Friday, November 22, 2019

Black Feathers - Demo

No one will ever confuse me with a death rock enthusiast, but I definitely have a soft spot for macabre post-punk when it's done in a very particular way. Black Feathers can be seen traipsing through various graveyards, remote wooded areas, and witches' lairs throughout Portland, Oregon if you look closely enough. Singer Thin Lizzy Borden and bassist GG Allin Poe strike an uncanny resemblance to Lexxi Vexx and Scott Von Rocket from Lexxi Vexx & The Modern Gentlemen. Joined by Kevin Cross Eddie Van Helsing and David Lee Goth, these mysterious figures seek to restore Goth rock's good name on a four-song demo that hearkens back to the heyday of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, and The Cure. Undeterred by confronting his evil twin, Scott Von Rocket produced this EP with great attention to every last frightening detail. "The Deck" is some first-rate dark wave featuring spooky keyboards and lead vocals from Ms. Borden that will give you both the good and bad kind of chills. Dear god, what a voice! Reading the lyrics, I'm unsure whether I should be amused or afraid to ever leave the house again. The band theme "Black Feathers" sounds like the death rock song you always wanted X to record. "Big Shiny Bomb" is a cover of a song by Lexxi Vexx & The Modern Gentlemen (imagine that!) remade from punk into Goth...and you'll be convinced it was written to sound like this! "Thursday" is a ghastly slow burn and definitely the creepiest of these four songs.

The closest I ever get to following horror is watching the news, but The Black Feathers check off all my necessary boxes for haunting and pitch-black post-punk. If you long for the days when Goth rock had a punk rock attitude, perhaps you will dare to seek out this demo.



-L.R.

https://blackfeathers.bandcamp.com/releases 
https://www.facebook.com/blackfeatherspdx/ 

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