Various Artists - UNEARTH'D

World Goth Day is celebrated by many darklings and creatures who take long walks through graveyards on May 22nd. While some celebrate by going out to shows and clubs (Covid-19 allowing), others like to sit in their own home and listen to a few of their favorite goth jams in their dimly lit abode. I so happen to be on that list of people who like to sit by themselves and jam out to some decent music after a long day. Record labels such as Broken Sound Tapes appeal to me, then, as they understand those that want to stay home alone. So much so that, in celebration of World Goth Day, they've put together a compilation titled "UNEARTH'D" which features a collection of thirteen different darkwave, deathrock, goth, and post-punk artists. What is even better about this album is that I cannot recall any of the names found on the compilation which means that there's a ton of music for me to explore. 

While there are so many talented individuals on "UNEARTH'D", I'm going to be calling out my personal favorites, starting with Secret Shame's 'Storm'. A dark post-punk project, the song begins with twangy and moody guitars and a smooth but alluring percussive beat. Hums from the vocalist become an instrument of their own. As the song moved on, the hums became lyrics, and were sung out in dream-like whispers. I love the moment around the two-minute and eight second mark when what sounds like an improvised jam session takes over the song for a half-minute and then dwindles back into sweet and serene post-punk. This happens once more before fading out into nothingness. 



Solemn Shapes' 'Concealed' also stood out to the industrial side of me. The wonky, experimental electronics was not unlike many of the electro-industrial ballads I've heard in the past. Each trickle of electronics that layered on top of one another gave me another reason to love this robotic led track. The vocals perfectly matched, swiveling between a more-human-than-human vibe to creepy horror-tinged science fiction bouts. Tons of experimental sounds play out, such as the modular-sounding notes around the two-minute and forty second mark. Solemn Shapes, whatever you're doing, don't change.

Cold Choir's 'Paper Flowers' begins off with sweeping synths and a pulsating beat as echoing vocals take the main stage of the song. For the first minute-and-a-half, the song continues with this soft beat. At the end of that portion, what sounds like an electronic crash happens and I was thrust into a quiet techno track. Each time the vocals came out, an epic and cavernous sound backed them as if they were as powerful as the Earth itself. The final portion of the track turned right into a pulsating dance track that managed to keep its melancholy nonetheless. Excellent work. 

While those three songs stand out to me for positive reasons, there is a song that I have to complain about. That is Entertainment's 'Voyeur (single edit)'. While the rest of the tracks on "UNEARTH'D" shows musical competence, what I heard on 'Voyeur (single edit)' was awful in my headphones. The vocals are a combination of a cartoon mouse with a squeaky voice and deep pitched robotic vocals battling one another for domination. The instrumentation is way too sharp, as well, and every time I passed this song on subsequent plays of the album I felt as if my ears were being pierced. After my third spin of "UNEARTH'D", I learned to skip over this song. 

Though I have not mentioned the other nine songs on the album, it would be a redundant task for me to type about each one and for you to sit here and read through each of my comments. I chose three songs to pinpoint highlights on the album in my eyes; this is not to say that the other songs are bad. They are quite good; Dead Cells, Horror Vacui, Vision Video, Feeding Fingers, Vincas, M is We, Night Battles, The Machine In The Garden, and Dispel all deserve a huge applause. Each artist after another compliments one another on the compilation and I have been having a blast spinning this throughout the week. It would be a simple shame after reading this to not have the decency to check it out. 

The compilation will be out in digital, limited edition CD, cassette, and vinyl formats. So, no matter what your preferred listening preference is, there's something here for everyone. Check it out. 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Mar 14 2021