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 AENIMA
Never Fragile
2002
CDEP
Equilibrium EQM002
29:18
The Portuguese group Aenima are back with a new goth rock/ethereal
CD characterised by soulful female vocals and upbeat music. This follows
their debut CD Revolutions (1999) which we reviewed
last year.
Never Fragile begins with a dark ambient intro, 'Intro To End
All Intros', and a gentle dark neofolk ballad, 'Forlorn', which immediately
establishes the excellence of Carmen's vocals with their controlled
operatic tremolo effects and an impressive ability to hit the high notes.
'At The Edge Of The Cliff' turns in a more classic goth rock direction
with particularly prominent drums, underlining that this material shows
Aenima at their most live-orientated and hard-hitting. Things speed up
even more with 'The Light' where Carmen manages to deliver the vocals
faster than I can take them in. 'Lilith' is very much vocals and drums,
with the vocals winning because they are so good, but the drums are beginning
to annoy me, because what I'd really like to hear is a slower, less rock-orientated
approach which I think would provide Carmen's vocals with an even better
platform. But if full-on goth rock is what you really, really want you
couldn't do better than this. More to my personal taste is the final track,
'Rapture', which has gurgly electronics, a tribal beat and washes, as
well as Carmen's singing.
Rik - 29 November 2002
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