Sixth Comm
Content With Blood

Following his departure from Death in June, Patrick Leagas founded the project Sixth Comm, a prompt response from the brilliant percussionist of Death in June to his historical rival Pearce, who, in the meantime, had taken complete artistic control of the main band.

The music of Sixth Comm seems to sprout directly from the masterpiece "Nada!", the last great work of Death in June that featured Leagas: understanding the music of Sixth Comm is therefore simple, just purge the aforementioned album of the more typically pearcian elements. What you get, understandably, is a grey existential synth-pop, still pervaded by gloomy industrial and esoteric contours, and fundamentally characterized by the martial component that has always distinguished Leagas's artistic vision: a proposal that has nothing to do with the apocalyptic folk that Pearce was about to define in those years; a path that, however, prefers to look to the harsh dark-wave of the early decade (Bauhaus above all), without neglecting a catchiness, an elegance, and a pomposity that directly recalls the best pop tradition of the eighties (Depeche Mode and Tears for Fears are the first names that come to mind).

By making a daring parallel, we could argue that Sixth Comm stands to Death in June as New Order stands to the mythical Joy Division. From this draw whatever conclusions you prefer.

The points of contact with the main band remain evident, primarily the war-like imagery, the tragic scenic background that underlay the early Death in June; but it is equally evident how Leagas continues his path in line with the prevailing stylistic canons of the eighties, weakening the drives towards innovation and the stylistic research that will distinguish Pearce's journey. However, it is worth remembering that he did not refrain from releasing in 1987 a splendid example of folk-ritual avant-garde: the fundamental "Fruits of Yggdrasil," born from the collaboration with the scholar/singer Freya Aswynn, a work that roots in the fertile ground of Norse mythology, another basic characteristic of Leagas's proposal, long fascinated by these themes.

Also in 1987, shortly before, "Content with Blood" was released, the true first album of Sixth Comm, following a series of publications primarily focused on the reworking of pieces from the early Death in June, in the original composition of which Leagas participated.

The entire first phase of Leagas's career, in truth, seems obsessed with the production of Death in June, and "Content with Blood" itself doesn’t spare us the reworking of certain tracks from the past artistic era of the British musician: the songs of "Nada!" thus come to life in a more canonically electro-wave approach, however not always convincing, especially considering the brilliant rendition of the originals ("Foretold" and "Calling" above all).

Much more interesting, in our opinion, are the new tracks that emerged from Leagas's fervent pen: let's take as an example the opener "Winter Sadness", still pervaded by the martial moods inherited from the Death in June phase, but already full of unprecedented neo-romantic gleams that make it an intense ballad where the baritone voice of Leagas and the nightingale-like singing of Julie Harrington, gracefully rises amid mournful percussive blows and fatal piano notes, take center stage.

Bass, guitars, synths, solid electronic bases revive the best vintage dark-wave tradition, while the journey unfolds between more rock-oriented tracks and atmospheric stasis reviving the desolation and rubble that were fundamental characteristics of the eighties Death in June. With a particular focus, of course, on Leagas's percussive setup, which stands militant above rhythm patterns fired by impromptu and square drum machines.

An intelligent artist and a fundamental musician of the nascent post-industrial epic, Patrick Leagas carves out a respectable path in the following years (noting his other project Mother Destruction, alter ego of the same Sixth Comm, from which it won't differ much), without reaching very high artistic peaks, stringing together a series of convincing attempts but hardly elevated to the status of real masterpieces.

For this reason, his music will remain the preserve of only a few devoted followers and will never achieve the success that his former companions in adventure Douglas Pearce and Tony Wakeford managed to secure (deservedly).

To be exhumed and appreciated in silence and reverent respect.