The Damned – Evil Spirits

[schema type=”review” name=”The Damned – Evil Spirits” description=”Label: Specific Recordings” author=”Sarp Esin” pubdate=”2018-04-24″ ]

Get your nostalgia goggles on, we’re going back to the 80s when “gothic” meant an attitude towards music and the world rather than endless, inconsolable sadness.  The Damned are back and they are here to make you move.

The Damned was born in the punk rock scene in the 70s and remain a name for the ages.  They experienced a paradigm shift in the 80s and came to be associated with gothic rock and continued from there.  Evil Spirits is the eleventh album and their first in over a decade, although it is debatable if it’s “new” as the sound itself is still in the 80s (at times even earlier.) What do I mean? Well, the overall sound delivered here is bass-driven, grounded in Paul Gray’s plodding, driving bass lines.  With that as the center, you are treated to a variety of rockin’ riffs and some tasteful drumming.  This is accompanied at times by keyboards, specifically of the gothic (The Munsters kind) and the prog rock (the classical kind) variety.  The vintage feeling of the overall sound is so integral to the album that it all sounds damn well dated, which can either be a plus or a minus, depending on what you expect.

Evil Spirits is as jaunty an album as it is cinematic. The album is pure fun, start to finish.  From the cheerful We Are So Nice to the sing-along piece Procastination or the movie biker-bar scene track The Daily Liar, the album seeks first and foremost to entertain.  Despite teasing their gothic influences (Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow and Shadow Evocation being two clear examples) the album is firmly grounded in rock and in keeping things moving.  The aforementioned prog influences and the guitar work inject more energy into the music, be it spooky keys in The Devil in Disguise or the organs in Procastination, livening things up.  All of it comes together in a very organic, cohesive whole that carries the atmosphere of an old movie.  When it comes to vintage, The Damned delivery quality, that is for certain.

That being said, the album has structural issues that plague it both in individual songs and overall.  The songs in Evil Spirits tend to overstay their welcome even at standard song lengths. This bleeds into the album by way of too little variety, just a way too comfortable mid-pace.  It just feels like a struggle to “get there” rather than cruising on the wave of “being there.” With the presence of a less-than perfect track list, (Sonar Deceit and Look Left are both deathly unremarkable) boredom becomes an issue.  There is no more jarring example, however, than the closer, I Don’t Care which, for about a minute, manages to bring something far more riveting than the rest of the album combined.  Had they done that for the rest then Evil Spirits could’ve been far more engaging than it is.

At the end of the day, though, The Damned deliver a nostalgic, rockin’, old school album with neat trimmings, great musicianship and a nostalgic edge that cuts deep.  Remember when I said it could’ve been so much better? Well, it’s still damn good as it is.  I’d suggest you check it out.

Line up:
Dave Vanian – vocals
Captain Sensible – guitar
Monty Oxy Moron – keyboards
Paul Gray – bass
Pinch – drums

Tracklist: 01. Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow 02. The Devil in Disguise 03. We’re So Nice 04. Look Left 05. Evil Spirits 06. Shadow Evocation 07. Sonar Deceit 08. Procastiation 09. The Daily Liar 10. I Don’t Care

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