Adoration Destroyed Ritual Damage Review by Gary Hill
This album has a lot of good stuff. It's influenced to a large degree by things like Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, but also Gary Numan. The techno music here works well, but there is a bit of a monolithic vibe. Still, people these days tend to listen to one song or two and not whole albums, so that's only so much of an issue.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2016 Volume 6 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
Here to Bleed
Techno elements are the order of business here. This is along the lines of Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.
Torn Apart The same basic concept is in place here. This rocks out a bit more in terms of the driving rhythm section.
Voices Carry A techno electronica redo of the classic Til Tuesday song, I like this a lot.
Carnal Dirge I really like this one. It's a bit more stripped back. The vocals stand out more as a result.
Never Mine Heavy and very dark, this is great stuff.
Last Perhaps not as hard edged, this is still pretty strong stuff and pretty edgy.
Coma White Another strong tune, this is good by itself. The album is starting to suffer a bit from a lack of variety at this point.
Nothing Left This gets some extreme metal vocals added to the mix.
In Elegant Decay I dig the energy on this. There is almost a house/dance vibe here.
Both of Me A bit on the mellower side of things, this gets us more into the vein of more monolithic territory.
Ritual Damage The title track comes in mellower with a thick tapestry of keyboard sounds. This instrumental is a nice change.
Here to Bleed (16volt Remix) After some silence we get the first of two remixes. I'm really not crazy about this one. It loses a lot of the magic and charm and becomes to lightweight for my tastes.
In Elegant Decay (Mr.Kitty Remix) The final track is another remix. This feels more like the electronic music that was so common in the 80s.
