Customer Reviews

Black Bible

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Whenever Cleopatra puts out a box set it's rush, rush, rush to get it - and with this one it's snore, snore, snore as you try to find good tracks. Although the overall box set is well put together, the "exclusive" and "first time on CD" labels are misleading. Most of the tracks are well known, though the mixes are not the typical ones encountered. Unfortunately - these variations are often not up to the more popular and commonly accessible versions of the tracks.

Good groups, ok music. Fair price given how expensive The Goth Box and some other Cleopatra box sets have been in recent history. PS to Cleopatra - if you want to include Industrial in a box set like this, you may want to aim for more than six tracks of it. Anyone who picks this up for a solid industrial gothic mixture of music stands a fair chance of disappointment.

I can't believe that anyone would bad mouth this compilation! One reviwer says that Cleopatra Records just pumps out compilation with no regard for quality. Clearly they didn't see the booklet included in the box set. It's packed with photos and info about each band and it's track. This is the greatest "goth starter" package available. Each disk covers one of the four corners of "Goth". IT'S GOTH 101!

I suppose it's difficult to please fans of Goth, who tend to look on the gloomy side of things by definition, but I think this collection is very good! There are four CDs in a nice case and the extensive liner notes are quite informative and entertaining.

Here you'll find cuts from Alien Sex Fiend, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Magenta, Die Krupps, Mission UK and many others, many of them on a compilation or for US distribution for the first time. Of course not all of your favorite groups will be here and you would undoubtedly have put on a different song than the one selected, but with the great range of music and the great written information, chances are you will learn something as well as discover a few new favorite groups.

I am a big fan of old school gothic rock. The new stuff is pretty good...and so is this collection. The booklet inside contains an explaination from Athan Maroulis (Spahn Ranch). According to him, the compilation was missing something and needed a fresh start so to speak. So the collection includes some darkwave and industrial artists. I was excited. I haven't had much exposure to industrial music because I'm still kind of stuck in the 80s. What made this just ok for me is that some of the worst songs by many accomplished bands and artists made their way here.

The Die Form song was absolutely awful. And where in the world are the Sisters of Mercy?! Seriously, they are the embodiment of goth to me and they aren't even on here! The Mission doesn't even make it on here until the 4th disk...and it's not even a classic!! And did everyone just forget about Shroud?! I sure didn't!!!! The Bauhaus song was pretty crumby too.

It's not a total bummer though, there really is some great stuff on here. Die Laughing made the cut (although it is an instrumental), there's some Big Electric Cat, and Ataraxia. The Ministry song, Everyday Is Halloween, is a great choice! I haven't heard it in many a year. And I absolutely love Dinah Cancer (45 Grave). The Cruxshadows are amazing. Rasputina is awesome. I think, more than anything, I was hoping for a little more goth.

If you are new to the genre, DO NOT let this be your first compilation! Start out with the classics like the Sisters of Mercy, the Banshees, Joy Division, and the Bauhaus (and particularly a better Bauhaus song than what's on here). As much as I hate to admit it, the latest compilation, A Life Less Lived, from Rhino Records is the best place to start.

All the same, if you happen upon this collection, go ahead and buy it. Some of these bands have long since broken up and now their music is EXTREMELY hard to find. I was lucky to set my hands on this; and while I'm not wild about it, I still enjoy it because most of it is just good music.

I purchased this album yesturday and simply can't get enough of it.

I'm not sure why exactly it seems to be getting so many bad reviews; sompe people seem to be complaining that its not just one genere of music: "Goth rock", "Goth", "Darkwave" or whatever else when apparently they haven't even read the booklet that came with this compliation cd

"Orginally, this collection was going to be similar to previous releases such as Goth Box, in that it would feature only "Gothic music", When compiling began, it became blatantly obvious that the material needed a fresh approach." etc. etc.

As for the people that say that the songs choosen for this album were "mundane" or unorginal, or whichever else; I wonder why they purchased this set in the first place without even looking at the back of the box; everything is clearly marked there plane as day.

I don't mean to start any kind of "Flame war" here, but I feel that the negative criticism that this album has recived is un-fair based on the incompetence in its authors.

Oh, the person I had purchased this compilation from also meantioned that it seems that this is also going out of print, so if you manage to track down a copy I would highly suggest not passing up a chance to get this.

There is indeed goth rock on here, but there is also way too much industrial and Darkwave.... It is a decent c.d. but not exactly good. There could have been some really good older bands on it instead of really bad over redundant industrial/ebm/darkwave.
I don't really recomend this cd unless you like industrial. Industrial is nothing like goth or goth rock, and I wish compilations would just do one or the other.

"The Black Bible" is Cleopatra's best-packaged compilation ever. The "book" style was likely inspired by The Police's "Message in a Box" anthology. A booklet provides notes on each track. Many of these tracks are "exclusive" or "previously unreleased." (There's often a reason for that, folks.)

Disc 1 ("The Old Testament") focuses on post-punk founding acts like Bauhaus, Legendary Pink Dots and Virgin Prunes. Ministry's "Everyday Is Halloween" is hilarious, given the wrath of every Ministry album since "The Land of Rape and Honey." Their alias tune (1000 Homo DJs - "Supernaut") is a big, fun rock-stomp. Die Form ("Kagami") sounds as goofy and random as ever. There's a consistent new wave/punk feel on this disc.

Disc 2 ("The New Testament") moves forward a few years to more darkwave, danceable stuff. Spahn Ranch's "An Exit" has a creepy, well-sung appeal. Nosferatu's "Torturous" continues the Fields of The Nephilim tradition. Corpus Delecti has the most gothety song with "The Lake." The second half of the disc is weak and synth-heavy except for Greek band Into The Abyss' rocker "Malvasia."

Disc 3 ("The New Revelations") introduces more female singers. Rhea's Obsession's "Waves (Take Me Alive)" has ethereal with some guitar guts. Burning Retina's "Write My Name in Blood" is a standout, with a slinky 80s style and blues bass. Numeralia's "Seasoned" is sweet in a Christian pop manner. Santeria's "Untitled" is a great piece of surf-punk. The other highlights are The Cruxshadows' goth/new wave/darkwave "Monsters" and Trance to The Sun's "You Can Never Cut Your Hair, both dancefloor gems. Magenta closes the disc with an ABBA-goth tune, "One Mind."

Disc 4 ("The Apocrypha") gathers the tracks they couldn't quite place in discs 1-3. Rasputina's "Transylvanian Concubine" survives the Marilyn Manson treatment. Chako's "A Flock of Birds" is dignified and memorable, mostly piano and voice. Christian Death's "Mirage" must be somewhere on the "Cabaret" soundtrack. Eerie Von and Mike Morance give us one of the weirdest throwaway cuts ("Cinerarium Waltz"). The last two tracks are excerpts from interviews with Siouxsie Sioux and Robert Smith (The Cure); both have a "Spinal Tap" quality.

The content is hit-and-miss like always, but the packaging is awesome. So, if you're a collector, it's a pretty good deal.

This is truly one of the worst Goth and related genre compilations I have ever heard. With the PARTIAL Exception of disk # 2, the songs chosen of even the best bands were among their worst or most mundane songs. It almost seems as if someone was given a list of bands and their songs and said 'pick songs to go on this album' they put up a list of songs up on a board and picked them by randomly throwing darts at it. Great bands on disk 1, but again they picked some of the more mundane songs overall from Bauhaus, Legendary Pink Dots, Die Form, Christian Death (Disk 4) and some of the more classic favorites. Again- on disk 2 which showed the most promise for other than the utterly mundane they had poor song choices- for example they chose 'Drool' for Switchblade Symphony (which is a band I truly adore otherwise) which is one of their least impressive and mundane songs. Though they made it clear by the intro this was not just 'goth' music, but supposed to encompass Industrial and Darkwave as well, I was stunned at how little Gothic and Darkwave music there really was- and was perplexed as to why they bothered putting metal-related bands on like Two Witches and several others on the compilation. A few good songs scattered on disk 2 and 3, but why pay for 4 disks of music with some to a few good songs on each, when everything worth listening to could have just gone on 1 album? Hours of boredom listening for a few gems.

For a good compilation I would recommend the Goth Box and the Disease of Lady Madeline.

All I can really tell you is that this is one well made box set. It really captures the gothic/industrial mood that I was definitely looking for. My only question: "Where the hell is Joy Division?"

While old school goths may ask "where are Joy Division, The Damned, and Johnny Cash (he was 'the man in black', after all)", and Newbies might ask "Gary Newman? Didn't he go to school with my Dad?" they'd be missing the point. This is the perfect gift for somebody who SHOULD be into Goth but isn't. You know, the guy in the cubicle next to yours who keeps askin' "What's that you're listeneing to? It's kinda cool." or your teenage cousin who hates Britney Spears, but doesn't know that there's anything else out there. Hey, thirty bucks for four CDs that might change/save a life.