The Hiram Key - The Quest
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The Hiram Key. Google browser persistently associates the name of this band with the book with the same title. The members themselves explain the existence of the band with their dissatisfaction with the gothic scene as well as with the need for a band that they would like to listen to themselves and hopefully, others would like to listen to it, too.
You can say – nothing special, they’re not the first and after listening, new imitators will appear.
Against beats, unrealistic instruments and laptops they produced EP ‘The Quest’. Right from the start I get the solid old school sound. Referring to The Cure and Bauhaus as inspirations was not just idle chatter. ‘Arzu in the mirror’ will satisfy anybody missing Smith’s huge hairdo and childlike, sulky vocals. After this song I started to wonder where exactly are they from and my intuition got it right – Britain and their early-90’s gothic sound.
But that’s not the end. This song vividly reminds me of some movie scenes. The ones where a main hero realizes his mistake or something in his life comes to an end. If you made ‘Arzu…’ the soundtrack for such a scene, it would become the cult motif.
‘Solmon’s Teras’. That’s The Sisters of Mercy meeting The Cure. After such a ballad the sudden transition to the lively song strikes me personally, I prefer smoother transitions, like a continual plot, not such 180º turns. The music is pleasant to an end when suddenly agonizing shouts appear. Not only did they made an abrupt transition from the ballad, but also served me with what is common in the hated by them ‘new gothic’. I mean the interlude with the voice of someone shouting, suffering, writhing in agony.
I would also add the irritating vocal mannerism blatantly imitating The Sisters of Mercy.
‘Death of an Angel’ and the sudden flashback to the first song. Once again a ballad out of the blue and once again it evokes associations not only with specific movie motif, but also with American school parties from the 80’s. The whole thing is nice, with real vocals, without vocal mannerisms and with lots of story-telling.
Finally ‘Suzanna’ live. As you can hear, boys can handle playing live and they put DJs to shame with their mastering of instruments. Subtly dosed sound effects give character to the performance. The song itself refers accurately to it’s EP predecessor. It’s more lively, but still on the verge of a ballad. It crossed my mind that the title is really a cult one. In the history of gothic music we’ve already had ‘Alice’, ‘Elizabeth’ and ‘Agnieszka’ in Poland. Gothic music swarms with songs with female names in the titles.
That’s how it goes.
To conclude, this EP really captures the old school gothic atmosphere without collapsing in the gulfs of church bells, vocals filled with tears or organs. It has something to do with post punk, cold wave, something with a hint of old boots and cheap hairspray. But also unrequited love and first dates. I think this album should be labeled 30+. Younger people may not catch its charm. The idea of the band is presenting the old sound. However, I don’t get it why the new is supposed to be inferior to the old and why the band draw the thick line between themselves and the Combichrist-like products.
I rated it high, because the music is good and there’s nothing to nag at, if we grade it in terms of old school sound. I especially love ‘Arzu in the mirror’, because I was raised on Closterkeller and Moonlight.
I cut off some points for depreciating of other styles of gothic music. It’s like metalhead’s statement that black metal sucks and he’s going to show how to play real music. Such an attitude undermines my good opinion about whichever band.
Setlist:
01."Arzu in the mirror"
02."Solomon`s tears"
03."Death of an angel"
04."Suzanna (live @ Slimelight)"
Other articles:
You can say – nothing special, they’re not the first and after listening, new imitators will appear.
Against beats, unrealistic instruments and laptops they produced EP ‘The Quest’. Right from the start I get the solid old school sound. Referring to The Cure and Bauhaus as inspirations was not just idle chatter. ‘Arzu in the mirror’ will satisfy anybody missing Smith’s huge hairdo and childlike, sulky vocals. After this song I started to wonder where exactly are they from and my intuition got it right – Britain and their early-90’s gothic sound.
But that’s not the end. This song vividly reminds me of some movie scenes. The ones where a main hero realizes his mistake or something in his life comes to an end. If you made ‘Arzu…’ the soundtrack for such a scene, it would become the cult motif.
‘Solmon’s Teras’. That’s The Sisters of Mercy meeting The Cure. After such a ballad the sudden transition to the lively song strikes me personally, I prefer smoother transitions, like a continual plot, not such 180º turns. The music is pleasant to an end when suddenly agonizing shouts appear. Not only did they made an abrupt transition from the ballad, but also served me with what is common in the hated by them ‘new gothic’. I mean the interlude with the voice of someone shouting, suffering, writhing in agony.
I would also add the irritating vocal mannerism blatantly imitating The Sisters of Mercy.
‘Death of an Angel’ and the sudden flashback to the first song. Once again a ballad out of the blue and once again it evokes associations not only with specific movie motif, but also with American school parties from the 80’s. The whole thing is nice, with real vocals, without vocal mannerisms and with lots of story-telling.
Finally ‘Suzanna’ live. As you can hear, boys can handle playing live and they put DJs to shame with their mastering of instruments. Subtly dosed sound effects give character to the performance. The song itself refers accurately to it’s EP predecessor. It’s more lively, but still on the verge of a ballad. It crossed my mind that the title is really a cult one. In the history of gothic music we’ve already had ‘Alice’, ‘Elizabeth’ and ‘Agnieszka’ in Poland. Gothic music swarms with songs with female names in the titles.
That’s how it goes.
To conclude, this EP really captures the old school gothic atmosphere without collapsing in the gulfs of church bells, vocals filled with tears or organs. It has something to do with post punk, cold wave, something with a hint of old boots and cheap hairspray. But also unrequited love and first dates. I think this album should be labeled 30+. Younger people may not catch its charm. The idea of the band is presenting the old sound. However, I don’t get it why the new is supposed to be inferior to the old and why the band draw the thick line between themselves and the Combichrist-like products.
I rated it high, because the music is good and there’s nothing to nag at, if we grade it in terms of old school sound. I especially love ‘Arzu in the mirror’, because I was raised on Closterkeller and Moonlight.
I cut off some points for depreciating of other styles of gothic music. It’s like metalhead’s statement that black metal sucks and he’s going to show how to play real music. Such an attitude undermines my good opinion about whichever band.
Setlist:
01."Arzu in the mirror"
02."Solomon`s tears"
03."Death of an angel"
04."Suzanna (live @ Slimelight)"
Other articles:
- The Hiram Key - Amerikafka - 2013-09-15 (Music reviews)
