SOIL
& ECLIPSE
ARCHETYPE
ALBUM COP, SSC, PLAYGROUND RELEASE:
APRIL 25, 2000 REVIEW: APRIL 11, 2000
I remember writing some nasty things about Soil & Eclipse's first album "Necromancy".
I found the singer's operatic vocals awful and the music horribly pompous and
stale.
Soil & Eclipse have gotten a lot better since then. They have managed to
fuse electronics and goth in a creative way, and strong melodies work wonders
in the places where I previously only saw filthy cobweb.
"Archetype" isn't really an album. Four new songs, of which two are wonderful,
are followed by decent mixes of songs from the previous album "Meridian" and that's
about it.
Soil & Eclipse are still pompous, in fact more so than ever. It is brooding, melancholic
and full of pretentious dramatics. But thanks to precisely those things, when
it hits home, it's pure gothic bliss. You just have to see it for what it is.
Maybe that is what I couldn't before. About half the record is less heart wrenching,
with bleak verses and uninspired singing, though nothing is really bad. All in
all, "Archetype" is a pleasant surprise and makes great promises for the future.
Sorry for that last review, guys.
