Cemetery Echo – Civitas Lacrimarum (Mercurial Haunt N’ Roll)

 

I suspected I would eventually get a good Goth, or at least Goth-adjacent, release at some point this year, and thankfully Buffalo’s Cemetery Echo answered my plaintive call. I don’t know what it is about the genre, but bands within the world of gloom are constantly stuck in recapitulation. I get it, sometimes what works doesn’t need to be altered, but by this point certain genres need variation, even in the old style, to survive becoming fossilized. Takes a band like Cemetery Echo, and a drop like Civitas Lacrimarum to prove my point. Let’s keep it lively, yet deadly.

   

Alright, boys, you had me at band photo in a cemetery with fairly realistic fake blood pouring into a chalice. But first impressions need continual reassurance to stick. and musically, fuck, these guys do it. Stick like a knife, or stake, right through my heart bro. One thing to state about Civitas Lacrimarum is you absolutely need to pay attention to it. I’ve reviewed far too many bands to count in every dark genre you can think of, and some of them can fade into the background, still succeeding, by virtue of how they work. Not here. If you’re not paying attention, in fact, Civitas Lacrimarum doesn’t sound like much of anything. It requires your undivided devotion, in fact. As background noise it can only exist as a blur, but take the time to delve into the details of what Cemetery Echo is playing, and you’ll realize how great this shit is. For all of their idiomatic presence, these guys are far more nuanced with classic Goth. It isn’t just the incorporation of more violent vocal or musical delivery, either, it’s the emotion. It was about time that Goth went from moody to mercurial, and that’s 100% what you’ll find here, but a passive listen is impossible.

 

Cemetery Echo Official Instagram

Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls

Cemetery Echo – Civitas Lacrimarum
Seeing Red Records
Cover Art: Sadist Art Designs (Marc Schoenbach)
4.3 / 5