Customer Reviews

Darken My Fire - A Gothic Tribute to the Doors

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The above reviews are by misinformed doors fans. The Doors Tribute they are reffering to has not been released.

Darken My Fire is from indie label Cleopatra, who are best known for their stable of Goth and Industrial bands. These bands are clearly represented on this album, explaining the dark quality the above mentioned. If you like Indutrial and goth you will probably like this CD. If you like top 40 you will like the other one that isn't out yet.

I love this CD... but I'm biased; I love both The Doors (and lots of classic rock) and goth/industrial music. I was raised on The Doors, it was probably some of the first music I ever heard, and they influence *all* my music choices today. I also have a great appreciation for a large variety of music genres.

I bought both this and the tribute "Stoned Immaculate". I like both, but actually enjoy a greater *majority* of songs on this CD at first. The reason? The beat of the songs was changed less on "Darken My Fire" than "Stoned Immaculate" (although once I got the hang of the cadence on both, I enjoyed both, for different reasons). You'll find the music greatly changed in style and often in beat on "Darken", with a great change in inflection in the singing, but the songs are quite recognizable (and you can still sing along, for the most part).

It is more ethereal and atmospheric than the original Doors. It is definitely gothified. My favorite track is "L.A. Woman" done by Eating Crow. The beat is hypnotic. My least favorite was "People Are Strange" done by Nosferatu, mostly because it was changed too much and is one of my favorite Doors songs. "The End" is done beautifully by goth staple band Rosetta Stone.

If you like both The Doors and goth music, you'll probably love this CD.

Been WAITING for a buncha goths to make this exact album and honor these guys properly! A decent effort for Cleopatra. Some weak spots as usual (I would love to find one compilation that doesn't have the Electric Hellfire Club on it), but the stronger songs make the album worth buying, at least a used copy.

Standouts: LOVE Spahn Ranch's cover of "Strange Days". Athan Maroulis's gorgeous shot-of-codeine-syrup-on-the-rocks vocals pay just the perfect homage to Morrison's famous croon, but the tribal electrotweaker drums & thick synth backdrop make the song all their own. Love the Newlydeads-- they turn "Hello I Love You" into a sloppy batcave-rock number that should've been on the 'Return Of the Living Dead' soundtrack. And while I'm really not fond of techno, Alien Sex Fiend's gleeful trashing of "Five To One" just brings a warm glow to my heart.

I love the Doors originals and I love these modern interpretations. Cover songs that sound too close to the original are usually anticlimactic (viz. Echo & The Bunnymen's "People Are Strange" a billion years ago, technically flawless but hardly Bunnified at all). And I agree with the others here-- if you're a Doors purist, don't go buying ANY tribute albums, because tribute albums DO sound necessarily different from the original artist's sound. This is the idea: take the old influence and build something out of it. Long live Jim and vive le goth.

With "Darken My Fire" some of the most known of goth bands finally pay due homage to the band that essentially introduced darkness into rock music right smack in the middle of the Summer Of Love, The Doors. This is not a great tribute, this is not a classic tribute, in fact, some of the songs here are downright diviations from the original idea, but it is a truly fitting tribute. When Jim Morrison stepped on stage bathed in black leather and began singing, reciting and screaming his rich, dark, apocalyptic, visceral lyrics on stage, goth was born in the rock sphere along with other elements. Some of the tracks do stand out, Spahn Ranch delivers a very good "Strange Days" with electronically-tweaked vocals that pay homage to the Morrison original, there is also some great tribal drumming here. One disappointment is Eating Crowe's "L.A. Woman," this doesn't even sound like goth, it sounds more like a club dance track. Alien Sex Fiend deliver a naughty-sounding "Five To One" that is downright insane while the Newlydeads speed-up "Hello I Love You" and deliver an almost deliciously evil cover. The Electric Hellfire Club deliver exactly what you would expect from them, a "Light My Fire" that sounds like the version out of hell, very edgy and almost violent, but this isn't a negative for the band, because, well, do we not expect a band to cover a song in their own style? The Mission U.K. do a great "Love Me Two Times" that stays true to the original but with gothic flourishes while Controlled Bleeding do an equally acceptable job with "When The Music's Over," the only thing wrong with this track (which features keyboarding IDENTICAL to the original) is that it is not the complete 11-minute epic. The best track in the album is Rhea's Obsession performing "End Of The Night." This is a band that has become one of the great darkwave groups, their music is very atmospheric and evocative and here they render a version of the song that is truly hypnotic and expresses the essence of Jim Morrison's words. Rosetta Stone disappoint with "The End," this is not meant to be a techno song, this is meant to be a visceral epic of William Blake images. Mephisto Waltz are very good with "Peace Frog" in a version that is wonderfully atmospheric and dark, especially with the nightmarish vocals. Nosferatu do a terrible "People Are Strange," this could be such a great song for a goth band, I can perfectly see Marilyn Manson doing a creepy, disturbing rendition, but here it is once again converted to weird rave-like rantings. Doors music is like great theater, as the years go by we get good and bad performances. "Darken My Fire" isn't worth remembering much for, but it has it's moments and any true Doors fan should check it out to get a clear view of another area of rock music Jim Morrison was highly influential in. I guess we can also see here why this music will probably never go mainstream, but we should still give the bands credit for doing the songs and paying due homage to The Lizard King, who would probably like the stand-out tracks here anyway.

This is not really a BAD tribute album. It's actually pretty good. There are a few "dancy" tracks that i did not like or that i thought that it did not sound too "Doorsy" but most the the tracks are good.

My fave are Rhea's Obsession version of "end of the night" and Neferatu version of "people are strange"

give this album a chance and hear it for yourselves!

I realized after listening to this tribute album that it was the Doors behind Morrison's lyrics that made the band great so great. I just can't cotton on to this sound. In fairness, this isn't as bad as listening to Scott Stapp (who in character is the very antithesis of Morrison) try and cover the Doors.

I love love love this CD. I've been listening to it for almost 10 years now. I love the doors, but when I heard this alternative version I thought it was great. (I used to workout on the treadmill to it) It's fun to crank in the car too!

Various groups perform gothic interpretations of Doors' songs in this CD; another way to describe the music, with its murky instrumental and bass line overlays, could be "gothic baroque." The best songs are those that most preserve the basic melodies while employing overlays that fit the texture of the song. This is definitely accomplished in "Strange Days," perhaps the strongest track, in which the atmosphere is preserved and embellished, and "Hello I Love You," in which The Newlydeads pretty much follow the original but intensify the rhythm blasts and sing more forcefully than Jim. "The Spy" interposes a supplemental fast-paced beat to contrast with the otherwise-followed slow tempo of the original. Lovely female vocals from Rhea's Obsession grace "End of the Night," which is very pretty and one of the best covers. "Peace Frog" is also strong, and the most regular-sounding rock number. Among the long cuts, "Riders on the Storm" is well-done, great synth, and "The End" is intermittently successful, but "When the Music's Over" is too much of a carbon copy of the original and the singing is wishy washy. Warning 1: "Light My Fire" and "LA Woman" are not so hot, with grungy vocals and blah truncated instrumentals, and the most glaring omission is "Break on Through"--inexcusable. Warning 2: Keep in mind that one thing everyone, even Doors detractors, agrees on is that The Doors are listenable. Such a fluid sound, no fuzz boxes, synth distortion, etc. This set, while interesting, is not very listenable, with mostly gruff vocals, some distortion, and heavy texture. While it may not be totally a case of not wanting to listen to this CD more than once, you probably will not have the impulse to put it on in most of your moods.

The Doors and Jim Morrison have long been my favorite and most impressionable band since I was a wee lad. This tribute album is a worthy and amazing effort. Each song maintains the spirit of the original, while masterfully showcasing the styles and evolution of music that they aided in bringing about.

Screw that new "mainstream" tribute that is soon to be released. With such "artists" as Creed and Bush remaking our beloved Doors tunes, Jim Morrison is sure to turn over in his grave in Paris. This tribute is the real deal, representing artists that are real, not bastardized my the media, MTV, and the almighty dollar.

Peace

I was exceptionally happy to get this cd. There are a number of mentionable songs...first and formost Electric Hellfire Club and Spahn Ranch. This tribute proves that legends like Jim Morrison caused the revolution. This enabled future Musicians to evolve...long live rock

Noath Owl-Vocalist Cult of Ecstasy