Dommin makes strong showing on 'Love is Gone'
Being labeled a “goth” band can bear it’s own stigma these days, unlike the goth heyday of the eighties. They forever suffer from a comparison to Siouxsie, or Bauhaus, or the Sisters of Mercy, and many of those self-described “children of the night” have developed a healthy cynicism for anything labeled goth in this age of emo lameness and idiotic teen vampire flicks.
But every now and then, a band catches the ear and distinguishes themselves from the pack.
Right out of the gate, Dommin opens their current cd, Love is Gone, with the anthemic — and catchy — “My Heart, Your Hands,” And establishes themselves as a band that bears watching.
Dommin aren’t blazing new ground here or setting the world on fire — just yet — but this is a solid debut on Roadrunner Records. What’s most impressive is the variety of music on this album. At times, the songs are rather mellow, even a bit sparse during the verses. Then at other times, more pop and, well, dare-I-say-it, bordering on perky, on tracks like “Tonight.” Although the majority bear the typical sad edge common to the genre, it is not wallowing in its misery, but almost hopeful, even on songs of loss like “Closure.”
I’m walking away from the things that drained my soul
From the things that took control
From the love that left me cold
Now I don’t hold any hate
And I don’t regret my mistakes
I’m learning to grow from the things that hurt me so…
Sometimes it works, and in a few, not so much, but you have to respect a band that is trying to stretch their boundaries and not just take the easy formulaic approach. The second track, “New,” was one of the weaker songs, but keep going to check out the aforementioned “Tonight,” to the wonderful “Love is Gone,” which screamed “Twilight Soundtrack” to the point I actually checked to see if they were on it.
Clearly, “My Heart, Your Hands” and “Love is Gone” are Hits with a capital H. They could have churned out an album full of songs all like this — and probably had a huge commercial hit — but they chose a more rugged path.
There are more gems here. Or diamonds in the rough, at the very least. Slap some silly lyrics on it, and the wonderfully quirky “Dark Holiday” could be a Voltaire tune. There’s also the melancholy pop beat of “Honestly,” the rock out track “One Feeling” which borders on gothic, fist-pumping hair metal (and I mean that in a good way,) the grand anthem “I Still Lost,” and the hauntingly beautiful album closer, “Remember,” which showcases frontman Kristopher Dommin’s vocal range from soft to soaring.
This is not so much a cd for swirling around the dance floor of some industrial club, but more for sipping absinthe by candlelight. Rather than the bleak hopelessness of industrial goth, it’s a throwback to a more romantic, classic, gothic sound.
They’re still in their infancy, but Dommin shows promise of a return to classic goth sensibilities — they’re a refreshing bit of Bram Stoker in a Stephanie Meyer world.
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