Tracklist:
“Bittersuess” * “Macht” * “Rache ist suess” * “Fort von mir” * “Lolita” * “Schmutzige Haende” * “Wenn ich von dir traeum” * “Nie mehr allein” * “Verdammnis in mir” * “Nackt” * “Nichts zu verlieren” Bonus CD includes: “Gorzko-Slodki Smak” * “Bittersuess (Rowdio’s MB86 remix)” * “Lauf nicht davon” * “Ewig Kind” * “Fort von mir (Acoustic version)” * “Letzter Kuss (Live in Lindau 2011) * “Tiefer (Live in Lindau 2011)” * “Bittersuess (Live in Lindau)”
Order now Mina Harker’s “Bittersuess” from Out of Line here.
Berlin duo Mina Harker (Mina Harker – voice and Alexander Gorodezki – guitars, programming) released on June-24 with Out of Line records their second album – “Bittersuess”, coming three years after their acclaimed debut “Tiefer”. Mina Harker take their name from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” female character with the same name; just like with Bram Stoker’s Mina Harker, you can tell from the artistic layout of the band the interplay between the young and pure soul beguiled by a mesmerizing vampire and her decidedness of letting love triumph against the odds and mirages of the surrounding world.
Their 11-piece album is a very quintessential combination of dark electronica and superb insertions of more pop passages that alternate with determined rock inspirations of a very contemporary kind. The German lyrics give extra-credit to this vein of force, as does the very compressed pace of the album – a wide range of emotions concur in the less than 40 minutes of the album, all in the very appetizing voice of vocalist Mina Harker and her probing down of a very intimate and enticing kind of darkness.
The opening title that also gives the name of the album, namely “Bittersuess” (“Bittersweet”) is a nice intro, with a very soothing, and at the same time demanding beat, that would definitely make up for a great live performance. The ensuing “Macht” (“Power”) is in opposition with the previous track, offering a more generous display of harmonious aggression and a very memorable tune. “Rache ist suess” (“Revenge Is Sweet”) continues the energetic sequence opened by “Macht”, just as a Viva Music favorite, “Fort von mir” (“Away from Me”), which sounds perfect, and despite its lingering on the melancholic and elegiac side, reminds us why dark rock deserves an equal share of attention when scrutinizing our diverse scene. “Lolita” mirrors in sound its title; it is a playful and teasing song and that without even lowering one bit the standard of seriousness the album puts up! “Schmutzige Haende” (“Dirty Hands”) and “Wenn ich von dir traeum” ensue, bringing in a very vigorous vein, as well as very perceptive vocals. “Nie mehr allein” (“Alone no more”) is from the same exquisite family of songs that gave the album “Bittersuess”, and is truly a song to listen to, and listen to again. “Verdammnis in mir” (“My Condemnation”) has a very touching tempo, and so does “Nackt” (“Naked”), probably the sunniest piece of this dark album. Lullaby-like fragments are interspersed in what otherwise is a solid rock composition with a very defamiliarizing, yet tempting effect. The same effect is carried on to some extent with “Nichts zu verlieren” (“Nothing to Lose”), the closing chapter of the “Bittersuess” book, a very empathetic piece of musing and conspiring dark matters.
“Bittersuess” is a well-formed, fully-fledged, standalone album – somehow, the pieces that make up its puzzle are very heteroclite and different from one another, but at the same time their final product stands out in a very positive and elegant way. We recommend it whole-heartedly if you wish to stand aside even for just 40 minutes from your scene; you will not regret it and you will find yourselves enriched and positively driven to embrace your own, very intimate, kind of darkness.
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