Psycho D-Vein- Fallen

ARTIST: Psycho D-Vein

ALBUM: Fallen

LABEL: Self-released

REVIEWER: Matthew Johnson

DATE: 9-1-07

In its earliest days, gothic music was weird. Not just campy, and not just shocking due to the performers' outfits, but so weird that even fans would be left scratching their heads as often as not. Perhaps the most exuberantly weird of all were Dublin's Virgin Prunes, so when you see that Psycho D-Vein's new album features a cover of their faux-Irish drinking song, "Down the Memory Lane," you already know that the Italian act is off to a good start. As for Psycho D-Vein's music, it's all solid wailing with a definite tendency toward melancholy over provocation, as evidenced by the gloomy guitar screech of "Nena," the primitive charm of The Cure-inspired "Die With Delight," and the twanging strums of title track "Fallen." If there's a turn-off here, it's the vocals; between the various effects employed and the singer's natural timbre, they can charitably be compared to someone with a severe head-cold singing underwater. Still, it's not as though Rozz Williams or Andi Sex-Gang's early material could ever have been described as mellifluous, so it's safe to assume that Psycho D-Vein were going for a definite effect; it's especially interesting juxtaposed with this album's more harmonic pieces, like the major-key "Into the Silence" or the dreamy, moping shoegaze of "Claire Song." No less effective are the noisier, more abrasive pieces, like "Filthy Man," which sets the low-fi vocal work against a snare-heavy military march of a drumbeat. If you want club music, look elsewhere. If you want gloriously strange early-era goth, do yourself a favor and track this thing down.

Visit Psycho D-Vein on MySpace at www,myspace.com/psychodvein.