The Bellicose Minds: Portland Post-Punk / Death-Rock Trio Signs With A389 Recordings

The debut disc from The Bellicose Minds, Spine, hits a 'sweet spot' as it brings back memories of the death/goth-rock sounds (the Rozz Williams-fronted lineup of Christian Death and Bauhaus) of my youth so I'd love to see the band hit the East Coast. The Bellicose Minds did an interview last year with CvltNation which goes a long way toward describing the band's sound, outlook and influences.

Oliver (CvltNation): Who came up with the name “Bellicose Minds” and what is it supposed to mean? In other words, is there any particular story behind the name?

Nick Bellicose: Finding band names is hard with so many good, obvious ones taken. You can either spam the button on the name generator web site or draw words from a hat. We didn’t want that. It feels heartless and cheesy. We really wanted a name that had a meaning, and said something about the band. There were some ideas thrown around, but I ended up coming up with The Bellicose Minds. The rest of the band liked it. It reflects our attitudes towards life and society, to be in a state of agression and warfare. Non-complacent, driving forward through the sea of shit we live in.

Oliver: I really like the vocals – they have a classic sound but also don’t really sound like many vocals you actually ever hear bands having any more these days. They remind me a little of Vex (the UK postpunk band) or later-era The Dark after they got gothier (“Shattered Glass”). Are those conscious influences on your vocals’ sound, or the band’s sound as a whole? If not, what is?

Nick: It’s easiest for me to sing in a lower register. I always liked the way Jim Morrisson and David Bowie sang when I was a kid. That was music I heard from my parents as a very young child. I started finding my own music to listen to at the age of 9 or 10, and always looked for extremes. I love extremes. I listen to a lot of hardcore punk and anarcho-punk from the late 70′s and 80′s. I draw from the aggression and provocation in many of the lyrics from those styles of music. Darker punk/post punk bands definitely have a big influence on how I forge the lyrics and sound in our songs. Singers such as Mark Burgess, Adrian Borland (RIP), and Mic Jowger (Pink Turns Blue) are huge influences because they all had their own style, and felt their words. At the end of the day I always try to come up with my own style and ideas — my own voice. Influences are important, yet it’s important to respect them for what they are and not become a rip off.



The Bellicose Minds likes to keep the music dark, and sinister, always throwing cynical thought to the foreground. Flowing with a dark, early-‘80s Gothic rock edge citing influences from The Chameleons, The Sound, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Danse Society, and of course the rain the Northwest continually brings, The Bellicose Minds has toured in the US and played at key underground punk festivals in Canada since their incarnation in 2008. While the band has sustained multiple lineup changes, it has always at its core been AJ on drums and Nick on lead guitar and vocals, and the current lineup sees bassist Mira joining the founding pair.

The Bellicose Minds have exposed the rock underworld to a variety of self-released demos and independent releases over the years including two tapes, a self-titled 7” EP, and most recently their first LP, The Spine, released earlier in 2013 via Blackwater Records. One of the act’s seminal releases is 2009’s The Buzz Or Howl Sessions, initially self-released only as a 500 copy run on dubbed cassettes. A389 will now officially re-release the long out-of-print The Buzz Or Howl Sessions for the first time ever on vinyl, the initial masters completely remastered by Audiosiege and artwork and layout to feature a full redesign. It’s coming together to see release late this Fall with a confirmed street date to be announced shortly.

Additionally, The Bellicose Minds is currently in the writing process for their next LP which will also see release through A389 later in the year alongside the band’s first European tour this Fall and additional regional and stateside touring.

Links:
The Bellicose Minds

The Foreshadowing - 'Second World' CD Review (Metal Blade)

Update: The Foreshadowing have been added to Marduk & Moonspell's "Voices of the Dark" North American co-headlining tour in February/March 2013 and these shows will mark the band's North American debut.

The Foreshadowing's third disc, Second World, takes me back to the last (Brooklyn) incarnation of L'Amour as I can still remember seeing bands like Lacuna Coil and Moonspell sometime around 2002-3 and The Foreshadowing would have fit well alongside either of these bands. The Foreshadowing are an Italian atmospheric goth-metal band that has been playing high-profile festivals and generating a buzz in Europe but is just now breaking into the US market after signing with Metal Blade. To add some additional color to the 'goth-metal' label - The Foreshadowing sound something like Some Great Reward-era Depeche Mode (less the industrial clanking) meets Woods of Ypres.



The Foreshadowing formed in 2005 and released their debut disc, Days of Nothing (Candlelight Records), in 2007. This first disc was a concept album about an imaginary apocalypse wished by an insane ordinary man and this new disc continues this apocalyptic vision. Second World is guided trip through this post-apocalypse world where the listener gets pulled in by the densely atmospheric and cinematic melodies, which are complemented by singer Marco Benevento 'new romantic' baritone, but there is a dark melancholia in the music that creeps up out of the darkness. The music consistently stays close to its slow-burning 'gloomy' core and, while there are some moments of aggression from the guitars and drums, never reaches the crushing epic doom of some of the band's contemporaries. Second World is more about 'painting' a bleak aural landscape than crushing the listener with waves of despair.

The disc starts off on a strong note with "Havoc", which opens with the sounds of rain and fire before the down-tuned guitar riffs and pounding beat kicks in. Nothing is 'by-the-books' in this universe as the band strips back the pounding rhythms mid-song for a chanted snippet of "Gloria in excelsis Deo" before building back the rhythmic pulse of the song beneath the chant. One of the other standout tracks in the front-half of the disc is "The Foresaken Son", which has a harder-edged guitar sound than its predecessors. The band's sound all comes together on the back-half of the disc with swirling "Reverie is a Tyrant", which ends with the clanging church bell over the chanted "Lord's Prayer" and the world-weary "Colonies", which has a brilliantly executed acoustic opening and closes with an acoustic guitar outro.

The Foreshadowing haven't yet made it to North America but my guess is that the band's signing to Metal Blade and the label's reissue of The Foreshadowing's last two discs will see this changed in short-order.

Links:
The Foreshadowing

Frostbite - "Valentine and Other Stories of Hope" CD Review

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Frostbite is the name of the latest project from Atlanta musician Christopher Lee Compton and the project’s debut full-length CD, Valentine and Other Stories of Hope was released almost a year ago. It has been a long time since I’ve thought about Godhead (who were the only band signed to Marilyn Manson’s Posthuman label) but Frostbite seems to fall into a similar industrial/goth-rock territory.

Valentine is heavily atmospheric and Compton sings in a heavy baritone (think Pete Steele) and the disc’s eleven tracks are a mix of originals and eclectic covers. Starting with the covers – Compton delivers a version of NIN’s “Hurt” that is very similar to Johnny Cash’s version, his version of The Motels’ “Metro” is a great deconstruction of the new wave chestnut and he delivers a strong, industrial-flavored version of BOC’s “Veteran of the Psychic Wars”.

Moving over to the originals, the first half of the disc is predominately comprised of industrial tunes that are layered on top of a dark gothic landscape. The disc starts with the track “but for the beating…” which has a moody synth intro that is delivered in the same style as Marilyn Manon’s cover of “Sweet Dreams”. As the disc kicks into high-gear, the strong guitar leads and clanging industrial sounds are added to the synths as Compton kicks into the Satanist themed “My Darkest Dream”. About midway through the disc, Compton switches gears and heads into darkwave cabaret that is reminiscent of Marilyn Manson’s Eat Me, Drink Me. The emotional “bite” comes out on songs like “Yet Another Stain” (with lyrics “…home is where the hurt is”) and “Valentine”. The disc ends where it started, with “…of my heart” – which is the conclusion of the leadoff track. Of the disc’s two bonus tracks, “Veteran of the Psychic War” is a winner but “Howl” is a forgettable c*ck-rock tribute to (presumably) oral sex.

In a recent interview with Indie Music Digest, Compton said that the next step for Frostbite will be to “get a stable band together and get on a stage”.

Links:
Frostbite