For those of you that are new to my MidNight Gems series. Welcome to this nightly trip on which we will uncover & recover some amazing songs and we will do it a little different tonight....
Well No, This time we will follow the standard Midnight Gems journey starting with the Gem that sparked this article/playlist.
The next band I have seen on tour several times in the late 90´s with one of my favorite bands of all time, Therion.
Personally, I considered Anathema always as a warming up....
Why?
Because they sounded very good ...but were boring as hell. They had nothing to keep you interested, spinning their songs out over several minutes without ever reaching a climax.
There was no better band to prep yourself for Therion as you could be:
Getting your beers
Rolling you joints
Powdering your nose if you were into that....and enjoy the slow vibes building up to the night's explosion.
Imagine my surprise to see that they look even more boring now, they are still stretching those songs to the limit.....but wait....what happened?
Now I actually like this band, did I miss something in the past? Did they grow up or did I grow old and boring?
1. Anathema - A Natural Disaster A Sort of Homecoming
As sort of an apology for calling you guys boring for years and years, I will add another never-ending encore....just because it is well deserved. But look at that crowd, if those were not the once Nerds of semi Goth Metal....I don´t know who were ;)
2. Anathema - The Storm Before The Calm
Because even if I am admitting that this is ab fab......imagine that what walked on stage afterward was looking like this (and then I mean Sarah Jezebel Deva) and sounded like heaven and hell colliding:
3. Therion - Asgard / The Siren of the Woods live Metalmania 2006
Looking back I am still in love with Sarah, so glad I met her once....so sad we never....ahh forget it.
There was no voice in the Goth metal-verse those days that could compare, but one came close....my dear Liv Kristine. Always in Sarah´s shadow touring all Theaters of Tragedy.
4. Theatre of Tragedy - Cassandra & Der Tanz Der Schatten live Kraków (2000)
Until Sarah got fed up with Dani´s attitude....
And I can imagine that because any stage is only big enough for one attitude. And trust me Sarah has a great voice, but probably an even bigger attitude.
So Dani Filth decided that Liv could do the fem voice on Nymphetamine.
5. Cradle Of Filth - Nymphetamine Fix
But when I was DYOR on this song I found that somehow Sarah returned to the stage and honestly I did not miss Liv for a second....compare the live performances of both goth queens and decide for yourself.
Now let´s take some steps back in heaviness and add a bit of heavenly. We´ll take a huge leap into a future in which Goth Metal still holds its Throne.
6. Fragment Soul feat. Heike Langhans- A Choice Between Two Evils
Discovered this band (as always) by accident, but it´s so pleasing melodic & hypnotic..... almost detaching from what´s left of my brain. Similar to this next band even though these guys really drive my mind out of my body.
Yes, I shilled Ison last time already...So what?
If you impress me then you get shilled, it´s as simple as that.....dream on with this next song.
7. ISON ft. SYLVAINE- MERIDIAN
Somehow these sounds remind me of that one real conscious outer body experience I had.....while listing to the a Radiohead song.
I remember till this day the exact moment it was this song at 3:54. I was somewhere between heaven and earth and heard voices calling me.
Sorry, ain´t gonna play it as it´s cover time, and Radiohead is ...well no longer what it was...
Tom is tripping it up to heights most of us can´t connect to anymore...which is perfectly fine.
But then I rather play it violent ehh Violet
8. Violet Orlandi - Creep
If you never checked her out....please go and do so...she has amazing covers and great work of her own....she might just be the next Sarah, well no but she is absolutely worth your while.
So how to end this moment of insanity.....I think we all need Therapy, right? There is just one way, one option to have a moment of clarity.
9. Therapy? - A Moment Of Clarity
My good goodness this brings back memories, sometimes they slip into the back of my musical memories. Then you get triggered, you feel like going nowhere you feel like Dying(Diane) and think sweet dear life do I really need more Therapy?
What the fluff are midnight gems?
Somewhere lost in time, trying to escape out of the rabbit hole back into the rat race there is a vacuum..... that´s the place where midnight gems are found.
My Midnight Gems will try to uncover & recover those beautiful songs that nobody ever noticed or might have been forgotten.
Who the fluff am I?
Being a former DJ playing about everything and having an uncompleted study of radio journalism I have been wanting to do this for years....Thought about it many nights and guess now it´s time to finally take it to the streets.
Hope you enjoyed this slightly confronting wave of amazing music and you still feel like joining me on the next trip as vol. 16 of Midnight Gems is coming soon.