Rhombus - Open the Sky

  by Russell Ferguson

published: 27 / 1 / 2010

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Review

Rhombus are a band who don't make life easy for themselves. After recording 'Open the Sky' and having the covers printed the only thing left for them to do was to press their album and all of this on time and before Christmas so that Santa could leave a decent present for well behaved Goths. Just before going to press Rhombus, however, had listened to feedback from a variety of people all of whom said the new album was great, but the production was poor and distracted too much from the recording. Taking a brave step, they stopped the new album from being pressed so that it could be re-engineered to a better standard. Steve Carey from Eden House and formerly of This Burning Effigy got the job and it has to be said he has done a fine job. All this goes to show that just because you are a small, part time band (most of the members hold down full time jobs) it doesn't mean you have to take second best when it comes to your creative work. There is no denying that I am Rhombus fan and I enjoy immensely what they do, I have a lot of time for those who choose to spend their spare time in a band writing new songs and doing the best they can on a shoe string budget. Like many of my friends, I enjoy the more traditional Goth sound and I find Rhombus' music a breath of fresh air when compared with those more modern Goth bands that wail on endlessly about nothing in particular. Rhombus come across as more down to earth and solid in their sound. They make no bones that their influences are early Goth bands (The Mission, the Sisters Of Mercy, Rosetta Stone, Fields Of The Nephilim, the Cult, All About Eve, Ghost Dance) and they do sound very similar to many of these groups, but the biggest difference with Rhombus is that they write cracking songs. 'Open the Sky' is going to be a hard album to beat for many of the other Goth bands who will be releasing an album this year, ‘Lighting Strikes Twice’ the opening track, has a guitar riff that wouldn't be out of place on a Sisters album. Singer Ed Grassby's vocals are the main stay of the songs but it’s Mya's backing vocals that make the songs stand out and lifts them to above the mediocrity that they would be without her input. The title track, ‘Open The Sky’, is the best track on the album and highlights this point very well. With ‘On Denied’ Mya has centre stage for the song as it’s Ed’s turn to be a backing vocalist on what is almost a rock ballad, but for me this doesn’t work as well as the other songs. It’s hard to think of Wayne Hussey doing backing vocals to Julianne Regan on any Mission song and it’s the same here. Ed’s lyrics are, however, starting to develop. On this album they are less obvious, less clichéd, deeper, more thoughtful and as such more mature than their last album, ‘Remembrance Day.’ The whole album works very well and all the songs have been well thought out. It comes across as slick, well performed and a competent album. The fact that time passes quickly when listening to the album speaks volumes about the quality of their songs. Rhombus are smart enough to steer away from predictable Goth themes and by choosing subject and lyrics that aren’t overtly Goth it somehow makes this album stronger. Like all the good Goth bands they don’t wail on about lost souls, burning in hell or hating the world for being born. This album maybe a little too late for Christmas as the release date was January 4th instead of October 2009 as originally planned, but it goes to show that all good things comes to those who wait.

Track Listing:-

1 Lightning Strikes Twice
2 4472
3 Open the Sky
4 Addiction FFS
5 Almost Everything
6 Denied
7 One Day More
8 Leave You To Burn
9 Anywhere
10 Into the Rain