Negative Bliss - Wicked Game EP
Negative Bliss are a four piece band from New Jersey. They play a mix of death/doom metal and dreamy David Lynch pop that you might see at the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks. They have a mix of clean and distorted vocals.
This was one of my first MP3 purchases on Mirlo, which is a pretty great open source alternative to Bandcamp that I signed up to last week. I decided recently that I want to discover more independent bands in the hope that one of them might turn out to be my new favourite band. I wasn't quite that blown away by this band to that extent, but I'm definitely going to check out more of their stuff and I did enjoy the EP.
The Wicked Game EP has two songs. One is a cover of the Chris Isaak song, and the other is a cover of The Cure's Lovesong from the Disintegration album. All money from the EP is donated by the band to Trans Lifeline, which seems like a great community organisation based in the US.
I always enjoy it when bands put their own spin on a cover version, and Negative Bliss definitely do that in both cases here. Their version of Wicked Game sees the dreamy, dark surf ballad of the original transformed into an 8 minute death/doom track that reminded me of Paradise Lost in parts.
It took a little too long to get going in my opinion, but we get the payoff with a really satisfying build and crescendo to the song. A good doom band knows how to use dynamics to their advantage and they pull it off here for sure. I enjoyed their cover of Lovesong even more, and I was impressed with how they slowed the tempo down and made the mood of the song even more doomerish than the original, whilst keeping the pop sensibilities intact. I listened to the EP the morning after I bought it on the train to work and had the song stuck in my head all day.
I would definitely recommend checking this band out. The EP is pay what you want, but the suggested price is $2, or about £1.50 if you live in the UK.
