A Mysterious journey
Clan of Xymox never made the big time in the UK Goth scene, but this is a superb album, full of haunting atmosphere and gloom, but without the usual cliched references to graveyards and blood that can make Goth pop sound so adolescent. As a result, the album has not dated at all, the songs are beautifully produced, with dark and forbidding crescendos in the fast numbers, and elegaic melancholy in the slow tracks. The production is refreshingly danceable, especially the title track, without the distortion and noisy guitars favoured by other bands of this type. The inclusion of the last 4AD produced ep songs( A Million Things and Blind Hearts) as bonus tracks make this an excellent purchase, as these versions are far superior to the watered down remixes that appear on "Twist Of Shadows"
Like the Medusa...Mesmerizing!
Clan of Xymox's Medusa is a classic...Richly textured sounds layered into incredibly beautiful melodies..it's hard to describe..each songs takes you into a different dreamworld. Medusa was probably the bravest album to come out of the 4AD era back in the eightees..becuase their is nothing 'eightees' about it...it is timeless. Like their debut self-titled album, Xymox continued to break new ground and redefine "Goth" or 'Darkwave'..Medusa is both sad and euphoric at once..with incredible use of strings and samples that will send you dreaming. Albums that followed were good..Twist of Shadows was a nice blend of more accesable pop while maintaining beauty and class. Unfortunaly, without Anke Wolbert and Peiter Nooten, much has been lost..and recent albums sound (for the most part) so bland and typical of 'goth' it's painful to listen to. I'm waiting for the X-band members Peiter (a keyboard genious) and Anke to produce. Medusa will remain my most cherished album of all time.
A lovely Gothic masterpiece!
This, Clan Of Xymox's 2nd release is incredible, a dark, romantic soundscape of breaking hearts.
Stand-outs include Louise (simply devastating) and Back Door.I had this on repeat for hours while nursing a broken heart. You will, too.
Essential Xymox..
If i were mistaken Id say this were a Best of Xymox cd...this cd really has the best Xymox songs all on one, even though its just a normal LP. But normal is an understatement,...anyone who likes Xymox must get this, or if you havent heard them...still get this. "Masquerade" is my favourite Xymox song...But just about every song on here is great (save the instrumentals, although they are still cool), The only Xymox album almost as good is Creatures...But be aware that after this album came out Xymox started putting out a lot of sh**, so until Creatures (well Twist of Shadows was alright), You might want to stay away from the albums inbetween 1989-1997, those are pretty aweful, too bad. But Creatures is good so maybe they are getting back on track. Just get this...enough said.
A masterpiece
This is a lovely album for which words can not be expressed deeply enough from the start of Theme 1 to Back Door the album just cries genius !
From the sound of the album it feels like a break up in a relationship and the feelings of sorrow . There's a feeling of no ending in this album . Perhaps this can be due to the fact that there is no end to the pain that people suffer and this album expresses it beautifully
If you are thinking of buying it I would recommend it instantly . And may you lose yourself in it's ethereal beauty
Digitally remastered reissue of the Dutch alternative act's 1986 & second album for 4AD. Equally as rewarding as their label debut, it contains the original album's 10 tracks, plus three tracks on CD for the first time ever, all of the cuts from their final 4AD release, the 1987 'Blind Hearts' 12 inch EP. Bonus tracks are 'Blind Hearts', 'A Million Things' & 'Scum'. 13 tracks total. 1999 release. NOTE: the versions of 'Blind Hearts' & 'A Million Things' are different than those that appeared on their 1989 album 'Twist Of Shadows'.
