Gothminister - Gothic Electronic Anthems (2003)

1. Gothic Anthem
2. Angel
3. The Holy One
4. Pray
5. The Possession
6. Devil
7. Shadows of Evil Sins
8. Hatred
9. March of the Dead
10. Wish
11. Post Ludium
12. Angel (Club version)


The Gothminister’s Debut – 7,8/10

The first album of Gothminister finds the man still having some kind of one-man-project with a message to all Goths in the world. He boasts heavily to be proud of what you are and to face the darkness within on this first album, which is appropriately entitled Gothic Electronic Anthems.

As you might expect, the album features a strong blend between electronic music and gothic rock. Gothminister’s use of a drum computer adds more to the techno-feeling throughout the album. Especially the first few tracks feature a heavy dance-beat with a strong offbeat computerized hi-hat to begin with. Strong trance-like synths bring an even more techno feel, but are often compromised with a heavy guitar riff underneath. Alexander Brem’s deep, low, crunchy voice makes it sound like another Rammstein-clone, but this act is surely bringing some new sounds to the table. As for the gothic elements; especially in the more quiet parts choirs attend to add more ambient backing vocals and of course the lyrics are all aimed at Goths all around the world. The booklet is filled with text about being proud of what you are and not letting anyone exclude you for being different. And they are told that interest in the dark and unknown will make you stronger than avoiding the unknown, which I guess is true. The fact that Brem calls himself the Gothminister would appeal to some, but would sound very arrogant to others, so this preaching to Goths perhaps doesn’t really appeal to non-Goths like myself, but I respect his vision Happiness in Darkness. It fits the music as well and at least this is not depressive dark metal.

The album kicks off with the peculiarly titled “Gothic Anthem” which kicks some serious ass with the heavy techno-beat underneath and the simple-but-effective guitars. The barbaric voice of Brem gives the song some extra kick a clean voice wouldn’t have been able to. “Angel” and “The Holy One” continue in the same vein, both being really worthwhile and some of the album’s finest tracks. “Pray” finds Brem going all-electronic with an even harder beat, which is a little too electronic for my taste. I find it to be one of Gothminister’s weaker tracks. “The Possession” blends nicely with “Devil”; a more upbeat track with another great offbeat industrial beat. This one has a really nice riff as well, which kind of makes up for the weak chorus. “Hatred” and “March of the Dead” both carry on with the goth/industrial blend, but lean more to the gothic side of the mixture. Then there are ballads. “Shadows of Evil Sins” feature a soft guitar plucking at the background with choirs performing and a dirty, evil whisper on the foreground. Since the song doesn’t really build to anything beautiful, it sounds more like Brem telling a ghost story over a backing track. The man has written way better ballads with “Wish” and “Post Ludium”. On “Wish” we have a beautiful chorus sung by female choirs and a definitive building within the song and a nice instrumental part in the middle. “Post Ludium” features these auto-tuned vocals like in “Pray”, but this time around it blends in nicely with the epic instrumentation. That’s a satisfactory disclosure to the album of anthems.

All in all, Gothic Electronic Anthems is not a bad debut album at all. While Gothminister presents himself as a teacher and preacher, he does know how to write good music with a good blend of gothic and industrial. The man has a vision with his music and that is respectable. This album is heavily recommended to fans of the goth/industrial genre.

Strongest tracks: “Gothic Anthem”, “The Holy One” and “Post Ludium”.
Weakest tracks: “Pray” and “Shadows of Evil Sins”.

Gothminister - Happiness in Darkness (2008)

1. Dusk Till Dawn
2. Darkside
3. Your Saviour
4. Freak
5. Sideshow
6. The Allmighty
7. Beauty After Midnight
8. Emperor
9. Mammoth
10. Thriller




Gothic Electronic Metal – 8,6/10

Though this album is by no means the first Gothminister effort and therefore not at all the first album to combine trance-infused industrial with a dark gothic flavour, it is by far the best I ever heard. The band and the genre are very much underground now about ten years after their peak, but there’s still some high-quality music produced here.

The band, usually dressed up like any gothic band, with white faces and dark accents, has blended the pumping industrial with gothic on this album better than ever. There’s a great balance between danceable tracks and metal tracks, which means more diversity and that is mostly what makes or breaks an industrial record, although I must admit vocalist Bjørn Alexander Brem’s low, crunchy voice is a love-it-or-hate-it factor. Opener “Dusk Till Dawn” reintroduces the trademark Gothminister sound with trance-rhythms covered with a heavy metal guitar to make the metalheads approve it as well. The explosive sing-along chorus makes a fine and memorable opener to the band’s finest album yet. Lead single “Darkside” totally differs from that formula and sounds more like a radio-friendly but very catchy single with a stronger gothic ambience. It is however the song that got me into Gothminister and still stands tall with its amazing chorus and climax. We get back to the pumping industrial with “Your Saviour”, which plods along nicely in the shadow of “Dusk Till Dawn”, whereas “Freak” sits strongly in the shadow of “Darkside”, both sharing a similar structure and atmosphere. “Sideshow” finds good compromise between the four tracks and has really commanding verses with a chaotic and symphonic chorus and features, once again, a great climax in the bridge.

The second half of the album is a lot more experimental for Gothminister’s customs. “The Allmighty” is a resting point on the album with a small choir of female voices taking care of all the vocals, which they do very nicely. Even better is the transition to “Beauty After Midnight”, which amplifies the contrast between the nice and peaceful and the once again pumping trance-like fury. This is my favourite song of the album as it features once again a great danceable rhythm but soon turns into pure metal fury in the verses. The chorus is good, but I feel it could’ve been better as Brem doesn’t really sing as powerful here as he does on practically every other song he recorded, which is a shame. We are given an electronic ballad with “Emperor”, which starts off with a peaceful melodic theme before it goes into the hypnotic electronic beat that lays the foundation for the verses. The melodic intro is eventually used as a bridge, which is the intro to a very powerful chorus, thus making this one of the album’s highlights as well. And before we know it we have arrived at the album closer “Mammoth”, which has a much more conventional industrial vibe to it, but still carries that Gothminister sound and an even epic ambience in the chorus. It also features this powerful line in the chorus: ‘the Minister will watch over your soul’. It was a rather short album, perhaps due to lack of material, but clearly the band saw this too and recorded a cover of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and included it on the album. This song is perfect for the band to convert it to their sound, but I wouldn’t have missed it.

In the end I am more than thrilled for having met the music of Gothminister. It is by far one of the more original and inventive industrial acts today. I highly recommend the band and their sound to anyone in for danceable metal and gothic looks.

Strongest moments: “Darkside”, “Beauty After Midnight” and “Emperor”.