Sierra Veins – 'In the Name of Blood' Album Review

6 hours ago
2 min read

Tracklist:

In The Name Of Blood
Memory Cells
Who I Used To Be
The One
Ain’t No Woman
My Poison
Desire
It Was Written
The End Of Time

French darkwave, EBM and synthwave artist Sierra Veins has released her second album, 'In the Name of Blood', which was released in November including collaborations with Carpenter Brut, Health and Gunship and is playing three gigs in the UK in March in Edinburgh, Manchester and London.

Trying to review this album is not easy, it’s so unique and at times challenging but at other times it’s as accessible as I’ve heard an album. Its atmospheric, its got a dance vibe to some songs which should work well live, but it does also live up to the anticipated darkness you would expect from someone who is a self-proclaimed dark wave artist.

I don’t know much about Sierra or influences on the album, but I did get some hints of Nine Inch Nails but more interestingly German band Propaganda in their 1980’s incarnation. However, as I said, I have no idea where the inspiration is coming from but it’s a wonderfully intense listen with a driven musical message. It’s like someone decided to write an update soundtrack for Michael Mann’s Manhunter, and now I think about it, there are some hints of Tangerine Dream (who wrote the original soundtrack) in here as well.

The vocal performance is intense, but I don’t think it’s the centrepiece of this music, Sierra’s voice is effectively another instrument, a part of the mix, not the focus. There is a rhythmic approach to this album that makes you want to move to it but when you pay attention to it you realise that this album is all about identity, knowing who you are, who you might have been and who you might become.

It’s not obvious at first listen but this is actually an introspective album, a re-examination of Sierra herself, when your music has been used in a national ad campaign and you’ve toured with some of the big hitters in the scene, played a number of festivals and generally had sone great initial success you probably need to take a moment to step back and work out what you’ve done, who you are and where you’re going. I don’t know if this introspective approach is what prompted the name change to Sierra Veins from the previous Seirra, but it works in terms of the music.

This is an album to sink into, to move to but to prompt you to ask you some questions about yourself. It’s not an album for you to listen to if you don’t like expanding your horizons so take that on board but if you want to try something new, something different, something you might not have listened to before then this is a really great album to test yourself, understand what you are willing to try and understand if you are willing to be open to something new.

This album is all about the vibe, the way it makes you feel, the atmosphere it creates. I think with the right venues this could sound immense live, time to get some tickets for the gigs? Absolutely!