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Empty – Ghost Beside You

Every Once in a while, I am very glad to have found something new on the internet. This is definitely one of those times.

I love it when a new band actually impresses me, and am pleasantly surprised to find myself in love with another synth-based project.

I could not compare Empty too much to any of my other favorites in this genre, and perhaps that is what I love so much about their sound, but I can tell you that they sound refreshingly unlike any of a million Covenant, Wolfsheim, Apoptygma Berzerk, or VNV Nation soundalikes.

And though I can hardly put my finger on what they have, I can tell you that they lack the droning cliche psuedo-depressed monotone and monotonous sound of the typical post-90s midwestern goth/industrial club scenes; they also lack the internalized-anger-inspired immitation toughness of the standard stompy tunes. They sound absolutely nothing like angry German people, specifically they sound nothing like Rammstein’s hit album “Dance if you rather like the idea of standing in a field of daisies with naked German guys”.

This CD, “Open Aeon” was probably not at all made for heavy-set guys in capes and booster-boots to angrily hunt invisible smurfs to; The sound is more on the trip-hop side of things, the likes of Collide and Switchblade Symphony, though heavily influenced by Skinny Puppy, Frontline Assembly, and the better sounds of Velvet Acid Christ. Its songs have a deep and melodic feel with atmospheric sounds and heavy tones piled layer upon layer just to the perfect maximum.  

Tracks like “Ghost Beside You”,  “Scarred”, and “Blue” ring eerie and haunting with the degree of soulfulness and true art that typical club music has been missing over recent years, but there are enough stompy remixes on the disk to ensure that your local DJ might accidentally have something worth hearing in his or her arsenal. It also has a sound high-tech enough to justify putting on your ten foot tall boots, and assimilating your mother’s favorite toaster to wear in tonight’s hairmonster.

Empty: Open Aeon is not another Instant Club Hit, but art, managing by chance, perhaps, some incredibly good dance tracks.

Empty are an Australian band available in the US through DSPB records.