22 Dec 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

Black Velvet Butterfly - Single Review: O.M.G. (Oh My Goth)

03 Sep 2019 // A review by Peter-James Dries

Do they still have clearly demarcated sub-cultures in this post-Hipster world? Are there still Goths, Nerds, Jocks, and the women who love them? Is it simply Millennials and Baby Boomers? Is there further granularity with ‘lit’, ‘woke’, ‘entitled’ and ‘old’?

You’ll have to pardon my ignorance. I’m old, and all of your young people music sounds the same to me.

Which is why this wasn’t something I expected to ever hear again. A pre-Manson Goth song in the post-Manson era. The grandfather of Emo, Lorde and Billie Eilish raised from the dead in the moth torn clothing and pale form of Black Velvet Butterfly.

True to the pure 80's Goth style, yet touching on the 2000's rebirth, ala A Dream of Poe and Faces of Sarah in the breakdown, their debut single, O.M.G. (Oh My Goth), is a love song for the sexily departed. All minor chords and cathedral keyboard patches. drum machines and reverb. A song that drops, instead of peaking. The goal of Goth music after all was enhancing your depression through morbid reflection and dance, not elevation and reaching for the lasers, .

This is an obvious passion project. The single and the video. A lot of work from one person has gone into it. “DIY. It’s in our DNA.” so the tagline goes. This is never truer than for a musician in New Zealand. As a profession and art form frowned upon by the target audience of the advert (and beyond), you have to do what you can yourself, because unlike America, there is no industry behind you to prop you up.

I know from personal experience how time consuming it is to create a single and animated companion video yourself. This artist’s journey mirrors my own personal path to failure in places. That’s why it’s earned my respect, but why I know it will never receive the listens it deserves, or likely even enough to make up for the hours that would have gone into this track and video.

There’s no place in this world for this song, but that was always the essence of Goth. Best parodied by South Park in the lyrics of the song played on the tape deck behind the Goth Kids; “I’m not part of your society / I don’t follow your fads and rules”.

For that reason, Oh My Goth gets five stars. While arguable, anything outside of the original body of Goth music can be considered a tribute, this song is true to the form and nature of the source. It's also my favourite genre, and most adored aesthetic.

It’s going to be tough to follow up. At least now they’ve exhibited their output they’re more likely to find band members.

You can find the O.M.G. (Oh My Goth) video on YouTube, and single on Bandcamp. Black Velvet Butterfly is on Facebook and Instagram for you Boomers and Millennials respectively.

Rating: ( 5 / 5 )
 

About Black Velvet Butterfly

Dark Rock from Auckland. Influenced by Type O Negative, Ghost, Marilyn Manson, Tool, David Bowie, Gary Numan, Nine Inch Nails, Blutengel, Chris Pohl and A Perfect Circle.




Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Black Velvet Butterfly

Releases

Black Velvet Butterfly
Year: 2022
Type: Album

Other Reviews By Peter-James Dries

AJA - Album Review: Kawai
13 Dec 2024 // by Peter-James Dries
Bilingual albums shouldn’t be special; they should be the norm. Or at least more common.
Read More...
Ra Charmian - Album Review: Waiata Wairua
08 Oct 2024 // by Peter-James Dries
Waiata Wairua is an album that wouldn’t feel out of place performed in a late night jazz hall in some alternate history where the successes of the Maori battalion lead to a proliferation of Te Reo worldwide. The sort of interest that saw your dad singing in French in the 60's, when Mireille Mathieu was knocking about.
Read More...
Ben Lloyd - Album Review: Leap of Faith
26 May 2024 // by Peter-James Dries
For over 30 years, this self-taught rocker from Mt Maunganui has been writing music. Now, for the first time since 2013, we finally get to hear his songs.
Read More...
Yann Le Dorré - Album Review: The Circus is Closed
19 Dec 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
“We are Sex Bob-Omb and we're here to make you think about death and get sad and stuff!” - Scott Pilgrim vs.
Read More...
Sanoi - Album Review: Echoes Of Home
25 Nov 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
Electronica offers no escapism for me. It’s more of what I already have.
Read More...
Throng - EP Review: Decoherence
20 Oct 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
You know that thing where the letter B has a personality, or words have textures and colours? That’s called synaesthesia.
Read More...
Fortress Europe - Album Review: Old World
10 Oct 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
Have you ever been torn between listening to Mozart or Periphery? Does Epica have too much of that darn singing for your tastes?
Read More...
Yurt Party - Album Review: Yurt Party
07 Sep 2023 // by Peter-James Dries
It sure isn't summer, and this is really not the Balkans, but Yurt Party’s new self-titled album refutes that. Back with another one of them Balkan rocking beats, Yurt Party’s debut is jazzy, erratic, and full of zest and energetic grooves, with flavour notes of ska, dub, and bergamot.
Read More...
View All Articles By Peter-James Dries

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • APT.
    ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
  • DIE WITH A SMILE
    Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
  • BIRDS OF A FEATHER
    Billie Eilish
  • TASTE
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
    Gracie Abrams
  • ESPRESSO
    Sabrina Carpenter
  • SAILOR SONG
    Gigi Perez
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
    Shaboozey
  • GOOD LUCK, BABE!
    Chappell Roan
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem