Over the past 8 years German Goth rockers Scream Silence have been slowly carving out a name for themselves in their native country as well as throughout Europe while North America has seemingly failed to take notice. That might just change with the groups 6th and latest release Aphelia which is a fantastic, dark and brooding blend of 80's style Goth but with a noticeably modern sound. Front man Hardy Fieting appears equally as comfortable singing dark ballads such as the tender sounds of "Nothingness" and "My Eyes" or over the serpentine like swagger of ready made club favorites "Kerosene" and "In Every Sin". The music itself answers the question of what it would be like to have The Sisters of Mercy, Depeche Mode, The Mission and The Cure all convene together in a room. It all comes together with a splendid amount of passion and beauty as lyrically the concept of Aphelia revolves around a small girl who travels between worlds of make believe before finally finding her home within the darkest place of all, herself. The title track is a sprawling, epic piece of work and while it clocks in at almost 13 minutes, it never wavers in its overall vision. Fieting's voice, with his Dave Gahan like similarities immediately sucks the listener in; taking you through quieter passages and even moments of almost silence around the halfway mark, before the music slowly rises again. If there was a song which perfectly sums up the whole experience of this record, it's this track. It's really a no brainer having this song bring the proceedings to its fitting conclusion.
Aphelia is perhaps a bit of an undiscovered gem over on this side of the pond, but if you're into the sounds of modern Goth rock then this is one disc you're going to want to go hunting for. (Note: The limited first edition of this disc also includes 3 live tracks from a December 2006 gig in Berlin)
Track Listing
1) My Eyes
2) Harvest
3) Kerosene
4) The Vitriol
5) Nothingness
6) My Tenebrous Illusion
7) Unspoken
8) In Every Sin
9) Riders
10) Aphelia
11) Harvest (Live Bonus Track)
12) Consolation (Live Bonus Track)
13) Immortal (Live Bonus Track)
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