Back in the early 1990′s there was a band called Sins of the Flesh. It was an emerging power on the UK underground scene as proved by their seminal debut First Communion and live engagement. However, before moving to greater things the volume was turned down and the band seemed to fade away, becoming a whispered legend among the followers it nabbed the first time around. Who knew that 16 years later SOTF would return as a Japanese-British hybrid ready to unleash its crucifixion-inspiring tunes on the world again.
Being in the unique position of knowing a bit of what has gone on in the past three years of band-resurrection, it is inspiring to see to what extent SOTF has gone to to get to the point of releasing a new double album and nailing in a tour of Germany to boot.
The new line-up for the band mixes in quality performers from Osaka, such as Sadie from Speecies (ex. Jubilee), Ai from Jet Pepper Tower and Canaria formerly of Psychodream (sad I never saw them), along with the UK core of the band, Jude (ex-patted in Osaka and junk-boarding for Despair) and John (still in the UK, formerly of Comsat Angels and Bailey’s Comet).
Soundwise, I cannot really compare SOTF then and now (I stopped listening to new stuff from the late 80s to early 00s – sue me) but I do know enough of what was going on back then to say this plays the sweet spot as a new variant of a fine theme – the psychologically disturbed mix of industrial and electronika redone for today’s tastes. It is something for people that yearn for the past to be played with current-day verve. They have kept the core, re-routed the guts and got the sound to work as retro and new at the same time.
The new release is a double-CD that has been made to the exacting standards of the head man of the band. It has been fully re-tooled so you won’t be left thinking it’s just a bloody rehash – it is how the creator really wanted SOTF to be (after 16 years, you would hope so). For the price of 2,000 yen or 13.95 Euros you will get 28 tracks and 140 minutes of SOTF circa 2006.
The band’s F**K #1 is featured on the current issue of Orkus magazine (Orkus Compilation 26).
The band will be doing its warm-up gigs in Kyoto and Kobe on February 2nd and 4th respectively before launching off for the three-date attack in Germany with the very popular, high-tempo dark-synthpop outfit, Aural Vampire, as well as locals, The Pussybats.
And if you go to any of these events please go right up to the stage and scream “IGOR” at them – just so they know.
Sampling
To listen to samples from SOTF just head to their Web site (you will need pop-ups enabled to see the MP3 sample list):
Sins of the Flesh
Tour info Japan:
02/02 – Yaso KYOTO (JP)
04/02 – Otoya KOBE (JP)
Tour info for Germany with Aural Vampire (info) and The Pussybats (info)
09 February – UTRECHT Tivoli de Helling (NL)
10 February – COLOGNE Underground (D)
11 February – NORDHORN Scheune (D)