Camden Underworld, London
~review and photos by Jezebel

Camden Underworld, London
~review and photos by Uncle Nemesis

Ennui fanzine (Greece)
October 2003

DESCENDANTS OF CAIN
“Dreams made of ashes”

Close your eyes and feel the beckoning of “Soliloqui’s” hypnotic and wailing melody, and before you realize it, Darryl’s whispering “turn the key” will soon invite you to sail into the morphic ocean of “Briah”. DESCENDANTS OF CAIN are without any doubt one of the most promising bands in the contemporary gothic-rock scene. Ennui reached Darryl Kruger who carried the burden of answering some of my rather dull questions…

And so it happened… after the first few minutes went by I realised that “Briah” is more like an invocation or even a spirit journey to the dark side of the subconscious. I would say more like a nightmare rather than a dream. Still, Darryl would note: “I would agree about the invocation and spirit journey but I do not consider “Briah” to be a very dark album. This is what it’s like in my head. I guess that it’s the severity of focus that gives it a nightmarish edge…”. True indeed, since they are not your typical SISTERS or NEPHILIM clone band. They certainly do have a purpose and a vision. By all means, every single album is like a part of a strong thematological chain that has deep occult influences presented in an absolutely descent way: “Well as people we all have fairly differing views on life and what people call the occult, but the over all theme or vision has come from the book that I have been writing for…way too long now…Like each of the albums, the four major chapters are Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah and Assiah. The albums are my artistic interpretations of the philosophies and concepts of each of these chapters…”. So what makes this band so special? “…I would have to say its the mind set behind the music…I never write a song to make music but rather to convey an atmosphere or emotions. I believe the ability to make the listener feel what the composer was feeling at the time he wrote the piece is the true power of music. And this is the only type of formula I subscribe to when writing the songs. To make it as honest and emotive as the topic demands.”

The first thing that grasps your attention while reading the story behind DESCENDANTS OF CAIN is that the band “operates”more as a family rather than an ordinary band. Darryl: “This is true…it has been like that from the beginning. Since the day Philippa and I met Iain, we all just seemed to relate on a deeper level than just a group of people wanting to make music. Iain’s decision to leave the band came about for his own personal reasons, not due to any conflict or petty squabbling. In the past when there were problems we were always able to talk it through and compromise where it was needed. Even though Iain has left the band the “family” aspect remains amongst all of us as friends. “

“Briah” is superbly packaged. The artwork which the band has prepared is artistically impressive and it seems that they really do care to accompany their albums with a booklet that is well taken care of. It seems that the “visual” aspect of DESCENDANTS OF CAIN is …: “Very important. Not only does the booklet reflect the amount of care one has taken in creating the album, but also the visuals help to convey the atmospheres contained within the music. Thus all of our album covers have and will be labours of love”. Keep in mind that both “Atzilluth” (the band’s debut) and “Briah” were self-financed. How difficult is for a UK band to back it’s own release up, prepare the artwork and promote it? Seeking a contract with a label is rather difficult nowadays. Does it serve better for new bands to be in charge of the whole thing and keep releasing records by their own? “To be honest it has been very hard. Doing the artwork and recording aren’t too much of a problem these days as my studio has just about gone pro, but the finances to have the albums pressed were donated by several fantastic people. If it weren’t for them, these two albums would never have been released as CD’s at all. As for a label, yes I would like to find one that I could build a long and lasting relationship with but finding one that wouldn’t just be exploititive proves to be a considerable challenge.” Sad but true… so perhaps this is one of the reasons that the once “glorious” English new wave/gothic scene has almost “dried up” during the last 15 years. Still, Darryl has more to say, and I sense a certain taste of bitterness in his words “I guess that with a more and more club based scene live groups are finding it harder to get gigs in the UK. Attendances at most of our gigs have been relatively small, yet the clubs are always full. Secondly there is no money left in the UK Goth scene. People like myself and several of the bands I know do not do this for the money but after a few years of expenses being covered by the bands own funding the drain can be considerable. This is largely due to the fact that the amount of people who are interested in “real” music (and I don’t just mean Goths) are in the severe minority. Background music and quick fix, fun tunes are the flavor of the month. So “real” music simply does not sell as well as these fad based songs or bands. This comes as no surprise once you know that the big labels target audience is eight to ten year olds. And finally the lack of proper management and promotion has been a serious hindrance to bands here. There are no professional management companies who will take on alternative acts unless you can clearly be pigeon-holed, already have a target audience and can afford to pay £200 a month for their services.”
Ok, since Ennui is rather naughty we could not resist the temptation of asking Darryl if he would prefer to play a live show in front of narrow-minded goths or evil-looking metallers: “I think I’d prefer the metallers. They may be evil looking but at least I don’t know that their minds are shamelessly narrow”. Unfortunately dear Darryl stupidity is dominant in both camps.

Manolis Amolochitis

The description on their website is accurate: "New and powerful music from North London." Their live debut was at the Camden Underworld in October 1999 supporting Inkubus Sukkubus and The Screaming Dead. In 2000 they put out a self financed CD on their own label, spent 2001 developing and practicing and honing in on their second CD BRIAH while 2002 has had them at various gigs around London. They've become the house band of sorts at Tenebrae (Gossips nightclub, 69 Dean st. Soho London W1) where they can usually be seen playing on the last Friday of the month. With this promo CD - Evolution - the band has set it's sites on promoting themselves outside of their home town and have made a strike to garner some U.S. attention. Manager John Goodwin has been instrumental in getting these promos out to DJs and at keeping their e-list alive and chatting as well as posting updates regularly on newsgroups. By all accounts, this band is steadily and surely going to work its way to the top. If the reception of US DJs who've received this promo is any indication, Descendants of Cain is well on their way.

The EP opens up with the ghostly haunting whispers of "Ceremony" before early-era Bauhaus sounding guitars slink in and you get the first audio dose of Darryl Kruger's deeply eloquent vocals. Propelled by driving percussion - the song is dark, foreboding and mysterious. At points Darryl growls and the result is powerful and raw. It mellows out in the middle - a light break with melodic keyboards before it builds to a finishing frenzy. This would certainly appeal to fans of traditional goth rock, deathrock and even the metal-goth cross overs.

"The Bearer" is next. Darryl sings a deep resonating verse alone before quiet instrumentation kicks in. In tone I find its rather like Peter Ulrich's last offering (on Projekt Records) - cinematic, atmospheric, neo-romantic, neo-classic. I am amazed at how deep his voice goes and yet how graceful and in control it remains. His range is amazing - I am in awe. This is a thoroughly beautiful song - one that could bring tears to your eyes with its undulating waves of synths and emotionally dramatic vocals. If only half the bands I had to listen to would put this much feeling in their performances...

And finally, we have "The Fallen Kingdom" which starts out with subtle electronic pulses and shimmering guitars that works itself into a mid-paced groove backed by piano melodies. Not as dramatic as the others this song maintains its steady pace while the vocals move through it telling their story. As a testament to how versatile this band can sound - this song is more like something you'd hear from the electronically based Diary of Dreams.

If the range of these three songs are any indicators of what this band is capable of producing - on recording as well as live - we are certainly in for a treat. I cannot wait to hear more!

Tracks
1. The Ceremony
2. The Bearer
3. The Fallen Kingdom