In Darkness We Unite E.P.

Seven Days of Night

Reviewed by Hana Leaper

'Rise' has the makings of a great song, slow-building with a hypnotic tick-tock beat and breathy, sexy, half-spoken half-growled lyrics. It doesn't take much introspective prodding to admit that this IS the voice of the stalker from your darker fantasies, and those ARE his words. Twisted daydreams aside – it needs work: as it stands, it's missing that extra bit of... something? Plus it could do with the spit n polish that the 'Outside Contraption Mix' has obviously received.

On its own, 'Outside' is decent (or indecent – whatever gets you off ;-)), remixed it's a cut above anything else being played during the 'industrial' half-hour – or however long it is that the good shit's being allocated in clubs at the moment. The difference between it and other contemporary and comparable cuts?... subtlety. The beats don't come pounding after your head like a coke crazed bouncer with a crow bar who's just seen you wee in his drink. It's thoroughly sinister, eminently danceable, but it always holds something back; avoiding the time-worn trap of exploding into the unnecessary and overzealous display of noize which most bands feel their duty to subject us to, akin to hearing a star-fucking-wannabe-porn-groupie pretending to orgasm under a fat, sweaty roadie, again and again and again. Y'see, it's just that bit cleverer, that bit more real, more gritty, more drrrty: mapping out the trajectory of a sleazy, drink, drug and lust fuelled night partying: from the kick-off “trading in secret, makin a pact”, until a good thing goes too far. And then, when paranoia and desperation kick in and you wonder at all the shit that's gone on, and if this really is IT?: “Call me a taxi...I wanna get out alive”...so fitting.

From the Numenesque synth, through to the rasped, sandpaper vocals, promising terrible things, the Outside remix conjures claustrophobically immediate images of desire, tainted with regret and a healthy dose of laconic morbidity. A promising experiment in S&M mood music from Seven Days of Night. They obviously know what direction they're headed in, lets hope in the future they'll kick up the shitstorm we're all waiting for.

To listen to/download these tracks, click here: www.archive.org/details/AMR043

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