Miranda Sex Garden

I didn't see any mention below of the influence of the tradition of progressive/art rock on this band. But it is here, otherwise I know I wouldn't find it near as enjoyable as I do. I hope the baebes can bring the boys together now and again for another outing like this... If you like SUSPIRIA, other required listenings are IRIS, CARNIVAL OF SOULS, and FAIRYTALES OF SLAVERY (which I'm actually starting to think is better than SUSPIRIA). You can tell the personnel are into many kinds of music. I'm sure Katherine Blake was just bursting with ideas about this time. Her little affected snarl is the only thing sort of extraneous, beyond maybe once in a catalogue of albums. One more note: One review recommended we play this LOUD. Yep, that you almost *have* to do, the MSG records being in bad need of a remastering.

Miranda Sex Garden's second full length album, named "Suspiria", is one of the most exciting and challenging records I've ever heard; an extreme aural experience that mesmerises the listener while at the same time leaving you completely extenuated. An album that has the same effects as an hallucinogen. Not many records I've found being able to describe dreamlike and unreal landscapes in such a proficient way as this one. Love, grief, madness, loneliness, confusion, longing, strangeness, just name them, all these concepts are portrayed and surface through the music and the lyrics. Without a doubt a must have for fans of alternative and avant-garde music.

The band's line-up has changed since this album was released in 1993, but in those days this fascinating British group was home of three female vocalists of amazing power: Donna McKevitt, Katharine Blake and Kelly McCusker. Very few bands have had at their core so much vocal talent. These three women are responsible for the nightmarish and angelic voices that permeate the album supported by the energetic pounding of drummer Trevor Sharpe and the stinging guitar of Ben Golomstock. The use of organs, violins, keyboards and violas is astounding as well. All these elements put together constitute a weird and unique blend that has to be heard in order to be believed. Dreamy and brooding at once.

It is very difficult, not to say impossible, to describe in detail the contents of this album or just pin it down on a certain musical genre. Miranda Sex Garden's music was widely tagged as "goth rock", but only because there were no other groups remotely similar to compare them to. I think that the true roots of this band don't have much to do with pop/rock music, being their real sources of inspiration in genres such as those of free-jazz, lounge/cabaret music, experimental and modern medieval music; perhaps also in the tradition of film scores as made by artists like David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti (the cover version of "In heaven" is a good example of this). The group was also sometimes misunderstood, being booed (among other disrespectful things) at several concerts while supporting bands like Blur and Depeche Mode (it's got no sense to cast pearls before swine, that's for sure). It is also obvious that Miranda Sex Garden's music is an acquired taste and neither does please everyone nor leaves anyone indifferent. Thank God I'm one of the happy few who can enjoy it anytime.

In conclusion, "Suspiria" is a stimulating album that teases and compels and which I strongly recommend to the adventurous listener. If you own the album and haven't got into it yet, just persist. This is not background music, it demands your full attention; but it will grow on you and will eventually become one of your favourites (I, for instance, didn't get it at all the first time I heard it). It is a complex and difficult album but also really beautiful, rich and remarkable. Miranda Sex Garden managed to create something very special here. The entire record is so full of details and different layers of sound that the listening experience is never the same twice. You always discover something new each time you listen it.

I don't know if this album will go down in music history but for me there's no doubt that "Suspiria" is a historic record. A real jewel.


PLAY IT LOUD and freak out

I recently got into Miranda Sex Garden. I first heard a song by MSG on the "12 Tales" compilation last year and was duly impressed by their song "Ardera Sempre". Very operatic. Awhile back I picked up the remixes for "Rush Forth My Tears" which I found to be equally compelling. I finally got around to checking out Miranda Sex Garden the other day and I bought "Suspiria" on a whim because of I love "Ardera Sempre" so much. I have to admit that it took me a few listens for the music to penetrate my subconscious. If anything, this isn't easy listening music. I'm used to the more accessible sounds of Katherine Blake's latest group Mediaeval Baebes. Sometimes the best music isn't the kind that quickly seduces the ears, and "Suspiria" is one of those cds that required a few listens before I could make some sort of assessment. Of course I simply love the opening track "Ardera Sempre". The song is absolutely breathtaking. What really unnerved my ears when I first listened to "Suspiria" was the wailing vocals and guitars on "Play" that just took me by surprise. And the same could be said about "Inferno" and "Willie Biddle and his Waltzing Maggot" minus the wailing vocals. My initial reaction to those songs were "WTH?!". Eventually the songs grew on me as I listened more to the cd. Although a far cry from Mediaeval Baebes, I found Miranda Sex Garden's music very compelling to listen to and makes me want to listen to their other cds.

One problem I see--or, rather, hear--with much music today is that so much of it sounds the same. I don't think anyone could say that about Miranda Sex Garden, and _Suspiria_ is their finest hour. I bought this album in 1993, having also bought _Madra_ and _Iris_. This CD, out of the five that MSG have recorded to date (_Fairytales of Slavery_ and _Carnival of Souls_ being the other ones not yet mentioned), has the most varied, interesting and sophisticated sound. There are gorgeous female vocals--both lead and harmonies--a violin, viola and a cello in addition to the usual bass, guitars, keys and drums. The sounds of strings were never so prevalent in MSG before as here, and haven't been since. I don't want to make you think this album is all pretty and smooth, however--it is *dynamic*, often varying from a soft, harmonic smoothness to an almost disturbing dissonance *within* the same song. I find it highly ironic that the MSG offshoot-band Mediaeval Baebes--started by MSG's Katharine Blake and specializing in acoustic and a-capella medieval and medievalesque music--are much more popular, it seems, than MSG. I still remember waiting in line seven hours to see MSG's single United States gig on the tour for "Suspiria"--and every time I hear the opening crescendo of keys and strings on this CD, I'm right back there again. Take the journey yourself--you'll be exposed to something rare--something actually *unique* in the modern music wasteland.

Miranda Sex Garden are simply one of the most exciting bands in the whole goth genre or simply modern music for that matter. Miranda Sex Garden came up with an interesting idea of using violins in the way a rock guitar is usually used, at least in terms of importance. Sometimes violins substitute guitars and cellos fill in for the bass. Other times they rock out on regular old guitars. Adding in lots of interesting percussion and keyboards and you has one hell of a sound. But possibly the best part about this album is the vocals. Katherine has both massive amounts of talent and character (seems most singers only have one or the other...) Then once you add in the great harmonies you have an unbeatable combination.

Suspiria is the first full-length realse by MSG as an actual "band" (they previously released the almost all acapella "Marda" and the EP "Iris") and at times it shows. Sometimes songs just never get going and others stumble at points, but still the album is rather consistent. There's about a ratio of 3-1 in favor of great music while the rest is just ok.

The album starts out with the operatic Andera Sempre. On this song Donna McKevitt does the lead vocals. Her voice is distinctly deeper than Katherine's and sounds great flying over the violins. The song also contains a great keyboard solo. The next two songs are typical Sex Garden, but are both impressive, especially "Open Eyes" as Katherine snarls "She sees him, with open eyes" in her sassy way. "Play" is easily my favorite song. Starting out quite and simple, the violins build up and soon your surrounded in a hell of wailing voices, screeching guitars, and strange whip (or breaking glass) sound effects. Defiantly one of the scariest songs ever, by anyone. I remember when me and my friend were just talking with this album playing in the background. At the end of this song I saw horror on his face and all he could say is "That slightly disturbed me."

After "Play" you need to calm down and the semi-acapella is a great follow up. With the vocals changing from angelic to downright bratty, the song is an interesting contrast. "Bring Down the Sky" contains a great melody and also has a cool instrumental part in the middle. "Inferno" is a great instrumental, as the violins and cello carry the song along as good, if not better then any electric guitar would. The song goes along til it hits it peak about seven minutes in then ends with the strange horn led "Willie Biddle and His Waltzing Maggot". The album finishes off with a cover of the jazz standard "My Funny Valentine" and is performed rather heartfelt by McKevitt once again.

Another thing worth mentioning is the drumming on this album. Its very acoustic and rather simple, but gets the job done to impressive degree. I don't like simple or standard drumming, but here it impresses the hell out of me, and works so well.

For Miranda Sex Garden it is really a tie between this and "Fairytales of Slavery" for the claims on best album. FTOS is quite different as the guitars start to take over, which isn't bad, but the album isn't quite as distinct. So I say this is the place to start. If you're new to MSG this is where to start as this defines they're sound the best, and if you're already a fan I garuntee you'll love this album.

Very few albums manage to provide the polar mood intensities found within Miranda Sex Garden's Carnival of Souls. It is a mix of solace and alarm; a mix of terror and seduction; a fusion of the angelic and the demonic.

Though the group's members have shuffled in and out over the past couple recordings, Katharine Blake's vocals remain an identifier for MSG fans. Her sweet voice delicately muses one minute and explodes the next, while retaining it's beauty throughout. The band, as of this recording, is a great merge of talents--together they make the music gush into a marvelous waterfall of sound. Landing a steady record label is probably the main reason MSG has gone so unnoticed, and why their fanbase is still considered underground.

For those unfamiliar with Miranda Sex Garden, the group's name is reflective of their sound, to say the least. They are a garden of beauty and forbidden treasures. Carnival of Souls carries only a light fragrance of the first entirely madrigal album, but the overpowering style is more of their merge into a jazzy, industrial/goth rock...if you can even classify it.

Carnival of Souls is a fitting name for the album, as we have moments of feeling like we're travelling through a maze of mirrors or being thrust about some sort of sinister ride. My favorite track is "Tonight," a saxaphone seduction carrying cinematic mood of a 1950's detective scene where we're about to uncover a tragic secret. "Tonight I lose you to the waves," Blake sings. I love the mystery of the song "Caravan," a semi-salsa semi-industrial semi-cabaret mix woven with soprano achings. Then are are the individual stand-out moments of the album, like rise of the cello and violin in "All There Is," where the strings are on fire.

This is what usually happens when some talented musicians with no future prospect of recording anything else together are allowed again to do the music they do best without any restrictions; in other words, there are times when a masterpiece is quite likely to come out from a long-shot, being artefacts like "Carnival of Souls" the palpable truth of it.

Recorded under a rather precarious situation (the band was in a kind of limbo since dropped from Mute Records in 1995 and the label sugar-daddy had very few chances to survive) Miranda Sex Garden performs in this album in the best (and only) way they can, that is, as if there was no tomorrow, no future chance to do the same thing again. It must be said that they succeed completely as this record constitutes, against all odds, their best effort to date. A triumph which is even more remarkable if we take into account the high level of excellency displayed in all their previous albums (`Iris', `Suspiria', etc).

Released in the year 2000, "Carnival of Souls" is a magnificent collection of songs and a few instrumentals that, paradoxically, went almost unnoticed. Even the group's former releases were more widely discussed, which is a tragedy, considering the sheer quality of this very album. Structurally, the record follows the same line of past works, alternating both vocal songs and instrumental tracks. The overall sound is a little bit more accessible compared to the other albums without betraying at any moment the peculiar and indescribable style of the band.

There are also, as usual with this group, some changes in the line-up, being Donna McKevitt and Hepzibah Sessa replaced with Teresa Casella (from medieval baebes) on electric bass together with other musicians such as Mike Servant and Barney Hollington. Trevor Sharpe and Ben Golomstock are available one more time on drums and guitars respectively. Of course the group's linchpin, Katharine Blake, is again doing most of the singing and writing the lyrics. I would say that she's never sung better than on this one. Songs like "Sleeping Beauty"; "Broken Glass", "Tonight" or "Close to the Sky" are real highlights. I see the band in this album more proficient and self-confident than ever. As a whole, Miranda Sex Garden managed to create twelve impressive tracks that, to quote one of them, are very close to...perfection. Too bad that the CD is out of stock and has become an expensive collector's item.

I'm looking forward to hear some new material by MSG in a not very distant future. Such talents shouldn't give up so soon. I have a feeling that the best for them is yet to come. There are not many bands out there that meet up every single one of my expectations as a listener, but MSG does it every time. Unfortunately, their increasing difficulties to find a label do not precisely fuel up my optimism. How can it be possible that people like this can't get a record deal? It's crystal-clear that the music industry is even more incompetent and dimmer than I thought. To cap it all, the lyrics of the gorgeous "Ever & Ever" sound to me very much like a farewell. Deeply disturbing...

I expect that "Carnival of souls" won't be the last chapter in Miranda Sex Garden's enthralling career. This wonderful story cannot stop here. But for me there is one sure thing: whether they come back or not I, at least, will always have a very special place for them in my memory. They deserve it. I don't know, it must be that I pride myself on not following the sheep mentality which is characteristic of mainstream music, but the truth is that I cannot help to feel myself fortunate for having had the luck to come across a band like this one.

Miranda Sex Garden are unprecedented and unrepeatable (and I think they are aware of that).

From the same artits who brought you: the very madrigal album "madra , 1991" , the little masterpiece "iris , 1992" , the unique and richly orchestrated "suspiria , 1993" , and the surprisingly diverse & baroque " fairytales of slavery ,1994"...are back with this very tortured/gothic & jazzy album called "carnival of souls , 2000". Only this time,with a different line up. katharine blake (vocals ,violin) , trevor sharpe (percussion , drums) and ben golomstock (guitars) are back for this latest brilliant album.

ex-members, contralto Donna McKevitt (who also worked for derek jarman's TRANSLUENCE & BLUE soundtrack) , and soprano Kelly McCusker (also worked for jarman & balanescu quartet's album "possessed")...have been replaced with teresa casella (bass,backing vocals) , mike servent (keyboards) & barney hollington (violin,hammond organ).

the 11 tracks are all worth listening & exellent. (there are 12 tracks but one of em is only "incidental" & very short)...there are 6 tracks that really stand out from the rest:"tonight" , "close to the sky" , "caravan" (superior to the original version) , "sleeping beauty" , "broken glass" , "all there is"...carnival of souls is worth buying if you like gothic,experimental and original music. if that's the case. then order it now! ps: you can also find more of katharine's work in her latest group called "mediaeval baebes"... & the soundtracks of "BLUE" , "DELUSION" , "HIDEAWAY"

-ex-singer & member of miranda sex garden "jocelyn west" (previously worked for "madra" ,the group "fortran 5" , "david lynch" , "barry adamson" , "derek jarman"..etc).. has a solo album... called:" LUX VIVENS" , her name changed,she's now called "jocelyn montgomery". -donna mckevitt , performs occasionaly for the "mediaeval baebes" -... photograph book called "songs of the flesh"...- drummer trevor sharpe is also the founder of the group "NAKED GOAT".

This album has all the dark moodiness of "Fairytales of Slavery," and with a little more rock abandon. Blake's voice is as beautiful as ever. The best "It's like..." I can think of is if the cast of Alice in Wonderland stole The Smiths' musical gear and did a Switchblade Symphony album.

I've been listening to this cd almost continuously for the past week. An epic masterpiece! GOD IT'S WONDERFUL! It's not as raw or unproduced-sounding as their last cd, the heavily Einstürzende Neubauten-influenced FAIRYTALES OF SLAVERY. No 9-minute instrumentals like on SUSPIRIA, either. But overall there's more great songs here than on both those albums combined. Much better production too. Singer Katherine Blake's voice is as seductive as usual. No more Donna McKevitt, though. So the madrigal-style harmonizing that was ever-present on previous releases is mostly absent. But you won't even notice Donna's gone, since Katherine sings so hypnotically. As you might expect in a Miranda Sex Garden cd, there's plenty of atmosphere, dramatically complex song structures, exotic percussion, and loads of spacey guitars and violins. And there's even a french horn on some of the songs. This one seems to have more "shoegazer"-style long blasts of sheer noise than previous albums, too. To me, the single 'Tonight' reminds me a little of a Portishead song. The wonderful 'Caravan' too. But most of the other songs are as loud and scary as anything they've ever recorded. (Well, there's nothing on here as scary as 'Play' from SUSPIRIA, but that'd be impossible to top). 'Broken Glass' is so gorgeous you'll want to put it on repeat-play forever. And 'Close to the Sky' is even greater, if that's possible. This is a near-perfect cd by a perfect band. I'm thrilled they've finally made an album that lives up to their well-deserved reputation as being one of the greatest live acts of our time.

This is the 3rd time i've purchased this album, either i wear it out or it gets lost or stolen.It's really fantastic, a must have for every fan of this genre of music. The title track is hauntingly beautiful.

Same as its predecessors ("Iris", "Suspiria") "Fairytales of Slavery" defies easy categorization and continues the band's classic line of genre-breaking fusions which so good turned out to be in their two previous releases. Produced by Einstürzende Neubaten's Alex Hacke, the album displays a noisier and harsher instrumentation. Relying on a lot of feedback and heavy percussions, "Fairytales of Slavery" reveals itself as Miranda Sex Garden's most experimental and sweeping album. There's also more changes on the line-up and Hepzibah Sessa replaces the departed Kelly McKusker. Other musicians like Andrew Blick or F.M Enheit (from E.N) also make an appearance. Katharine Blake's vocals and lyrics (slightly perverse and ambiguous) are bewitching as ever and she is occasionally accompanied on singing by Donna McKevitt. My personal picks in the album would be "The Wooden Boat", the eerie "Wheel", "The Monk Song", "Freezing" (my very favourite) and the bleak "A fairytale about slavery".

As a whole the album drags a little bit on its second half and that's why I rank it a little below compared to "Suspiria" or "Iris", but nevertheless both its volatility and theatricality make it a fascinating album that you won't forget easily. Definitely recommended.

Start "Fairytales of Slavery" exactly 50 seconds into the movie "The Matrix." Turn off the sound on the movie, and listen to the CD while watching the images. You'll see a lot of coincidences and quirks. This works especially well because the songs don't just "end." They tend to deconstruct themselves and end in waves.

You know you've started it in the right place if the first track (Cut) ends when Trinity's hand is on the glass of the phonebooth.

Alex Hacke's harsh production helps to make this album sound much different than their other releases. Not necessarily a good thing (you'll be re-adjusting the volume on your stereo alot), though it works well much of the time. This one is full of exotic insrumentation like piccolos and glockenspiels in addition to the usual mix of guitars and violins. No synthesizers whatsoever. It sounds the least "goth" of any of their albums, too, as if that word really means anything anymore. The single 'Peepshow' is one of their best songs, and I kind of wished there were more songs like that one on here. 'The Wooden Boat' and 'Havana Lied' are very interesting musically. Unfortunately there are too many throwaway songs ('Cover My Face', 'The Monk Song') and bland instrumentals on here to rank this one up there with SUSPIRIA and CARNIVAL OF SOULS.

Has anyone heard this band but me? Awesome all female Goth/Industrial hybrid is like Enya meets Skinny Puppy. But that makes it sound way more simplistic than it is. This band deserves some attention immediately!

The songs Cut and Fly are austounding visions of heartbreak and sadness and peepshow is amoung the best songs of the goth genre ever recorded. While TRANSIT and SERIAL ANGELS display an aptitude towards intrumentals that is rarely matched anywhere.

Buy this now!

i got this after getting jocelyn n david's "lux vivens" and heard she had other music.i dig this;don't listen to it regularly,but i like it!really lush female vocals which are professionally executed.wish some songs were longer.

First off, the volume on this album has to be turned up several notches in order to hear much. Then, the mood doesn't really change. The inflections change, but there isn't a range of emotions. Maybe this is due to too much of a soprano emphasis and lower keys never come bellowing through--the small traces of them just dangle in the background.

I understand that the madrigal nature of Madra is not intended to be the same Miranda Sex Garden as seen in later releases like Susperia, Carnival of Souls, or Fairytales of Slavery. But after hearing these delightful albums, Madra is too much of a letdown. For fans of MSG who are considering buying this album, I suggest you listen to samples and decide if it's for you.

It does get points for the concept (I admire any artist who visits medieval culture), the beauty in the voices themselves, and the composition. It takes a lot of organization and proper synchronization to accomplish this effect.

Okay...admittedly, the madrigal form isn't like anything else out there; but if you enjoy a capella female voices, and the idea of Shakespearean songs peaks your interest, this is THE cd for you! Miranda Sex Garden's singers have voices that are best described as ethereal and haunting. Their music is soothing and deeply evocative; it's the kind of music that makes you want to light every candle in the house and shed the stress of the day. The songs may not be headed for the top 40 anytime soon, but they were definitely in the top 40 of the 1500's...give it a try if you like, for example, the 90's cd of "Chant" monastic music.

I wanted to like this cd more than I did, as I like Miranda Sex Garden and enjoy period music. However, because of the form (the madrigal) and the singing/production, I find I seldom listen to it.

If you are REALLY CERTAIN that you want a full cd of madrigals, this could be your best ticket. However, I hadn't listened to 25 madrigals in a row before, and I found it to be a form that got on my nerves more quickly than expected. Additionally, while the women of Miranda Sex Garden are an intriguing and underrated goth band, their voices can't really sustain an entire cd of a capella singing. Or - perhaps the madrigal form doesn't give the singers the opportuinity to shine. Either way, I find the result ultimately unsatisfying.

I admire the band and the concept, and find it quite enjoyable in short spurts. I can't recommend the cd, though.

This record is -very- different from, say, -Fairytales of Slavery-. But then, if you have bought many Miranda Sex Garden records, you're probably used to one being very different from the next.

What you are getting here, basically, is straight Elizabethan madrigals, minimally re-arranged for three female voices. This record wouldn't be for early-music purists, but it would probably be more at home among the classical records than as a rock record.

It is a lovely, if quiet, and high class performance. Katharine Blake, Jocelyn West, and Kelly McCusker sing beautifully. This album would probably appeal to fans of Ms. Blake's -Mediæval Bæbes- project.

After the release as a female trio of "Madra" (1991), a collection of austere 17th century a-capella songs, Miranda Sex Garden moved away from their classical roots into a more experimental jazz/rock territory (to label their music is hard work, though).

"Iris" (1992) is a transitional album of capital importance for the band as they managed to develop here their own trademark sound. The almost unprecedented combination of classically trained vocalists and their instruments coupled with the abilities of new added musicians (Ben Golomstock on guitar and Trevor Sharpe on drums) produced, against all odds, hugely impressive achievements.

This mini-album is a little known masterpiece. An exquisite sample of lyrical and musical talent. The beginning of the record is conventional enough, a cover version of the traditional song "Lovely Joan". At this very point nothing really makes you suspect that the band was going to dramatically change their style that much with respect to "Madra", but suddenly the tranquil voices become progressively more and more menacing until exploding into a powerful climax of shouted lyrics. From then on, nothing was gonna be the same for this group. Theirs was a break with the past on behalf of risk. The real nature of Miranda Sex Garden's art, their true iconoclastic essence, had finally come into being for our listening pleasure.

The other songs in the track-list deal with the usual issues about loss of innocence, death, dreams, dread, escapism, etc. I think my personal favourite is "Fear", simply enthralling. As a whole, Katharine Blake's voice, between sensual and morbid, is very well accompanied here with the singing skills of Donna McKevitt and Kelly McCusker. This superb line-up will be present again on their next album "Suspiria". The most remarkable aspect in "Iris", apart from its evident artistic quality, is without a doubt the abandonment by MSG of tight classical conventions that allowed them to concentrate on a bolder and more powerful formula. A new approach exuding a dreamy and surreal quality which will be recurrent in this and other future releases.

A strangely beautiful and consuming piece of work. Very recommended.

If you haven't heard Miranda Sex Garden before, "Iris" is a dead-on first impression. Their siren songs lead you right into the jagged rocks. "Lovely Joan" and "Fear" start out gentle; as the voices remain angelic, the rock music builds up like a caged animal growing angrier. Other tracks, like "Falling" and "Blue Light" start right off with discord. The beauty of Katharine Blake's voice only magnifies the sense of something REALLY twisted going on. That big unbliking eye on the cover is troubling enough...

The instrumentation is often "The Who"-style drums, grinding church organ, echoey metal guitars and one other instrument thrown in (like a muted trumpet) to make the mood more sinister.
You can hear traces of The Doors and Pink Floyd.

Like all MSG albums, "Iris" is grim and beautiful at the same time. The really hot Wiccan priestess in your Art History class probably listens to this stuff.

Five wonderful songs seemlessly blended together. 'Lovely Joan' starts out like one of the old english madrigal folk songs that filled their mostly-acapella first album 'Madra'. But then the singing gets louder and louder, then the guitars and violins kick in, changing into something very scary by the end. 'Blue Light' is perhaps the most relaxing, hypnotic, sleep-inducing song ever recorded. It's nearly impossible to listen to without drifting off into a dreamworld. After awhile, the ghostly harmonies at the end get quieter and quieter and suddenly you wake up and notice you are listening to the next song, the much louder 'Iris'. Brilliant songs, perfectly produced.

This is Miranda Sex Garden's best recording so far. It withstands the test of time. It is an unusual and unique combo. It features traditional pieces and classical voices with rock,strings, and electronica blended (well) all together.

You will not go wrong...A unique blend of talent and artistry

Before Mediaeval Baebes there was Miranda Sex Garden, Katherine Blake's other classical group. Unlike the Baebes, MSG's music was less accessible and didn't focus primarily on vocals and used minimal instrumentation in their music. Other than "Suspiria", my only other MSG related cd I own is the remixes for "Gush Forth My Tears". "Gush Forth My Tears" is a beautiful song especially the acapella version. Here it is just Katherine Blake, Jocelyn Best, and Kelly McCusker singing as opposed to 8-12 women like in Mediaeval Baebes. I loved all the mixes and the acapella versions of the song. It is hard for me to pick a favorite out of the four. Listening to "Gush Fourth My Tears" makes me want to get the cd that the song is on. It is my second favorite MSG song besides "Ardera Sempre".

Before Mediaeval Baebes there was Miranda Sex Garden, Katherine Blake's other classical group. Unlike the Baebes, MSG's music was less accessible and didn't focus primarily on vocals and used minimal instrumentation in their music. Other than "Suspiria", my only other MSG related cd I own is the remixes for "Gush Forth My Tears". "Gush Forth My Tears" is a beautiful song especially the acapella version. Here it is just Katherine Blake, Jocelyn Best, and Kelly McCusker singing as opposed to 8-12 women like in Mediaeval Baebes. I loved all the mixes and the acapella versions of the song. It is hard for me to pick a favorite out of the four. Listening to "Gush Fourth My Tears" makes me want to get the cd that the song is on. It is my second favorite MSG song besides "Ardera Sempre".

This is the 3rd time i've purchased this album, either i wear it out or it gets lost or stolen.It's really fantastic, a must have for every fan of this genre of music. The title track is hauntingly beautiful.

Same as its predecessors ("Iris", "Suspiria") "Fairytales of Slavery" defies easy categorization and continues the band's classic line of genre-breaking fusions which so good turned out to be in their two previous releases. Produced by Einstürzende Neubaten's Alex Hacke, the album displays a noisier and harsher instrumentation. Relying on a lot of feedback and heavy percussions, "Fairytales of Slavery" reveals itself as Miranda Sex Garden's most experimental and sweeping album. There's also more changes on the line-up and Hepzibah Sessa replaces the departed Kelly McKusker. Other musicians like Andrew Blick or F.M Enheit (from E.N) also make an appearance. Katharine Blake's vocals and lyrics (slightly perverse and ambiguous) are bewitching as ever and she is occasionally accompanied on singing by Donna McKevitt. My personal picks in the album would be "The Wooden Boat", the eerie "Wheel", "The Monk Song", "Freezing" (my very favourite) and the bleak "A fairytale about slavery".

As a whole the album drags a little bit on its second half and that's why I rank it a little below compared to "Suspiria" or "Iris", but nevertheless both its volatility and theatricality make it a fascinating album that you won't forget easily. Definitely recommended.

Start "Fairytales of Slavery" exactly 50 seconds into the movie "The Matrix." Turn off the sound on the movie, and listen to the CD while watching the images. You'll see a lot of coincidences and quirks. This works especially well because the songs don't just "end." They tend to deconstruct themselves and end in waves.

You know you've started it in the right place if the first track (Cut) ends when Trinity's hand is on the glass of the phonebooth.

Alex Hacke's harsh production helps to make this album sound much different than their other releases. Not necessarily a good thing (you'll be re-adjusting the volume on your stereo alot), though it works well much of the time. This one is full of exotic insrumentation like piccolos and glockenspiels in addition to the usual mix of guitars and violins. No synthesizers whatsoever. It sounds the least "goth" of any of their albums, too, as if that word really means anything anymore. The single 'Peepshow' is one of their best songs, and I kind of wished there were more songs like that one on here. 'The Wooden Boat' and 'Havana Lied' are very interesting musically. Unfortunately there are too many throwaway songs ('Cover My Face', 'The Monk Song') and bland instrumentals on here to rank this one up there with SUSPIRIA and CARNIVAL OF SOULS.

Has anyone heard this band but me? Awesome all female Goth/Industrial hybrid is like Enya meets Skinny Puppy. But that makes it sound way more simplistic than it is. This band deserves some attention immediately!

The songs Cut and Fly are austounding visions of heartbreak and sadness and peepshow is amoung the best songs of the goth genre ever recorded. While TRANSIT and SERIAL ANGELS display an aptitude towards intrumentals that is rarely matched anywhere.

Buy this now!