Velvet Acid Christ
Hex Angel: Utopia/Dystopia

"Hex Angel" was released at the end of 2003, and it is the most destructive and nihilistic album that the troubled mind of Bryan Erickson has produced. Active since the early '90s, Velvet Acid Christ are the flag bearers of a very apocalyptic industrial/ebm. Mainly influenced by the legendary figures of the genre (Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly), they later integrated components into their sound from both the darker trance (Xenomorph) and the dark wave. In fact, our Bryan has never hidden his love for the Cure.

As I mentioned earlier, it was the year 2003. Bryan Erickson was coming from a very troubled period, with constant lineup changes and, above all, the continuous battle with his heavy drug addiction. During this period, Bryan composed the not perfectly successful "Twisted Thought Generator", but it certainly allowed him to accumulate rage, which he then unleashed in the subsequent "Hex Angel". This is an album that doesn't miss a beat; the eclecticism that Bryan Erickson possesses allowed him to create a work where moments of pure violence alternate (notably "Dead Tomorrow", a song with a powerful Industrial/Hardcore rhythm) where, with a furious use of his voice, Bryan spits all the hatred he has for a now-ruined world, to more atmospheric and introspective moments like the single "Pretty Toy", where the atmospheres derived from the Cure's music are recovered. The two songs that open the CD, "Haunted" and "Colapsed", could be the soundtrack to futuristic nightmares. They are two songs where the concept of Ebm music is revisited in an innovative and impactful context. "Mysery" is another example of controlled cybernetic violence compared to "Dead Tomorrow", but equally capable of evoking sensations of impending world end. The album concludes with the instrumental "Exit", a worthy closure to this journey into the mind of Bryan Erickson.

"Hex Angel", for the reviewer, is the best CD of Velvet Acid Christ, capable of uniting distant atmospheres without being dispersive. On the contrary, this continuous change of atmosphere is where the album draws its greatest benefit. In 2006, the latest "Lust For Blood" was released, another beautiful work where Bryan evolves the sound by focusing on a more rock aspect, but that is another story.