Showing posts with label Victoria Mazze. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victoria Mazze. Show all posts

Monday, August 13, 2007

The Divine Madness - Secrets

by Frank Gualtier -- 08/12/07, 08/15/07

The Divine MadnessIt's been just over a year since I last wrote about The Divine Madness1. A lot has happened since then and the horizon is filling in so I think an update is long overdue.

I'll tell you about their album Secrets -- and bit more.

Let's start with the current lineup.

The Divine Madness
Victoria Mazzè - /2
Chris Ride -
Chris Cano - //keyboardist
Moni Scaria - (3)
Dylan Halacy - drummer (?)

In 2006 they released the Precious EP containing the four tracks Closer, Precious, The Future, Crawl and Redemption.

Later that same year they released their debut LP Secrets, a whopping 23 track 11/12 double CD set.

Secrets - Track List
Disk 1
PARADISO		Disk 2
INFERNO
01Haunted01Total Addiction
02Secrets02The Future
03Gentle03Precious
04Blessed05Show Me
05If Tomorrow Comes05True Love
06Wish06Dirty
07Closer07Push
08Forsaken08The Sorrow
09Dust09Pacify
10Wonderland10MIA
11Redemption11Crawl
12Until The Break of Day
Secrets (double) LP © 2006 MazzeCanRide Music ASCAP (635961079224)

Here are some samples you can listen to or purchase. (excellent review reading music)


Note: Contents of sampler are subject to change.

The genres covered by this album are rock4, 'new wave'5, and a heaping helping of victoriandustrial6 which is beautifully haunted by Mazzè's gothically7 angellic voice and the often operatic8 vocal harmony arrangements. Combine that with rich yet smartly restrained guitar and a set of synth9 patches keying everything from ethereal strings to toy piano'ish10 sounds (think ) and you get a decidedly 'through the looking-glass'11 flavor. Though always rhythmic there are even reaches to 'electro dance'12 here -- a portent of ensuing persuasion. I did mention 'new wave'5.

The content largely covers dark themes from tacit vampirism and death to loneliness and dark fantasy as underscorings to otherwise traditional songs dealing mostly with love and with loss. Most curious and attractive I think is that these don't seem to be the songs of a depressed poet emoting, but rather the works of happy minds exploring. No surprise that 'Alice in Wonderland'13 comes up time and again in association with The Divine Madness. Thank you Grandma Brown14.

Secrets is an enchanted musical odyssey of considerable depth served up in bite size tracks.

The Divine Madness is a group of prolific and tireless professionals. They're also sticklers for perfection. It shows in their sound, their look and everything they touch.

From pen to master15, cover to cover, Secrets is one of the best albums around. It contains a few songs such as Closer and Precious that alone are worth it's entire purchase.

Last I read Secrets was nearly sold out and the band is considering selling a reprint as two single albums 'Paradiso' and 'Inferno'. If you'd like it in it's current incarnation you might want to hurry.

Currently their music sounds like it's heading into more 'electro dance'12 territory. They are, much to my pleasure, doing this without sacrificing that special sound they have and though it stupifies me as to how -- they just keep sounding better everytime I hear them.

If you want to hear their latest hit them up at their myspace profile and check out songs such as 'The Hunger', slated to track one of their upcoming albums 'Rapture'. In a word -- G O R G E O U S. And you'll hear precisely what I mean about bringing in the dance w/out sacrificing their sound.

They're still hugely underrated but I have no doubt in my mind that the road will rise up to meet them. I like to consider myself a part of that road.

-frank-

Videos by The Divine Madness


YouTube / Brightcove


Closer


Gentle


Faith


Links for The Divine Madness:

Notes & References
1Touring the Indies 07/17/06 Article: 'The Divine Madness', 2(UBL) the ultimate band list Profile: The Divine Madness (see bio), 3Kidneythieves Website - KT | News (aka ), 4, 5, 6 Music - a genre created by , 7/, 8A slow or style of singing usually associated with , 9, 10, 11(,and What Alice Found There - 1871 ), 12, 13 - 1865 , 1415 - a mixed master from which copies are made

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Monday, July 17, 2006

The Divine Madness

by Frank Gualtier -- 07/17/06

The Divine MadnessHanging out on MySpace has it's perks. I recently caught wind there of The Divine Madness and while I can't attest to their mental status I can say that I'm enamored with their music.

Fronted by the captivating voice of two time Victoria Mazze they sound something like a cross between and Celeste Lear with a bit more lean towards and darkness. Victoria's voice is breathtaking with a curiously original yet familiar that makes me think of a hybrid between and Lijie.

Victoria Mazze (VOX), Chris Cano (Drums) and Chris Ride (Keys) make up the band. They write and perform their own material and credit "JOHNNY BURKE & RAIN" (Guitars) as "special guest stars".

They currently have one 4 track compilation out with the Precious EP and the debut full length Secrets is due out soon. Last I read it was up in the air but they may be releasing Secrets as a double disc.

A video for the song Closer is included on the DVD for the movie "Bram Stoker's Dracula's Curse" and can also be viewed on their MySpace profile. This is well worth the time even if you're on dialup as it cache's after one run and you can replay it with no streaming glitches after it buffers up fully the first time.

I've embedded the stream of the video below.



The Precious EP can be purchased from their online store or their MySpace profile (see the links below).

If you haven't heard The Divine Madness you're sorely missing out on some really good music.

Links for The Divine Madness:

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