Saturday 23 May 2020

Album Review: BEAUTY IN CHAOS - The Storm Before The Calm

Beauty In Chaos - The Storm Before The Calm



01. The Outside [ft. Ashton Nyte]
02. Almost Pure [ft. Steven Seibold] (Hate Dept./ Pigface) 
03. Temple of Desire [ft. Rafe Pearlman]
04. A Kind Cruelty [ft. Curse Mackey]
05. The Delicate Balance of All Things [ft. Wayne Hussey]
06. Stranger ft. [Kat Leon] (Holy Wars)
07. The Storm Before The Calm [ft. Adrienne LaVey] (CD & Digital formats only)



The first Beauty In Chaos album was certainly a highlight of 2018. Masterminded by guitarist Michael Ciravolo, it was a fantastic collection of modern Gothic and Alternative songs, which drew influence from the classic Goth bands of the 80's, but evolved a familiar sound into a contemporary modern masterpiece (read my review here). Being more of a collective than a band, Michael used an array of musicians in the project, and chose lead singers who were each perfect for the song or songs they performed. 

The following year saw the release of Beauty Re-Envisioned which, as the title suggests, a collection of different versions of songs from the original record.

Now we have the pleasure of the project's third album, The Storm Before The Calm. The first thing I noticed is that this only has six or seven tracks, depending on the format you choose. Even with just the six, it clocks in at a solid thirty-six minutes which is longer than most classic Death Metal albums, so there's that! Anyway, quality is more important that quantity.

Looking at the guests, I was delighted to see the return of The Mission's Wayne Hussey, and The Awakening's main-man Ashton Nyte.

Opener The Outside is a superb slab of atmospheric Gothic Rock, reminding me a little of The Cure's Burn in places, but a bit more chilled in its delivery. Almost Pure has a clear flavour of The Mission, despite ironically not being the track with Wayne on. My other favourite is Stranger, which is as beautiful as it is haunting.

Overall, The Storm Before The Calm is a different beast to the original album. Both are undeniably more Goth than Dracula listening to a Bauhaus album, but this new one focusses more on the dreamy, 'dark-ballad' side of Beauty In Chaos. Personally, I would have liked a couple of slightly more upbeat tracks in there to vary things up a bit, but that's just my personal taste. The songs on offer here are all well-crafted and the production is once again excellent. Despite not being as strong as the debut, which in fairness set the bar very high indeed, The Storm Before The Calm will no doubt please existing fans of Beauty In Chaos, and will impress any Gothic Rock connoisseur.

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