Strap On Halo’s Haunted EP Promises Just That: By Houdah Abualtin ~ shortsleevebuttondown/ straponhalo/album/haunted Strap On Halo, based in the last place you’d expect to find a Goth band (Omaha, Nebraska…don’t say I didn’t warn you), return this year with their highly anticipated new release since their debut album in 2011, The Dead Don’t Lie. This new six song EP, titled Haunted, promises to do just that, featuring the unapologetic Goth array that they began with from day one. The EP opens with “Mourning Embrace,” which quickly presents the sliding guitar work of Sean Riál before the soaring vocals of Layla Reyna emerge, sending shivers down the listener’s back. Marc Rhön Jones finishes the line-up with bass work that helps set the dreary mood. “Hunger” brings in a Middle East-vibe with the keyboard and guitar work and could well have been a great song on the soundtrack to the movie The Hunger (had the film not been made about thirty years ago). Perhaps my favorite off the EP is “Spirit Walker,” featuring a wonderful guitar and keyboard backdrop reminiscent of the work from another newer darkwave group (Istanbul’s She Past Away, though not as heavy) and marked by the ever sweet and ethereal vocal range that Reyna delivers. The EP rounds out with the haunting “Strigoi” (a song about troubled souls of the dead that rise from their graves according to Romanian mythology) and the enchanting “You & Your Ghost.” At a time where Goth music has changed drastically from what it began as in the early 80s, Strap On Halo bring an ironically bright spot to the genre, combining the vocal prowess of Goth Queen Siouxsie Sioux (who is probably pummeling me with lightning bolts for calling her that) with the moody atmosphere of darkwave greats like Clan of Xymox. Strap On Halo bring back the dark appeal and theatrical quality that gave rise to the Goth name in the first place.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 03:51:33 +0000
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