Seance

• Genres: Rock
• Representative Albums: "Awakening of the Gods," "Saltrubbed Eyes," "Fornever Laid to Rest"

Biography

A textbook 1990's death metal band from Sweden, Linköping's Seance were never distinctive enough to compete with like-sounding but more inspired contemporaries such as Entombed, At the Gates or Edge of Sanity, but ultimately served as an incubator for important heavy metal bands yet to come. Formed in 1990 and featuring vocalist Johan Ekström, guitarists Tony ‘Toxine' Kampner and Patrik Jensen, bassist Bino Carlsson, and drummer Micke (a.k.a. Mique), the band recorded a demo called "Levitised Spirit" before signing with homegrown Black Mark Records and issuing two very competent, but not quite unique albums in 1992's Fornever Laid to Rest and 1994's Saltrubbed Eyes. They then chose to go their separate ways in order to find greater, individual renown: Jensen, Toxine and Mique all put in time with death metal institution Satanic Slaughter at one point or another, and founded horror-enthusiasts Witchery, to boot, while Jensen also found time to join neo-thrashers The Haunted full time. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide

Blood Red Buy this CD

Awakening of the Gods Buy this CD

Saltrubbed Eyes Buy this CD

Fornever Laid to Rest Buy this CD

• Artist: The Church
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1983
• Genre: Rock

Review

The cover may have looked like something of a goth record of the era, though then again not many goths would have used pink as the dominant color of an album. On this, the band's third full album, the band consolidated the advances of Blurred Crusade well; if Seance isn't as immediately striking as the first two albums, it still has its share of winners, starting with the opening "Fly." Its string-synth touched, stripped-down arrangement almost sounded like something from the Chameleons' quieter moments, but the following "One Day" returned the Church to more familiar ringing-yet-forceful guitar territory. One very curious thing about this song and many of the others on the album has to with the drumming -- while Ploog very much remains the key credited drummer, here and on many other cuts nearly everything sounds produced by a particularly muffled drum machine. Whether or not one was used, the result is at once stiff and more than a little underwhelming, making what should be stronger songs sound more run of the mill than they are. Even the otherwise excellent remastering of the early catalog when the albums were reissued on Arista can't save some of the problems. Aside from this major flaw, Séance keeps at the understated guitar groove that the Church rapidly made its own, containing marvelous songs like "Disappear?" and the nicely paced "Electric Lash." Experimenting with keyboards more provides some nice results, as the Kilbey-and-synth introduction to the lovely "It's No Reason" shows. Meanwhile, the interplay between Willson-Piper, Koppes, and Kilbey on their respective instruments remains strong, with many noted strong points: the dramatic, tense build of "Travel By Thought," the low-key combination on "Electric" bursting into keyboard-touched life on its choruses, and the quick, punchy "Dropping Names." ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Fly	Steve Kilbey	The Church	(2:12)
One Day	Steve Kilbey	The Church	(4:36)
Electric	Steve Kilbey	The Church	(6:03)
It's No Reason	Steve Kilbey	The Church	(5:54)
Travel by Thought	Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes, Marty Willson-Piper, Richard Ploog	The Church	(4:35)
Disappear		The Church	(5:46)
Electric Lash	Steve Kilbey	The Church	(4:25)
Now I Wonder Why	Steve Kilbey	The Church	(5:40)
Dropping Names	Steve Kilbey	The Church	(2:57)
It Doesn't Change	Steve Kilbey	The Church	(5:52)

Credits

The Church (Main Performer), Steve Kilbey (Bass), Steve Kilbey (Keyboards), Steve Kilbey (Vocals), Peter Koppes (Guitar), Peter Koppes (Organ (Hammond)), John Bee (Engineer), Russell Kilbey (Harmonica), Nick Launay (Producer), Nick Launay (Engineer), Michele Parker (Vocals), Marty Willson-Piper (Guitar), Marty Willson-Piper (Vocals), Richard Ploog (Arranger), Richard Ploog (Bongos), Richard Ploog (Drums), Richard Ploog (Keyboards)

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