I Hope Utopia Looks Better Than This!

AFM Records

While Norway’s Gothminister are well-established in the industrial and rave scenes, the band have been making waves with metal fans for the last few years as well. Utopia is the band’s fifth album and their first full fledged concept album. The album plays loosely on mainman Bjorn Alexander Brem’s life, honing in on the idea that he is a lawyer by day and Gothminister by night, with the lines eventually blurring between the two worlds. In addition to the album, this set includes an 80 minute conceptual concert video (think about what Michael Jackson used to do with his “super singles” and you’ll have a rough idea of what they are going for here) and some behind the scenes footage.

Utopia gets it’s fully fueled start with “Someone is After Me.” While I love the entire album, this song really sets the right tone, tapping into the paranoid feelings of being stalked while laying down a solid industrial metal backdrop to build on. When combined with “Utopia,” it’d be easy to believe the album was going to be way more commercial than their previous works but it quickly descends into the world of ghouls, werewolves, witches, and, of course, zombies.

“Nightmare” is a spot on title for the synth driven, choir-infused, industrial rocker that appears around mid-album. Easily one of the highlights of Utopia, it taps into many nightmare-ish sounds, from spookily produced vocals and haunting keyboards and pummeling drums and a twin guitar attack that would make even Iron Maiden melt. “All Alone” is another highlight for me, although it lacks a solid structure, it’s got the hauntingly beautiful swagger of Switchblade Symphony’s Bread & Jam for Frances and all of the balls of a band like Mental Destruction. With a short bridge called “Purgatory,” the band launch into the destructive march of “Eternal.” The three work together brilliantly and feel like a complete act. “Horrorshow” is another highlight and one of the album’s most aggressive moments.

It’s the DVD though that takes everything over the top. Playing like a movie, the opening sequence sets the paranoid delusion up before the Gothminister finds himself on stage performing for zombies and other ghoulish fiends. The stage show is massive, especially for a band of Gothminister’s stature. Giant creatures of the night, the undead, werewolves, and more plague the band as they perform a set comprised of past and present hits. Everything looks extremely professional and, having since Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, two incarnations of The Misfits, and the mighty Rammstein, I can safely assure you that this stage show is certainly on par with Alice Cooper or The Misfits during their most successful years. It’s not quite on the level of Manson in his heyday or anywhere near the overwhelming stage show of Rammstein, but I doubt it has that kind of money behind it either.

Overall, this is a great album if you enjoy industrial or darkwave music. It’s heavier and a bit less danceable than most rave and not quite as atmospheric as most darkwave and maybe not quite clanky enough to be entirely industrial. On top of that, it’s way to electronic to be strictly a metal album. That’s what I love most about Gothminister in general and Utopia in specific, it’s tremendously unique and creative. Fans of horror rock or artists like Rammstein and Die Krupps will find everything they love wrapped up in Utopia.