Martyr – Awakening
The Fountain – Awakening
The Awakening, fronted by the enigmatic Ashton Nyte, took the work that No Friends Of Harry had done in establishing a Gothic base in South Africa, and took it to new levels. Incorporating elements of industrial dance music (which No Friends Of Harry did not have at their disposal), and featuring an ever changing line up, The Awakening have blazed a fire of black flames across the country since 1995.
Taken from their 2001 offering ‘The Fountain’, ‘Martyr’ climbed to number 5 on the SA Rockdigest charts and led the way for 3 more top 20 hits in that chart. It seems a little redundant to call a Goth song dark, but this one is full to the brim of all the necessary components of a good Goth track. It has the arcing, portentous orchestral sounds, a steady rock beat and some screaming guitars thrown in now and again for good measure. But at its black heart it has the back of the throat growling vocals that force themselves out of dark lipsticked lips, like a mutant child not wanting to be born.
Ashton has perfected the Andrew Eldritch (the King of Goth who fronted the Sisters of Mercy), yowl. He can do that evil-voice, emotive gravelly growl, but can also soar to the peaks, creating sonic darklands for one to hurtle over in a fighter jet made from a long black coat. ‘Martyr’ is more than a song, it is a journey into the unsettling, it is a going over to the aural dark side.
Where to find it:
The Fountain – Awakening (2001), Intervention Arts, INT016
Video:
1001 South African Songs You Must Hear Before You Go Deaf 