Search - London After Midnight :: Violent Acts of Beauty

A good political eye opener, with a few minor flaws

DJ Argus | Monmouth County, NJ | 11/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"London After Midnight is probably still one of the most listened to Gothic bands today. One of their problems though was getting an album out within due course, and after nine years they finally have come through. The good thing is, it's an album with a political stance, with lyrics that go through your head and stay embedded in your heart. Though the problem is that their style of music seems to have changed with the charged political music.



London After Midnight's new style seems to be more electronic oriented in a majority of their songs. The songs themselves seem to describe themselves easily with the titles, so it's easy to figure out what you are listening to within the first or second sampling. With electronic sampled songs like Are You Feeling Facist, The Kids are All Wrong, and the dance beats of their lead single, Nothing Sacred, it seems they turned from Goth Rock into EBM after nine years. The only songs on the album that seemed to survive this transition are Heaven Now, Pure, and finally, the only song on the album that sounds closest to their old selves, Love you to Death.



The best song on this album for the dance oriented electronic crowd is the track 14 extended dance remix of "Nothings Sacred" (only available on the special edition) and for the Goths who want to remember LAM for the band they grew up with, Love You to Death is your best bet. The good part about this new side of London, is that they don't go into the same repetitive style that other Gothic styled bands would do (you listen to the same band for too long, it might seem like you are listing to the same songs on each 'new album) and their political stance may make you more aware of what is happening around you. The bad part is that they do pull away from certain things that made their fans listen to them in the first place and it makes people wonder if they are trying to alienate their old fans and create new ones from a different flock (changing from Goth to Electronic possibly). Hopefully this new style of London After Midnight will thrive, but hopefully in the next album they will give a more even mix of their Gothic oriented songs to their new electronic style, to show they haven't forgotten about the fans that loved them in the past."

Claims not to be Goth, but why still dress the part?

Ghost of Odin's Court | The land of chocolate | 05/11/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I really used to love this band. They were one of my top favorites for a long time. But after the constant Goth-bashing of Sean Brennan and all the irritating political pushing, I grew distant and eventually stopped liking them.



Still, when the new album came out, I figured I'd give it a try. I expected it to be decent, at least on some level, but the whole thing came across as very sterile and trite to me. Honestly, I'm tired of hearing this whole "music isn't important unless it deals with important world issues" type of opinion, and that seems to be Mr. Brennans mindset, and unfotunately the mindset of many of his fans.



And while this album is far from Goth in most lyrical/aesthetic aspects, it does has the dichotomy of appealling to people of said subculture. The band still even dresses the part; and at the risk of sounding shallow, I must say that it's one thing to hate the Goth culture, as Sean does, but to continue to present that sort of image to the world and make music that at least sounds the part yet gratuitously denounces the subculture as a whole....well, it sounds far too pretentious to me.



And my opinions on the bands mastermind aside, this album is really far too polished for something that wants to be energetic and punkish with a strong politcal message at the core. Don't get me wrong, I really think Sean believes this stuff and I even share many of his morals. Yet, to bring them out in this light, with this kind of meticulous overdone delivery with all pomp and no bite, kind of make the whole thing rather boring.



Remember, I am only one guy. I'm not trying to destroy the band or discourage everyone from buying their albums. I'm just a disgruntled ex-fan and I wanted to give my opinion about a CD from a band that has, in my eyes, fallen so very far."

LAM is back, with brains, wit and integrity intact

Buzzyness | New York USA | 01/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It was a long time coming but Violent Acts of Beauty is here and its fantastic in every way. Many have talked about the "new sound" but that's a load of b*llocks. LAM is still LAM but way better. The production is stellar (the most immediately noticeable difference from previous CDs) but the lyrics are even more biting and witty than ever, and the music is original and driving. Each song is a little picture of our world in the the last 9 years since LAM released Oddities. And each song is even a little bit of theater. Perhaps 'concept CD' is a description that can be applied here, however each song stands alone very strongly.



While always exhibiting a political side, with this CD Sean Brennan is a little more in your face with two songs in particular, "America's a [...] Disease" and "Republic". "America's a [...] Disease" is apparently a homage to the legendary Gil Scott Heron's song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (according to Orkus music magazine interview). In it, songwriter Sean Brennan lays out a clear and disturbing portrait of the world's last super power. As much a critique of the people than the leadership, "America's A [...] Disease" is unlike anything you've heard from LAM in the past being that it's supposed to be sort of 70s in it's sound and lyrical style, but still very much LAM. Sort of like LAM's song "Kiss" but lightyears better.



According to the press release from the record label, "Republic" is "a .50 caliber shot across the bow of a warrior, and his county, who goes to war without questioning why". And in typical LAM style it bleeds sex, depravity and brains. Quite a combination.



The rest of the CD is of equal of higher quality. It astounds me that the depth of this CD, the layered meanings to each song and in the CD booklet art, has been lost on so many who have reviewed it here.



Take "Complex Messiah". A song clearly with a raging double meaning, supposedly a critique about God and man, but also generally- about creator and creation. Not that there's any God complex in LAM (that accusation is even preemptively addressed in the witty title) but Brennan opens up and unleashes on his own creation (or rather, perhaps those he's been forced to deal with as far as the live and business aspects of that creation are concerned, according to interviews). Very clever and just a cool song.



"Pure" is a tear jerker, no doubt. It's,,,,, pure. That's all I can say. Beautiful in every way. It moves you, I don't care who you are or what music you like. This gets to you.



"Fear", a song from the Saw II original motion picture soundtrack release in Europe, is an amazing song and the CD art clearly points out the humor and double meaning in the lyrics. Just fantastic. But the sound is really unique, jungle drums, heavy guitar, distortion all over the place. Another killer track.



Look, I'm not gonna go through each song. Just buy the darn CD. You'll be more than happy you did. It's the best release of the past few years. And definitely the best release associated with the goth scene in the past two decades.



LAM is back, with brains, wit and integrity intact. Those who are afraid of truth, originality, and pushing your boundaries, beware.



If you want another copy band who panders to the stereotypes of a tired old goth scene, who doesn't challenge you, who you'll outgrow once you're over puberty, this ain't for you. If you want subversive art that pushes the goth sound to new levels and deeper meanings, this is what you've been waiting for. Highly recommended."