Back in the day I went through a bit of a grumpy goth phase, with weekends spent at Slimelight and evening classes in pretentiousness and fawning about a bit. Here at Ave Noctum towers where we deal in the more extreme end of the musical scale, I rarely get to indulge my inner goth, so when this disc from Italian electro goths Nude dropped in, citing influences of The Sisters of Mercy, The Cult & Joy Division, my heart filled with glum at the prospect. So I pulled on my skin tight black jeans (they fit fine before, I just filled out since my goth days), back combed my hair and slipped this into the player.
Comprised of members of metal acts Undertakers and Heimdall, Nude came about as a result of a shared love of the electro goth sound between Fabio Calluori and Antonio Puciarrelli, but after putting out a couple of well received EP’s in 2001 the band was put on hold as other commitments prevented them from taking the band out on tour. Twelve years later and Nude are finally back with a full length album, although the focus has shifted slightly in the music. There is a very pronounced indie trend throughout this album, not that it is necessarily a bad thing; just that it really gives the impression that they are looking for the popular vote rather than simply making music for the music’s sake. Opener ‘Shining Stardust’ has a modern jangly pop-goth sound about it, driven by a simple guitar riff and a twinkly keyboard sound. Tommy Box’s vocals are good if not spectacular, and his voice combined with the music brings to mind a little known 90’s one man project called The Nine’s ‘Dreamland’ album. The music is bouncy and catchy, as the majority of goth music since the first wave has been. When scaling back the keyboard sound as they do on ‘Down in the Garden’, musically they have more in common with The 69 Eyes without the hilarious comedy vocals. The songs are simple but effective, with catchy choruses that are entirely memorable even when they are not particularly outstanding.
The Joy Division influence stands out like dogs balls on ‘My World Today’ and you could imagine a slightly toned down version of this being delivered by Ian Curtis with a slight trace of sarcasm. Some of the keyboard sounds and arrangements bring Paradise Lost’s ‘Host’ album to mind, with some elements sounding unerringly familiar, most notably on the excellent title track which is the standout track on here.
It’s been quite refreshing to get an album of this style through here, something light and uplifting amidst the violence and grunts. Having adapted their sound somewhat for the indie crowd, I can see this being reasonably popular and is certainly radio friendly. More importantly than anything it is catchy and memorable, and that’s all you can really ask for in this style of music. For fans of Sisters of Mercy through to The 69 Eyes, there is much to enjoy about ‘Plastic Planet’. It’s never going to win any awards for originality or brutality, but most that doesn’t matter. Like most miserable goth music, it’s uplifting and fun.
(7.5/10 – Lee Kimber)
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