Album Review: Senex IV - "Gods And Taboos"

 

Hailing from Ipswich, this is Senex IV's second album and a cursory glance at the artwork here (not to mention song titles such as Dancing Witches and Black Cat) should be a bit of a giveaway that we are very much heading into goth territory here. And sure enough, opening track Soul Eater kicks in with a rumbling bassline, some squalling guitars and vocals which sound oddly like a cross between Peter Murphy and Mark E Smith. Not a bad start all told.

While some of this album goes down the Sisters/Mission direction you'd probably expect like Drop Dead and Shadow of the Dog, songs such as The Great Idea with its ominous piano intro before the song kicks in and the grinding bass and pounding tribal drums on Brother Grim show that this is a band who can keep things varied enough to maintain your interest and it's this which is really Gods & Taboos' saving grace and prevents it from plummeting into the dreaded Goth 101 territory. It's there on the way that the aforementioned Dancing Witches goes into full-on Bauhaus style goth disco territory or the seasick lurch of Get Out.

If there's a slight complaint to be made here, it's that while there's plenty of variety here, it suffers a bit from slightly rough around the edges production (which, to be fair, might be seen as a plus in the eyes of some) and that it doesn't quite have a proper top drawer tune to really elevate it up to essential listening. But still, this isn't a bad album at all and should appeal to any Bauhaus or 69 Eyes fans looking for something new to listen to at the moment.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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