Tragic Black- The Decadent Requiem

Tragic Black have obviously been raised on a diet of trash industro-rock, sleazy porn and junk food - the perfect diet for producing music such as theirs. Dirty, filthy, gothy industrial deathrock. Think Ministry meets Manson (both Marilyn and Charles) and you’re somewhere near.

Sirens and vocal samples lead us into album opener, In Toxic Nation, a ripping metallic stomp with vocals screaming ‘Spoon Fed on Propaganda!!’

The album highlight has to be the sub 2 minute thrash that is Suburban Dystopia. A distorted rap from singer Vision kick starts this punky anthem reminiscent of UK Punk heroes Discharge – a nice diversification of the formula.

In general, Tragic Black seem the most focussed and slick on the more industrial / dance flavoured numbers. A couple of the tracks, notably Faded Echoes and Smeared Eyes feel more traditionally goth, with ‘goth-by-numbers’ guitar lines. These seem to sit ill at ease with the rest of the album, and don’t represent the band well.

The final track, an opus of reversed audio, seems a little dated as an idea. Backwards sounds were always better when it was actually difficult to reverse them and find out what was going on. Whilst the criticism is flowing, why is it that bands with anything above the merest hint of sounding industrial feel that need to sample presidential speeches and rant about political injustices? Sometimes it just feels a little clichéd.

That aside, if Tragic Black can work on cementing their sound into a more coherent, decisive noise, and drop the more trad-goth numbers, they should do well in this industrial age.