Murnau’s Playhouse
Sanity Show
Spider In A Matchbox
The underground scene in Finland really is quite vivid and has lots of activity. Here in This Is Gothic Rock; we have reviewed some of those good bands, most of them are very interesting Post Punk acts. This time here’s Murnau’s Playouse with Straight Gothic Rock, in this record titled “Sanity Show”. And yes, here we have pure Gothic Rock with influences of great bands such as: Every New Dead Ghost , New Model Army, Play Dead, and Corpus Delicti (in their days of “Twilight”) This sounds great. When creating and playing music, Murnau’s Playhouse works like machinery; their sound is pretty solid, with substance, attitude, and a personality of their own. This band is easy to identify: once you listen to them, their sound will be registered in your mind as a unique entity. When you listen to the term: “Pure Gothic Rock”, instantly three or four names come to your mind; but there were dozens of legendary bands from the 80’s. And certainly, they have led an amazing legacy. And Murnau’s Play House are worth heirs of it.
Since the first track: “Showreel”, their influences are very clear and their well defined sound is a truly delight if you love the 80’s Gothic Rock. But this style comes with a renewed energy, when it is executed by a really good band of this millennium.”Sister Violence” maintains the same strength of the opening track, combined with some well-made rhythmic transitions.”Her next twin” is melodic, emotive and nostalgic; very 80’s in feel.”Panopticon” is a turn to more energetic rhythms in the tradition of the good E.N.D.G., and some raw sound.”The blight” is simply captivating: Hypnotic guitar sound, the deep bass lines, the voice, and the drums are giving here such an elaborated rhythm. The essence of the early Corpus Delicti lives here. “White noise, white light” has a lot of class. The song is a melodic gem, and it could work as a very interesting single. It feels different to the other tracks; but at the end, it fits quite well in the entire concept of the album.”Bloodstopper” returns to the hardened rhythms E.ND.G. Style, and the guitars feel in the same vibe. The unique voice gives adequate emphasis to this powerful track; brilliant! “Smoke and mirrors” ends this record with passion and strong feeling; this song has atmosphere and intensity. It is great epilogue for this album so remarkable.
This band is very talented and this is a great record of the new millennium. Straight -In your face Gothic Rock (with capital G). Highly recommended.
Daniel Olvera
