Darkvolt - 'Songs for Halloween' a seasonal themed album featuring collaborations with prominent Dark Electro artists. Designed to bridge the gap between Darkvolt's debut album 'The Time Device' and the forthcoming album 'Spirits of Angst and Despair', 'Songs for Halloween' showcases an evolved sound, combining chilling storytelling with intense, cinematic atmospheres and merciless beats. A blend of horror and dark electro perfectly fit for the spooky season. Available on CD from October 18th, this 8-track collection offers a sonic journey through eerie narratives and haunting soundscapes.
These are the big names with the guests:
Perfect for Halloween Playlists! With its spooky, horror-themed narratives and dark sound design, 'Songs for Halloween' is a must-add to any Halloween playlist. How much more proof does there need to be, dark electro and Halloween is a match made in heaven (or hell). Whether you’re hosting a Halloween event or looking for the perfect soundtrack to the season, this album provides a fittingly eerie backdrop for the darker days of the year. Add it to your Halloween playlist today!
The album is already available on Bandcamp and will be coming to Spotify and other streaming platforms + digital stores on October 18th along a physical release on CD.
So far for the promo talk, let’s now focus on the actual review:
The Skeleton King (feat. Marieke Lightband): is indeed very Halloween minded. If we speak about the music it’s a classic EBM track with very much Front 242 alike sound. The global sound has something theatrical as the tempo is a bit too slow to make it in clubland. Marieke does a great job and colours the song black and red.
Trick or Treat (feat. A. Machens): has a dark and scary touch, but is not as good as what Suicide Commando did with the same title track. It’s again a more theatrical approach and not dancefloor orientated.
The Curse (feat. Jan Dewulf): finally, was the first word when the first beats sound and we get a good tempo but after a while it all goes back down as there is no heat, no push ... However I feel like Jan really did his best. Diary of Dreams has a better song with the same name. But this is so far the best song and yes I know: it’s not fair to compare an artist which is active since the previous era with a newcomer (my bad, but my brain always makes associations, same goes for the previous track).
Candyman (feat. Vain Sacrosanct): sounds a bit like a slow Suicide Commando track and misses a bit the original touch of Vain Sacrosanct. It’s a bit like wanting to create a great track with great people but deciding to keep the tempo low profile and going for just creating a certain Halloween touch.
Midnight Stalker (feat. Chesko Geert Vandekerkhof): keeps the Halloween vibe alive, but could have been harsher and needs a higher tempo. It’s a bit sad having to write this down as Chesko is normally really great at this kind of things.
The Mask (feat. Peter V.) has a bit of drum’n bass influences, good beats (a breakdown), a good tempo and good vocals. This song overpasses the previous best track of the album.
Halloween mixes EBM with industrial/dubstep and does not sound bad at all. This is a solo track, so kudos for the good sound.
I Once Sold My Soul invites all kind of backing vocals and mixes it to one entity. I hear something that sounds like a sax in the background. The global sound is at least a bit special and a bit jumping out of the rest of the pack. Not a bad last track.
If this album was created with the idea: let’s produce just a Halloween vibe minded album then I conclude: mission accomplished. That was indeed the main idea. The guests all had the final word about their track and gave their approval. So kudos for that! Don’t forget Fred is a newcomer, give him credits for that! I would be harsher on him if he would have been active since the 80’s.
Now with the guests and the red line I expected dancefloor orientated tracks and contributors that count as 1+1=3, well don’t count on this one. If I’m really going deep: I would keep 4 tracks out of 8 and remix the 4 others. But hey: I also was expecting a lot from the extra contributors (not saying it’s their fault), there’s just the fact that the tempo is too slow and I expected dancefloor fillers, my bad (but hey: check first and second sentence in the previous lines above this one, to give this review a Lost Highway touch).
