October Burns Black - “Two Worlds Collide”
Full Album
Released June 24th, 2022
Two Worlds Collide | October Burns Black (bandcamp.com)
Lineup:
James Tramel - Bass
Rod Hanna - Vocals
Lars Kappeler - Guitar
Tommy Olsson - Guitar
Simon Rippin - Drums
Mastered by Gordon Young
Two Worlds Collide is Goth Supergroup October Burns Black’s first full length release and is straight Goth Rock with a capital G. Does it reinvent the goth wheel? Nope. Is it boring? Not by a long shot! OBB take all the core Goth genre nuggets that define the sounds and vibes of 80s and 90s goth and executes them masterfully into a beautifully flowing, darkly emotive, and hopeless 10 track wonderland. All without falling over the edge into derivative.
Ok, I said this band is a supergroup. Let me explain. James Tramel is the bassist for The Wake, who needs no introduction. Iconic 90s goth. Rod Hanna was the vocalist of 90s goth band Return to Khaf’ji (listen to their 95 release From Darkest Skies); Lars Kappeler played in The House of Usher (more great 90s goth) and Sweet Ermengarde (00s goth); and Tommy Olsson plays with Long Night (a late 2010s band). And Simon Rippin who you may know from Red Sun Revival, Grooving in Green or The Nefilim on drums.
So not only is this an all star cast of veteran musicians, they represent individuals who have found success across 30 years of goth rock. And it shows. The album has a great flow from spacious slow tracks like Fickle to the ballad and title track Two Worlds Collide.
Divide and Conquer
Black Veil
Tightrope
Regress
Fickle
The Grand Leveller
Blind Faith
Condemned
All I Never Wanted
Two Worlds Collide
Fave tracks:
Tightrope - I love that you can hear the instruments and the picking on the guitar. I love that it sounds human. And get this, there’s a guitar solo in this song that I don’t absolutely hate. This track is so far as of current listen, the high point of the whole album.
Regress - I like the vague rockabilly vibe on the guitar. And the way Hanna’s presence and vitriolic performance parallel the lyrical themes of hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance.
Two Worlds Collide - I love that the lyrics parallel the echo effects used on Hanna’s vocals in the intro and clean up as the track enters into the main body which is very ballady to me. About halfway through the track, the whole tone of the song changes and the whole tone from Hanna’s vocals to the instrumental work takes a more jaded and hardened turn.