Saturday, February 16, 2013

The Beauty of Gemina - The Myrrh Sessions (2013)


The Beauty of Gemina
The Myrrh Sessions

When I noticed that The Beauty of Gemina was planning to make some kind of acoustic album, I was trying to imagine how that would sound, because they use a lot of samplers in their music. To be honest, I usually am very disappointed with these kind of acoustic albums. In 99% of bands who do it, the essence of the songs just fades away, and they lose their emotion. I have to say I never heard any teaser of this album until I received the album. In this case I wanted to keep any kind of external influence away, to make a proper review. I just kept an eye on the tracklist, that contains some of their best songs ever. They chose tracks from their 4 albums. The album is better than I expected and I never imagined this band could make such a wonderful acoustic album, where they replace all the sampler-created atmospheres with Spanish guitars, piano, violin, cello, even a balalaika. Tracks like Suicide Landscape, which is probably the most famous track, has been transformed into a great new version. Another track that really caught my attention is Dark Rain, which has some kind of a Johnny Cash feeling, as does the song Golden Age. Probably the most exotic song on this album is The Lonesome Death Of A Goth DJ, which has some kind of flamenco background, and that's really surprising. And we can talk about the dark Last Night Home, which in my opinion is one of the darkest songs of the band, or the emotional track Stairs. The Beauty of Gemina is a band that is outside any kind of label. With this album, they show us what great musicians they are, making more than an impressive acoustic album, transforming the songs into something you could never have imagined. Honestly I can see myself sitting in front of the band, watching them play at the legendary Cafe Central in Madrid. I would bee great to have a dvd version of one of these acoustic sessions with a few people around them. If you're a fan of the band you won't be disappointed. The Beauty of Gemina has reached their most mature level in music.