Artist: Velvet Acid Christ

Album: The Art of Breaking Apart

Genre: Industrial, EBM, Goth

Vocal Style: Distorted, Clean, Melodic

Label: Metropolis Records, 10/27/09

Parental Advisory: Yes

Recommended if You Like: Depeche Mode, Leaether Strip, Love & Rockets

Velvet Acid Christ has done their time in the scene and have earned their stripes.  From the noise and aggression of the earlier releases to a more polished and mature sound of today.  The Art of Breaking Apart is the 11th album for Bryan Erickson and there is definitely a real maturity on this record.  The album swings between industrial beats with distorted vocals into acoustic guitar and melodic clean vocals.  The acoustic guitar has to be for me the most shocking revelation in the new VAC material.  In a genre that is often piled high with more of the same, it’s refreshing to hear a breath of fresh air in a sometimes stale formula.  VAC does a great job at it but has one little misstep in trying something new and that would be the track Faithless.  Bryan’s vocals are a bit off key and while the rest of the album is pretty solid, this is the only real blemish on the entire creative return.

But that is really the only complaint I have with the record, apart from that this is a solid performance from beginning to end and like I said before extremely refreshing to hear some experimentation in the genre.  If you are looking for something new that might be a step from Depeche Mode into something a bit more dangerous I would give the new Velvet Acid Christ a spin in your media playing device of choice.  A solid record from beginning to end that never bored me or made me want to skip to the next song.  I look forward to hearing what VAC comes up with next.  3 1/2 Stars out of 5.

To Purchase: VAC: The Art of Breaking Apart

Velvet Acid Christ: The Art of Breaking Apart curtosy of Metropolis Records.

Posted under Uncategorized