right attitude, as it turns out, when she distrusted everything she heard on the news or during the commercial breaks. The Kiss Abyss is an alt-rock picket line.
However, the funny thing about “Neither Nor and Never” is that, besides the fact that this nicely brings to mind the grunge alt-rock groups of the 1990s, there is the fact that the advice to search for freedom by declining whatever the status quo advertises feels like sound, sensible advice. It’s a potential anthem from an era where nobody believes what they’re being told anymore, and for good reason.
Cathedral In Flames – Push the fire
We’re stuck in little boxes, and the vast majority of us are forced to live in them, as well. Instead of houses with roofs that raise up to the sky, capturing good vibrations in a perpetual maelstrom, the vast majority of us spend our whole lives taking the bus to a terrible job that, in a few decades, will pay just enough to get us to allow us to buy a shoe box of a house.
Everything is stuck inside little spaces, and it’s not just our physical bodies. Our emotions have restrictions as well. Forget about acting like a human being! Forget about laughing, crying, being incredibly hopeful, or horribly depressed! The world wants you to not just be obedient, but also predictable. That’s why the dramatic, towering gothic-industrial sounds of Cathedral In Flames feel like a welcome change of pace.
In fact, the Czech band pushes the theme of ancient destruction of priceless architecture to its logical conclusion on the single “Push the Fire.” This is goth-inspired music for people who want the prettiest sights in their city to go up in flames while they dance around it covered in the blood of their enemies. It’s a normal request, and such a nicely executed track that you have to forgive the unfortunate Till Lindemann obsessions.
