Velvet Six

07/03/2015

 

Coming from the city of Kokkola, here are the guys of Velvet Six! Let's discover more about this band which music is described as "gothic rock that combines the atmosphere of H.I.M., the arrogance of Billy Idol and the multidimension of Muse"!

This gothic rock band started as a duo - formed by Olle Wallenius and Henrik Björkgård - playing covers and named "Hollow" back then. They began to look for new members and once the lineup was complete, they started to write and compose their own material. Their first album under the name Velvet Six, Dark City Nightlife, came out in 2011 and was greatly received by the audience. After some changes in their lineup, the band got the opportunity to open The 69 Eyes' show in 2012.

Velvet Six is now about to release their second album: Demons Los Divas will see the light of day on April 10th 2015 through Inverse Records.

Line-up:

Olle Wallenius - Vocals

Richard Vikman - Guitar

Christoffer Solborg - Guitar

Henrik Björkgård - Drums

Miro Kronqvist - Keyboards

Matias Muotio - Bass

The album opens with the synths of "Twist". Accompanied with powerful guitar riffs, strings and loud drums, we are told to dance the twist with the dead all night long! I'm pretty sure it will sound great live. The crowd may however headbang instead of dancing. Still, it is a really good song.

Then comes "Demons Los Divas", the song that gave the album its title! At first we get the impression the song's gonna be heavy, but then the instruments get silent to let the vocals take over. The guitar in this song is excellent and so are the backing vocals in the chorus. I can hear the influences of H.I.M 's music in this song.

We are plonged in a nightmare with "Something Evil". The variety of synth sounds reminds us of the horror movies' soundtracks and the gang vocals give us the feeling of a macabre ceremony with ghosts and evil spirits as guests. If we combined this song and the works of Tim Burton, it'd give something really awesome!

"Back to Back" brings us some calmness with its soothing atmosphere. The bass line accompanied with the piano goes great with the vocals and the powerful chorus is a nice contrast to the verses. This time this song reminds me of the works of Muse, particularly the album The Resistance.

The ballad "Lightkeeper" accentuates that soft atmosphere. It's a very melancholic song. It is interesting to hear how it gains in power and volume as it plays, how the guitar goes from light notes to heavy riffs, how the synths replace the piano and how the grunt vocals replace the softer ones.

Heavy riffs and crazy synths make "Loves Like". The calm moment of this album seems over! This song is a blast, telling us that "Love's like cyanide, you crash and you burn". The bass is loud, the guitar is wicked good and so are the vocals. Here's another song that will sound great live.

I'm not really fond of the distorted intro of "Underneath", nor of the synths in this song as they sound too loud, strange and almost taking over the vocals. However the guitars balance those and we end up with a pretty good song.

Another synths-only intro with "The Family". But this time they don't overtake the other instruments in the rest of the song. On the contrary they complete each other greatly. The change of tempo from the verses to the chorus is really nice: the verses are played quite fast, and everything slows down when comes the choruses. Special mention for the outro, which is also great.

"Blood Rain" is a surprising song and my personal favorite. With the first heavy riffs and bass, one would think it's gonna be a powerful and heavy song. But then everything becomes quiet and soft. Is it a ballad then? Well, no. This song mixes all this and it gives a killer track. The vocals are particularly great and this addition of female vocals is a real plus.

The album ends with "I Saw". It is a slow paced song, melancholic and dark. It is too bad that the vocals sound much louder compared to the music. The main vocals and the backing vocals also tend to make the choruses a little messy. The music itself is pretty good, unfortunately not enough to make this song memorable. It remains my least favorite song of the album.

Demons Los Divas is described as "a story about demons and divas that affect our everyday life". The songs are answers to those demons and divas hurting our feelings, with themes such as love, death and nightlife.

It is true, Velvet Six is greater than ever with this second album. As a huge fan of H.I.M. I was at first curious to hear it and I have to say I'm not disappointed. If you're like me,then look forward for the release of the album, scheduled on April 10th 2015!