Album: "Hex Angel (Utopia-Dystopia)"
Label: Metropolis Records (2003)
Style: Electro-industrial
Songs: 11

Reviewed by: Darklight

Bryan Erickson returns with his best Velvet Acid Christ (VAC) release since Calling Ov The Dead. When I first put this CD in my stereo and listened to track one "Haunted", I was not impressed. Basically, it sounds exactly like every VAC song from the past. Thankfully, the CD picks up with track two "Collapsed" and never looks back.

Bryan has made it very clear just how much he dislikes future pop music, and this is sort of an anti future pop recording. The songs are dark and sinister with a lot of hate and anger. However, they're still not quite as heavy and brutal as I was expecting them to be. There's a lot of mood, melody and atmosphere in them.

The VAC sound hasn't really changed a whole lot over the years. The music is still dark and haunting created with layered electronic programming, solid beats, eerie melodies, sampling and Bryan's extremely distorted vocals. However, everything here feels a little more polished and better crafted than past VAC recordings.

Thankfully, Bryan has toned down on the movie samples a bit this time. And the ones he's chosen are quite good and fit well into the songs. Most of them, other than maybe the ones taken from Ninja Scroll, Fight Club and The Matrix, are rather obscure and fit nicely into the music. I am also quite pleased that there's no "rants" on this CD like there were on Twisted Thought Generator. The less filler on a CD the better in my opinion.

Almost each and every song here is energetic and fast paced. There's several that would work well in clubs. But there's just the right amount of slower more mid-tempo tracks to add a good balance to everything.

There's only one song that I feel doesn't belong here. It's called "Eva", and is completely out of place on this recording. It's extremely slow and melodic with a light and bight melody. And even though Bryan's vocals are distorted, he sings rather softly. For someone who hates future pop so much, it surprises me that he put this song on the CD. Because without the distorted vocals, it could almost be an electro pop song.

There's overall some good variety to be found here. The addition of acoustic guitar in some of the songs is a nice touch. I also like the dark mood that everything has.

The problem with VAC in my opinion is that while Bryan continues to advance the music for the project, he continues to distort his vocals too much. Some of the songs offered on this CD seem too mellow to contain distorted growling vocals. And I feel it's his typical sounding vocals that sort of make every VAC CD sound somewhat the same.

While this Hex Angel (Utopia-Dystopia) is a great dark electro-industrial recording, I still feel it sticks too closely to the VAC sound from the past. I really hope Bryan tries something a little different on the next VAC CD.

Album: "Twisted Thought Generator"
Label: Metropolis Records (2000)
Style: Electro-industrial
Songs: 9

Reviewed by: Darklight

I was looking forward to this Velvet Acid Christ (VAC) release because there was a rumor that it was going to be an EBM/Synth-pop CD. I was really curious to hear what a lighter more dance friendly VAC CD would sound like. Unfortunately, due to depression, Bryan Erickson didn't go in that direction with this release. Instead, he decided to make a rather dark and dreary album. When I first listened to this CD I was a bit disappointed with it due to the fact that it sounded very similar to VAC's previous offering "Fun With Knives". However, after repeated listens I really started to take in the overall quality of this disc. From a music standpoint, this is the most mature and polished VAC release yet. There is a lot of drama, mood and emotion contained within each of the nine tracks delivered here. The layering of electronic programming/sequencing/sampling is very textured with beautifully orchestrated haunting melodies floating in the distance. The beats are rather energetic giving this music enough punch for the dance floor. Movie/voice sampling, while used, is used a lot less than in the past. Also, I personally like the chosen samples in these tracks more than what was used in previous VAC material. The overall music is a blend of dark techno, trance and ambient with a touch of industrial aggression. The vocals, as usual, are extremely distorted basically just shouting out the lyrics. They still blend with the music rather well, but I think that it's about time Bryan tones down on the effects used on his voice and allows his true natural voice to be heard. Singing with a little more melody and harmony wouldn't be a bad thing, either. With the quality of his music getting better, the same old tired growling vocals just don't work quite as well as they use to. There are a couple of really good instrumental tracks here that work extremely well without the addition of vocals. It's nice that Bryan included this kind of variety on this disc. The final track "Dilaudid" is one of the stand out tracks due to its mesmerizing soundscapes along with a combination of both Bryan's vocals and an enchanting female singer that adds an element to this song that really makes it an enjoyable audio experience. The only thing that really bothers me about this CD are the extremely annoying and out of place "rants" at the end of two of the songs. These are basically distorted spoken word moments provided by one of Bryan's friends. I cringe every time I hear them and have never skipped past anything on a CD quicker. These really do hurt the flow of the CD, and just don't pull off the effect that I think Bryan was aiming for with them. But the bottom line is that this album contains some of the most polished work Bryan has done with this project yet. No fan of electro-industrial or dark EBM should pass this up.

Reviewed by: Darklight

Velvet Acid Christ release another great CD full of their traditional dark and disturbing electro industrial music. While the band isn't really trying anything different here, they still manage to unleash some extremely quality dark electro. The music twists and turns with many sound layers while haunting synth melodies play in the background and angry distorted vocals shout out the lyrics. Some tracks are more beat and vocal heavy, while others are infested with chilling samples. There are a couple of really cool instrumentals here as well with a fast paced dark techno edge. I can't forget the song "Slut" where Anna from LUXT provides the vocals. So there is variety to be found here. Most of the songs here feature energetic rhythms and beats to allow everything to work well on the dance floor. But this is also very dramatic and emotional music that makes you think as well as move. While I do like this CD a lot, it's not much of a departure from what Velvet Acid Christ has done in the past. I hope that they try something a little different on their next CD.

Reviewed by: Darklight

This is a collection of older Velvet Acid Christ material, but it still sounds current. This is very dark, dreary, moody, eerie and creepy electro industrial music. It opens with two instrumentals that are a little too slow moving for my tastes. The CD begins for me on song three. Crisp and clean electronic programming/ sequencing/ sampling mixed with haunting synth melodies and extremely distorted evil vocals. The music here has a very cold feel to it that could most likely disturb some people. It's not for the timid. While the music is very dark, it's also fairly energetic as well with rhythms and beats that could work well on the dance floor. There is anger and aggression delivered here with sampled guitar to make everything heavier. The songs mix a lot in them where different elements come and go to keep everything rather interesting. However, there isn't really anything new or different delivered here. This is pretty standard dark electro industrial music for the most part. But it's well done enough to make it worth listening to.

Reviewed by: Darklight

The layering of different elements here is simply amazing. There is so much happening in these songs that there is no way to follow it all. You just have to enjoy the various textures and have an emotional roller coaster ride of the mind. What is delivered is very dark, evil, angry, passionate and alive with feeling and emotion. Electronic rhythms and beats overlayed on top of haunting and beautifully executed keyboard melodies, heavy drum beats, slight guitar, samples and snarling distorted vocals. These songs are pissed off and aggressive. Chaotic noise fueled psychotic electro sequencing combined with drama and littered with movie samples and strange sound structures blended into a tormenting nightmare. Cold melody and beauty mixed with inner turmoil and a bleak outlook on life. What more could you ask for? If aggressive dark electro is your thing, itjust doesn't get much better than what this album has to offer.