Hateful Chains

The Project Goth Playlist Tag

I'm not a content creator on YouTube, other than our two music videos so far, so I wasn't tagged. But the originator of this tag, The House of Wyvern, has made it an open one, so all kinds of content creators may join. So, thank you House of Wyvern, all my respect goes to you!

At first I was thinking I'd write about some of Hateful Chains' influences, since I've had that on my mind anyway, but they are mostly those big names everyone in (and many outside) the subculture knows already. And they were already being done by someone. So, I thought, why not choose something equally important to the formation of Goth music and aesthetics than The Cure, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Sisters of Mercy, but maybe lesser known? And because singing and vocals is one of my passions and a professional interest, why not choose a singer's viewpoint? How about the singer, who in my opinion has been left a little bit in the shadow of the great Goth vocal archetype, Siouxsie Sioux?

I'm talking about Anne-Marie Hurst, the ex-and present vocalist of Skeletal Family, and ex-vocalist of Ghost Dance, which must be the lesser known of her projects. I came across Ghost Dance when casually searching around YouTube for some eighties' Goth music similar to those fore mentioned big names. I was born in the eighties' and maybe that's why the aesthetics of vinyl sound in that time, before the loudness war really exploded (cd's came) and everything, has really grown on me. Ghost Dance's sound definitely hit home.

Anne-Marie Hurst's voice is quite different from Siouxsie Sioux's. It's higher, softer, one could say more feminine, and has a throaty quality, in no way unpleasant. I've found in my profession that some people just have that kind of voice. Siouxsie, on the other hand, is chesty and commanding and lower too. If Siouxsie could be defined as mezzo-soprano, Anne-Marie is surely a soprano, and a true soprano at that. Just listen to the screams she does in the early Skeletal Family material. You can also hear that compared to Siouxsie, her lower register isn't that strong. But what does it matter? Well, to me, Hurst is an important example of using the strengths of one's voice to one's advantage. You don't have to be Siouxsie in order to do Goth music, you can find your own thing and use that. 

The first of Hurst's bands was Skeletal Family, which was formed from the remaining members of a former band, The Elements. The new group took their name from a David Bowie's song Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family. They released a single, Trees, and then were signed to an independent record label. Their first album, Burning Oil (1984) topped the UK independent chart. They then "gigged furiously" around Europe and supported Sisters of Mercy on their 1984 tour. On the second album Futile Combat (1985), was their probably most well known and successful single Promised Land.

After this Anne-Marie Hurst left the band to form Ghost Dance with ex-Sisters guitarist Gary Marx. The other Skeletals disbanded not long after...

Early Skeletal Family is quite Post Punk. Especially on Burning Oil there are the punkish tribal drums on almost every track, and Hurst's vocals are a combination of declamation and high screams with Punk frasing and long single notes in between. She uses much growling and yodeling effects to make it lively. The guitar sounds are already very gothy, much chorus and other effects are used. The bass is quite in the front, which is something they used to do in this era. (Joy Division too) Some of the songs are like a witchy horror story, with their declamation vocals and half tone melodies on guitar.

If you like Siouxsie and the Banshees' album Juju, you'll definitely find something here too.

The next album, Futile Combat, is already evolved into more of a Rock band, instead of Punk. The tracks are very up-beat, in many using the bass-drum-on-every-beat-rhythm with classic Goth style fills, which creates the air of tremendous energy. The guitars are much Rockier here too, and use an even wider range of different effects than on the previous album. Add to this mix the growling saxophones and voila! The vocals too are much more straight forward, some of the yodeling and growling still being there. The songs quite are varied in structure and style, and there's even a bubble-gum-pop-surprise you wouldn't expect from a Goth band. Promised Land is the most well known track of this album, but maybe my favourite is Street Light, just because it's so damn progressive. Oh, and Move really succeeds in incorporating the saxophone into a Goth Rock song, in my opinion.

Ghost Dance started out with a drum machine, and released their first single River of No Return in 1986. The sound, the guitar riffs, the vocals, all were now much more like classic Sisters of Mercy-Gothic Rock. They released a bunch of these singles, including some covers, before having an actual drummer join on their EP A Word to the Wise. On this EP they had in my opinion polished their sound and made it their own. There's a new softness and the melodic lines really compliment Hurst's voice. All the songs are just so singer-friendly! 

When I Call is really good, but so is Fool's Gold, can't choose. Their debut album was Stop the World after which the band slowly disintegrated. It's a more eighties Rock-album than the EP, with synths and guitar riffs lending their sound from the era's musical currents. Some one who likes classic eighties Rock, would certainly enjoy this despite not being a Goth. Me likes. Unfortunately, it seems that physical copies of Ghost Dance are very hard to find. Hopefully someone will re-issue them at some point...(Up-date: I did find Stop the World in a web store!)

But the story of Anne-Marie Hurst and Skeletal Family isn't over yet! In 2002 they reformed with the original members, Hurst included. However, due to some family issues she had to discontinue, and was replaced by another vocalist. The band released the album Sakura in 2005 with Claire Bannister in vocals. This albums soundscape struck me as reeeeally different from the original eighties' Skeletal Family. 

The guitar riffs and sounds are brought into this millennium and are quite heavy, using distortion much more than before. Even in bass. The atmosphere of menace and horror is still created with the use of the half tone harmonies, like in the eighties, and there's still some of the tribal drumming present. Bannister's vocals are ok, but cannot rival the original, in my opinion... I cannot help but comment, that compared to this album, the early albums and the Ghost Dance ones were incredibly well produced. It's the digital age, I guess.

In the 2000's they played at several festivals, including WGT and Drop Dead. The next album was Songs of Love, Hope and Despair (2009). It continues much like the previous album sound-wise. You could say that at this point it's clear that Skeletal Family has evolved into a completely different band than it was in the eighties. Which is what bands do, and it's their artistic right to do so. I can't really choose a favorite song from these albums, they're so different... Maybe Alive Again from Sakura? It's quite an atmospheric song.

So, after Songs of Love, Hope and Despair they disbanded again! In 2012 Hurst and the original guitarist and bassist re-formed the band with the assistance of two others, and they've continued with this line-up to this day. They also have a compilation album Eternal (2016), which contains singles, albums, live sessions etc. So if you've missed out the eighties, go for that.

If I were to choose, I would definitely go with the eighties' and Hurst's era Skeletal Family. Futile Combat is an excellent album! I could run for miles with that energy. But my favorite songs to sing are those of Ghost dance. And that sound production, boy, isn't that something to aim for?

Hypnosis