Sisters Of Mercy

(Thanks to Massimo Moro, who reviewed and updated the original text).
(Translated from my original Italian text by by Massimo Moro)

The Sisters Of Mercy will be remembered as, possibly, the greatest British gothic punk band. Even without the charismatic personality (and the major distribution deals) of similar groups likeJoy Division and Siouxsie Sioux, the Sisters of Mercy wrote some of the most exciting and driving songs in this music style.

The debut single of the band was a simple funk-rock song called The Damage Done (Merciful Release, 1980), but soon Andrew Eldritch (singer, real name Andrew Taylor) took control of the band (the other members were Gary Marx, guitar and Craig Adams, bass) thanks to his ideas. Body Electric (1982) was a voodoobilly: the SOM actually created a new style based on new wave classic horror topics, recycling Suicide and The Cramps in a gloomy and disturbing way. They made it also suitable for the disco audiences, adding electronic percussion. The b-side (Adrenochrome) was even more threatening, announcing the hurricane-like Temple Of Love.

The shock was increased thanks to the gloomy meditations led by the singer, which became even more solemn and dreadful. 1983 was their best year. Anaconda highlighted rhythms and guitar distortions, even if Marx and Adams diluted the project on its b-side Phantom, influenced by Duan Eddy's "twang" guitar playing, by Sandy Nelson's naive percussion and by Ennio Morricone's soundtracks. Alice, still related with Siouxsie and Public Image esoteric stereotypes, was marked by a dreadful rage, thanks especially to Eldritch's glacial and dark singing; Floorshow, its flipside, was a sort of Slavic voodoobilly sung by a Transilvanian vampire.

The Reptile House EP (1983) proved their maturity thanks to an extraordinary balance between Jim Morrison-ian melodrama (Lights) and Eastern music (Valentine). The ouverture Fix showed the Wagnerian excesses created by Eldritch, Kiss The Carpet, instead, celebrated a sneakier ceremony, injecting overdoses of suspense in these horror scenarios.

The Sisters Of Mercy's aesthetics reached its zenith in Temple Of Love (October 1983), a driving dance song evoking esoteric rituals, combined with lugubrious litanies, revealing terrific scenarios; the masterpiece of gothic punk and one of the greatest rock songs ever made: Eldritch sings like a David Bowie coming from hell, as frightful as a shivering zombie, while Wayne Hussey unleashes wild hardrock guitar riffs arousing evocative sensations. Menacing and horrid rituals, pursued by the band from the very beginning of their career, triumphed thanks to Temple Of Love, with the frightening psychic tension of a dreadful ceremony, thanks to its terrific and ever changing rhythms and its solemn/macabre melodies.

The band never repeated that amazing feat, but Eldritch went on singing in a feverish and alien mood, first in the single Body And Soul (June 1984), a morbid melody in a fatal atmosphere, and then on Walk Away (October 1984), which emphasized danceable rhythms.

The languid and sinister features of their Grand Guignol made First And Last And Always (Elektra, 1985) a depressing and evil ritual. The ballad No Time To Cry turned into a frenzied gipsy dance. The darkest track was Amphetamine Logic, reaching dreadful places thanks to Eldritch's ossianic tenor. Some Kind Of Stranger was exhausting, updating glam rock's stereotypical and melodramatic horror shocks. The title track combined a catchy refrain with classical melodies, and Marian was the catchiest danceable liturgy of the album. Black Planet Spanish melody was the only moment of rest during this satanic torture.

The dark Ulysses of gothic punk changed direction with the 40-minute EP Gift (Merciful Release, 1986), under the Sisterhood pseudonym. It was an experimental project, using synthesizers and manipulated vocals, with peaks of pathos in Giving Ground and Rain To Heaven.

The claustrophobic sound of Floodland (Elektra,1987) was a simple consequence. The glacially modernist arrangements benefit from the supervision of the genius of Jim Steinman. On bass is a rock witch like Patricia Morrison (formerly of Legal Weapon and Gun Club).

Hussey, meanwhile, has left Eldritch to join Adams’ Mission.

The sabbath-like atmosphere of Temple Of Love echoes in the obsessive forward drive of Lucretia My Reflection and drags the entire album into an orgy of synthetic dances propelled by a superhuman force. BR> Steinman’s touch, the supreme genius of rock melodrama, leaves a heavy imprint on the two most spectacular tracks, both counterpointed by an opera soprano choir and staccato synthesizers: the monumental This Corrosion, steeped in gospel and launched at breakneck speed, and Dominion, driven by a martial pace and no less overwhelming. Thanks to these four tracks (which occupy most of the album), Floodland remains one of the masterpieces of British gothic music. Just as chilling is 1959, a lied for voice and piano alone, the only track without a drum machine.

Vision Thing (Merciful Release, 1990) was released only after a long hiatus. Alongside Eldritch this time is Tony James (formerly of Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik), and the sound changes once again, moving even closer to the boogie of ZZ Top (Detonation Boulevard, When You Don't See Me, and Doctor Jeep). Vision Thing recaptures the feverish, animalistic shock of Temple Of Love with another textbook hard-rock riff, and on More Steinman once again steps in to build another of his pop cathedrals (with his characteristic female choirs and equally characteristic keyboards). The hallucinatory momentum and suffocating atmospheres complete Eldritch’s work of hypnotism, as he has grown immensely as a musician over the years while retaining the shamanic qualities of his voice.

The band also released a new version of Temple Of Love (1992), with heavy-metal guitars, tribal beat and emphatic singing complemented by Israeli singer Ofra Haza.

Under The Gun (1993) is a single with Teri Nunn (former member of Berlin) on vocals.

Eldritch was more than ever the true messiah of British goth, a visionary who has forged a language that is both powerful and simple. Few possess his ability to resonate with rhythms, to transcend their function of marking time, to internalize them almost to the limits of ferocious madness. In his otherworldly voice swirl the most terrifying specters of the modern psyche. His songs are journeys into the anxiety and unease of the modern age.

Eldritch’s backing band changed again, absorbing guitarists Adam Pearson (ex Red Lorry Yellow Lorry) and Chris Sheehan (a New Zealander formerly of the Starlings), later replaced by the Yugoslav-born Mike Varjak.

Massimo Moro wrote:

Eldritch released the embarrassing techno album Go Figure (1998) under the moniker SSV. He then abandoned music.