| A collection of goth/darkwave-minded groups from various locations in Europe and elsewhere, Defend the Palace is both a showcase for the Italian Palace of Worms label and the state of the gloomy arts in 2002. A partial continuation from the earlier Storm the Palace collection, Defend the Palace explicitly looks at medieval or medieval-inspired music as filtered through the lens of such creative neo-pagans as Coil, Current 93, and Fire & Ice, among others. The whole album could almost hang together as a piece, with a combination of swirling electronic backing and echoed keyboards and drums flowing through many of the songs, while acoustic guitar often prominently appears in the arrangements — a bit like This Mortal Coil, if achieved partially by accident. With all tracks exclusive to the album at the time of its release, it's certainly one for the fans of any of the groups on it to investigate (though Unto Ashes' opening number, "Funeral March for Queen Mary," is practically just a fragment). When the groups in question really embrace the sheer medievalism of it all, it usually works well — check out Furvus and its chanting delivery in "Te Deum Moro" or the elegant female vocal arrangements on O Quam Tristis' "Jube Domine Benedicere." The rough vocals on Loretta's Doll's "March of 10" add some more modern bite, though the music certainly tries to convey a certain martial, cinematic gloom. Many of the acts perhaps betray sources of recent inspiration more than anything else — for example, the Blue Hour's "The Night Is Windless," in which the vocalist sounds almost uncannily like Johnny Indovina from Human Drama. Other songs aren't quite so obvious — Dream Into Dust hints at acoustic Cure arrangements with "The Trial Invisible," while Socrates Wounded's effort has some of the prime percussion energy of Siouxsie & the Banshees. |
