Customer Reviews

Wytches & Vampyres: Best of

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Inkubus Sukkubus is one of my favorite all-time bands, and this cd contains some of their best music. I have all nine of their previous works. My favorites on this cd are Wytches and Heartbeat of the Earth. They are a pagan rock band with neither fluffy bunny goddess songs nor death metal growls. Candia can sing! I can't really compare them to any other bands but would strongly recommended them to people who like female-fronted rock bands, pagan rock, or goth. I hope that Amazon adds sound clips to help promote people buying this cd!

The great British pagan hard rock band Inkubus Sukkubus has been around for about 10 years, but none of their albums were released in the U.S. - until now! This best-of compilation is a great way to introduce yourself to this amazing band.

Fronted by lead vocalist Candia Ridley - a vocalist with amazing range who actually SINGS instead of screaming, screeching, or growling - and backed by the blistering riffs of guitarist Tony McKormack, Inkubus Sukkubus' music is steeped deep in Wiccan / pagan spirituality and goth imagery.

The opening track, Heartbeat Of The Earth, is the heart of paganism - our close, spiritual bond to nature - our mother earth. Beltaine is a beautiful ode to the May 1st holiday, which celebrates the springtime rebirth of the maiden mother Goddess and Her union with the young father Horned God of nature, who, by the way, is NOT Satan. Wytches is a rousing anthem in tribute to the esbat - the full moon celebration ritual dedicated to the Goddess - and the song ends with Candia and the band chanting some of the Goddess's many names - Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna.

Tracks like Vampyre Erotica and Take My Hunger show off the goth side of the band. Personally, I like the pagan songs more than the goth ones, but some of the goth tracks are very good.

I wish this had been a 2-disc set, because there are many great IS songs that didn't make the cut, but deserve to be in a best-of compliation. Several I can think of off the bat are Pagan Born, Queen Of The May, Burning Times, and the heart-wrenching anti-war song Atrocity, which is sung, quite well, by Tony McKormack.

Inkubus Sukkubus is huge in Europe and has a solid following of devoted American fans. Maybe now they will release all of the band's albums here. They're better than 95% of what passes for hard rock here. Until the rest of their albums are available, treat yourself to this best-of disc.

- Eric Petersen

I heard Inkubus Sukkubus by accident on Web-radio one day ...and it was one of those rare life-altering events. I was a pure Rock n' Roll Guy for most of my life, but hearing the pristinely pure and yet somehow tormented voice of the incredibly beautiful and obscenely talented lead singer Candia, I was hooked. Some say that a picture is worth a 1000 words... well tangentially, I say this woman's voice cannot be described in words...it simply left me speechless... I bought all their albums (imports included) within the week and have told everyone I know... I am planning a trip to the UK just so I can see them perform...They are just that good...

What Makes Inkubus Sukkubus so amazing are their lyrics and instruments are fantastic as well...so there is much more to this band than the stunningly hot and super-cool lead singer who I now feel like praising all over again... (Man she is so talented its makes it even more of a sin that Brittany spears is famous and Candia is not...) But back to the band... They really are amazing... They experiment with different production techniques and sounds so that no two songs are the same despite all having a strong pagan/wiccan influence... You can download some of their songs from their Website... please give them a try... you wont be disappointed...

I cannot over-emphasize how much you need to buy this album (and all the other Inkubus Sukkubus Albums) If you are a young Goth you likely have them already... but even white collar lawyer-schmucks like me can benefit from the mind expanding experience this bands music provides...I thought I was clever before...but I have learned so much from this band... My life has been changed for the better... and yours will be too if you let this goddess sing for you...

Thanks for everything Inkubus Sukkubus... Blessed Be!


Relic113

I don't know much about Inkubus Sukkubus. In fact I'd never even heard anything by this group before chancing a buy of 'Wytches & Vampyres'. In the past I was only familiar with their name but have always been curious to hear what their music sounds like, so naturally when Cleopatra Records released an affordable 'Best Of' compilation featuring the highlights from their previous works, I just had to get this!

Although I agree with another reviewer who complained about the poor quality of production here, which is weak like a lot of older 80s discs are where you have to crank up the volume just to retain even a fracture of the sound being projected, the songs all but make up for that. Candia has a killer voice that'll put you under a deepened spell while the drums hypnotize and the guitars send you soaring!

If you're like me it's unfortunate your late in discovering this hidden gem but now is a good enough time then ever to definitely check out this Pagan Goth band (especially if you enjoy Faith and the Muse and Switchblade Symphony) since there's really not a whole lot of respectable Goth music being made anymore, and this is hands-down some of the best I've had the dark pleasure of hearing; most notable tracks being "Heartbeat of the Earth", "I Am The One", "Vampyre Erotica", and my personal favorite, "Heart of Lilith".

This is a really unique band. They use what sounds like a violin quite a bit, and also the sounds of a pipe organ. Combined with the electric guitar and drums, as well as the female singer's beautiful voice and well-written lyrics, the effect is quite haunting. The production could be a little better, but the music is fantastic.

Update: I wrote this review five years ago and this has become one of my favorite albums.

I always wanted been curious about the pagan goth band from the UK. I keep seeing their name thrown around on the 'net but I just never heard their music...up until now. I recently picked up "Wytches & Vampyres: The Best of" cd over the past weekend. After listening to the cd a few times, I have grown to love Inkubus Sukkubus. The music reminds me of a harder edged Switchblade Symphony and maybe a smidgeon of Siouxsie & The Banshees. Lead singer Candia has a killer voice. It is nice to hear a woman like Candia sing instead of shriek like a banshee. It is hard for me to pick out my favorite songs on the anthology. I just love all the songs but if I had to pick, I would have to say that "I Am the One", "Take My Hunger", and "Belladonna & Aconite" are my favorite songs. They really stood out with me. I hope someday the band's albums will be given a proper release here in the states. I would love to get their albums without having to pay import prices. "Wytches & Vampyres" is an excellent introduction for new listeners to this legendary band. I know it was a great introduction to me.

I was very sad that this CD didn't find its way into my store until a few months later than the release date. I had to have it specially ordered for myself.

Anyway.

This CD has a compilation of all the greatest songs done by this gothic band. They came from the era during switchblade symphony and all of those goth bands, after Sister of Mercy and such.

This stuff is good. Real good. I wish more bands sounded like this. They truly are goth. Dark, mysterious and singing about the different Gods of paganism.

All of their songs seem to tell a certain story on a lot of different aspects of paganism.

My favorite tracks being "Vampyre Erotica", "Heart of Lilith" and "Away from the Faeries". All of these track have the singers voice lilting and falling over the hard driving beats of the music, only to show with a beautiful chorus.

Truly dark. Truly beautiful.

Having read the other reviews, I feel duty bound to offer a contrary opinion.
Over the past 15 years this band have frustrated as much as they've delighted.
On the one hand they're one of the most exciting live bands around. What with those rousing Celtic-folk-tinged rock anthems, combined with their athletic stage act and Candia's young-Cher-ish sexiness - they're guaranteed to excite even the most jaded audience, whilst turning mild-mannered Goth hardcores into dervish-dancing lunatics at the flick of a sequencer-switch.
But...in the studio their extreme self-imposed limitations are all too apparent. Immersed in their own little world, unable or unwilling to absorb new influences, or notice when their creative machinery has ground to a halt, they've taken self-derivativeness to ludicrous extremes, until (at worst) the listener may feel insulted, cheated out of their money.
There's nothing wrong, as such, with using most of the same tune for two separate songs (Chuck Berry, Gary Numan and numerous blues artists have done it). And there's nothing wrong, as such, with recycling chord progressions (jazz thrives on it). But when a band or artist appears unable to do anything except conspicuously recycle pieces of their past - chord-progressions, melodies AND lyrics - with only changing synth timbres and production techniques to distinguish the new material from the old, they become "beyond a joke".
It's made worse by the fact that I.S have never completely burned themselves out: even their worst albums (i.e Wild) contain one or two songs in which they have a new idea worthy of further exploration and development. But they almost never explore and develop these ideas, instead these songs remain token glimpses of unfulfilled potential - possibly happy accidents, rather than the result of craft - as the band chooses to fall back on those same tired old riffs and tricks again and again.
Which brings us to this compilation.
What I.S needed was a 2 CD compilation which brought together their most creative material; proved that they were capable of diversity; made them seem more musically versatile than really are, at least on an individual album.
Alas and alack, this isn't it. Where are those acoustic tracks ("Gypsy Lament", "Conquistador"), those instrumentals ("Whore of Babylon"), those peculiar '80s AOR style numbers that pop up from time to time ("Soul Inside", "She Is Gone"), those exquistely-arranged ballads ("Trinity", "Lammas Song") and the upbeat songs lifted right out of mediocrity by a new sound or two ("Goblin Jig", "Turnera")? They're not here!
Instead we have a predictable selection of onstage crowd pleasers and/or live staples. To be sure there are some fine songs here - "Vampyre Erotica" with its peculiar list of personal services and occasionally harmonised vocals, "Starchild" proving they can write in a major-key if they want to, "Preacher Man" with those fabulously angry lyrics which actually presaged the Catholic child-abuse scandal of the early '00s, and the surely-immortal "Belladonna and Aconite" (which Candia once admitted was actually about "the effects of hallucinogenic drugs").
But there are too many songs which just go through the motions - no matter how many times they've been played live, "Heartbeat of the Earth", "Take My Hunger", "Catherine" and "Wild" are far from first-grade I.S material. And sometimes they haven't picked the right versions: a slightly different mix of "Heart of Lillith" (sounding as if the tape had been slowed down) was released via BRV magazine in '95 and is definitely superior to the standard-issue version. And the fatal flaw remains: sameness. A full disc stuck in that one groove almost from start to finish - it does them no favors whatsoever.

This is a pretty good CD, I would recommend buying it.

i love this cd, every song has a since of magic to it.the lead singer has a great voice and adds a special kind of magic to every song.i highly recomend this album to anyone into the pagan/wiccan scene.