END OF GREEN

Germay’s veteran dark rockers wither in the light

Gothic, metal, doom: that sums up End Of Green’s canon to date. Void Estate follows a different path with a softer sound that’s more AOR. And it falls flat. Their cover of Crossroads is the perfect example. Originally a melancholic album track by blues musician Calvin Russell, it could have been transformed into a song worthy of Abattoir Blues-era Nick Cave. Instead it makes the dark rockers sound like Chris Rea. Opener Send In The Clowns plods along like a weary goth, and Darkside Of

The Sun – on which Michelle Darkness revisits his ‘Undead Elvis’ vocals – lacks the charisma of the band’s earlier material. There are glimmers of darkness on the atmospheric Head Down and the passionate Mollodrome, but ultimately, without their doomy edge,

EOG sound unremarkable and a bit dull.

FOR FANS OF: The 69 Eyes, Tiamat, lacrimas Profundere

NATASHA SCHARF