Reviews: Virginmarys, Impure Wilhelmina, Dan Byrne, Moonlight Haze (Simon Black & Matt Bladen)

Virginmarys - Beyond The House Of Fires (Self Released) [Simon Black]

It’s a new album; it’s an old album.

Virginmarys have been around since about 2013, and with five albums already to their name, the question of where to go next always seems to hit bands about this point in their recording careers. You can carry on treading the Indie Rock Grungy furrow you’ve been ploughing to date, safe in the knowledge that the fan base isn’t going to react too strongly to that yet run the risk of sounding repetitive. Alternatively, you can take things in a new direction and risk alienating that precious fan base if the change proves to be on the wrong bearing.

The third way, one perhaps reflecting any dissatisfaction the band may have had with their previous outing, is to revamp completely that most recent album – not by simply remixing or remastering what came before to squeeze a few percentage points of satisfaction out of the material, but re-recording from scratch in a much more moody and ambient vein, and see what happens in the marketplace.

Coming to this band for the first time I had no preconceived baggage to influence me based on the past, and I found this a rich, warm and hugely emotive piece of music. The songs are heartfelt, emotional, rather political in places and sound to me like a fresh voice in a crowded scene. My only criticism is that the whole record is a very melancholic one on first spin, keeping the same slower minor key pace throughout. But hold that thought…

So, for once actually bothering to read the press release led me to step back to 2024 and give its progenitor, The House Beyond The Fires a spin to see what the difference is. The answer is huge, to the point where this did not feel like the same band at all, despite the hugely distinctive vocal and instrumental signatures of the key players.

That first release is fairly straight ahead and predictable, very safe Indie Rock, and despite having the same songs at its heart this reimagining is on another level entirely. It’s far richer and cinematic in all aspects of its production compared to the rawer predecessor, proving for once and for all that you can be as rough and ready as you like if Rock’n’Roll is what you’re about, but if you want emotional impact then reverb baby, reverb is the way forwards. 

To be honest I’m simplifying things a bit there, but the point is every single track has a rich and well-crafted and layered soundscape that elevates each and every song into something special. Whilst there is nothing wrong with the first iteration, this one feels like something special. If this represents a change of direction, then it’s one that has my firm support. 9/10

Impure Wilhelmina - Le Sanglot (Season Of Mist) [Matt Bladen]

Geneva based band Impure Wilhelmina don't do things the easy way, their progressive, melancholic dark post rock has always been a swimming pool of influences colliding together to create elaborate and evocative music where the instrumentation collides in a harmonic discord. 

They've been a band for 30 years and have been releasing music for almost as long, building a loyal fanbase who are willing to accept any of the changes the band have made to their sound over the years. In recent times they've definitely hit on a style that suits them. With tours supporting Vola, Baroness, Crippled Black Phoenix and Sólstafir, these support slots telling a lot about what to expect from Impure Wilhelmina, complexity in the music, emotion in the melodic vocals and an experimental outlook on songwriting.

This fearless approach has led them to Le Sanglot (Sobbing) the follow up to Antidote and sees the Michael Schindl (vocals/guitar) writing and performing lyrics in French, for the very first time, his voice just as potent and heartbreaking in French as it is in English, even more so due to the innate sense of ennui there is in the French language.

He's joined by Sébastien Dutruel (bass), Mario Togni (drums) and they have recruited Edouard Nicod as a new guitarist, bringing a fresh energy to this veteran band. There's dreamstates of Dévoreur D'étoiles that shift into nightmares on Train Mort, which features Marion Leclercq of Mütterlein on screams.

While Larmes De Joie brings propulsion, Frelon Ivre adds post-rock brooding, Demain J'abandonne stripping back their sound to acoustics as it leads into the powerful closer À Jamais Radieuse a song that wouldn't sound as good in English. That's the crux of this record, played in another language there's a mystique but you can still hear the emotion in every word.

30 years of innovation and Impure Wilhelmina show no signs of running out of ideas, embrace the sobbing. 8/10

Dan Byrne - This Is Where The Show Begins (Frontiers Music Srl) [Simon Black]

The group of chums who frequent Steelhouse festival regularly have mentioned this gentleman’s name a lot to me. 

Admittedly in a slightly jokey fashion, as he’s quite the regular fixture at the event in one form or another, to the point that it seems an unusual occurrence if he’s not performing, which is made the more remarkable by the fact that we’re only listening to his debut album now. OK, he owes that credibility to a sterling turn with Revival Black that he pivoted from unexpectedly, but he’s run with it and the expectation he’s built around this record is deservedly his and his alone.

There’s been an EP and a bunch of singles so far, which the likes of Planet Rock hammer out hard, and in many ways he’s the classic example of new and younger acts that appeal to the ageing market that attend the likes of that event up in the Welsh mountains. You can’t help thinking that this is probably because some older relative had a good record collection, because this gent really knows how to bang out catchy and emotive tunes of the kind that would have made you very rich if radio play had picked it up forty years ago. 

Whereas so many of those classic acts struggled to manage a full consistent album, Byrne starts with a bang with Saviour, and proceeds to hammer the point home with another nine bangers to the point where I give up trying to decide which would work as a single, because the answer is all of them.

He’s got an incredibly charismatic delivery, and the songs are all arranged with the kind of precision that has clearly taken time and polish, whilst sounding energetic, fresh and absolutely in the moment. He’s avoided the temptation to ape a long-gone analogue sound with bang up to date modern crunch throughout and the album almost immediately sweeps you off with it from the word go.

The ten tracks on here are remarkably well crafted, with absolutely no fat to trim, but if I have a negative criticism, it’s that there are a fair few instances of lyrics that have fallen out of a time warp from the 1980’s, where perhaps they should have stayed. She’s The Devil and Cherry Leather have some really cringeworthy unnecessarily objectifying lyrics, but frankly it really won’t matter to Byrne’s core audience, who all grew up with their ilk. To be honest, it doesn’t nag for too long on me either, because the overall material and delivery is absolutely top notch. 9/10

Moonlight Haze - Interstellar Madness (Scarlet Records) [Matt Bladen]

At just 21:04 Interstellar Madness is a perfect introduction to the symphonic metal majesty of Moonlight Haze. Fronted by the incredible vocals of Chiara Tricarico, Moonlight Haze have been rapidly ascending up the symphonic metal ladder with their previous releases and the quality remains high even with a shorter entry like the is EP.

The triumphal title track is theatrical and cinematic, sung in English and Italian, the vocals shifting between the soaring cleans and the extreme growls and constantly shifting galloping rhythms that are such a part of this style. The orchestrations are dense, the drumming never lets up, there's backing choirs and more as Moonlight Haze show why they're so acclaimed.

Produced by Sascha Paeth (Avantasia, Angra, Kamelot, Edguy) a d mixed/mastered by Simone Mularoni (Wind Rose, Vision Divine, Twilight Force), Chiara's involvement as a live vocalist with Avantasia has certainly focussed more eyes on the band and as such on this EP, "a journey through cosmic landscapes" they sound more grandiose than ever.

From the galloping opening duo of Moonlight Legion and Lost In Moonlit Symphonies, through the battle metal anthem We Are Fire and the melodic modern bounce of Shine, Interstellar Madness is a Moonlight Haze's journey into unknown realms with very familiar soundscapes. 7/10