Necromag.co.uk

William Francis. I hate this man. Him, and his mockery of a goth rock band Aiden, have plagued the ears of our corruptible youth for far too long. Taking influences from about every band that ever wore makeup and eyeliner but not having the talent or fresh ideas to make it listenable, they have committed mass plagiarism and been thus far unpunished for it. So it’s safe to say listening to “Hate Culture”, a supposedly “brilliant” album, a “Psycho-Sexual” album, that my initial problem with it was the man behind it, however, because Aiden are so shit, I was expecting a glimmer of hope in the change of direction the man was taking. Then I noticed the front cover, a picture of the man behind the monstrosity posing pompously with a cigarette, carrying none of the natural charm that Ville Valo pulls off on his cover art for “Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights.”

Opening with “Prologue”, a speech taken from Johnny Depp’s film, The Libertine (I am up for it, all the time), it sounds like a desperate plea to be taken seriously as a sexy, edgy artiste, and it really doesn’t work. When The Depp says those words, men get “broners” (to paraphrase Californication’s Hank Moody), but when William Control says it, cocks shrivel and become dishevelled.

Unfortunately, it gets no better. The synth-pop that runs through the album is nothing an average college band couldn’t pull off on a bad day, needlessly repeating loops to lengthen songs unnecessarily, as the lyrical content alone makes listening to the album a grotesque misadventure. This is evident from the first song on the album “Beautiful Loser”; Fuck fuck fuck I wanna fuck till we bleed and There’s a time crunch baby I don’t want to believe this is my last night on earth. My fucking hell. Other lyrical “gems” include the chorus from “Damned” I sing for the damned the souless hand in hand. When god has fucked a queen what a sight what smell what a fucking scene. The “industrial” tone takes no more shape than a few samples thrown in willy-nilly, and a few pieces he probably heard from a Combichrist album. Last track “London Town” tastelessly throws in a police recording of what sounds like a woman being attacked in her own home, no doubt to add to the “edgy” atmosphere………

Please don’t be fooled into thinking that this is worth your time, by anyone. Ever. “Hate Culture” is an apt title, because he just added me to it by reviewing this abortion.

[OxKing]