Artist: Lahannya 
   Title: Welcome To The Underground
   Label: Kabuki

It was a chance blog on MySpace that I first heard of Goth Rockers Lahannya and after seeing them live at Newcastle’s Legends, and being suitably impressed by their performance, we got talking to the band who kindly gave us their latest EP 'Welcome To The Underground' to review, so without further ado here it is.

The band itself consist of Lahannya herself on vocals, Lutz Demmler on bass guitar, Belle on drums and completing the line-up Chris Milden on guitars.  Together this quartet have produced a sound that is very now, as well as being unique, as they mix Electro, Metal and Gothic vibes to produce what can only be described as a refreshing eclectic mix that works remarkably well.

The EP gets underway with the ‘Prologue’, a narrative piece by Lahannya as she tells of a post apocalyptic phase in mankind’s future ... “a future in which due to fear and lethargy our nation has sleepwalked into a surveillance society and our personal lives are under state control. Individualists, free thinkers and anyone seeking an alternative lifestyle either lives a life of pretence, constantly on guard, or is forced to exist completely outside society as we know it, in the underground. Not everyone is prepared to accept that we no longer live in a free country and the underground is rising to fight back…” 

Things get underway proper with ‘Inside The Machine’ and you're instantly thrown into Lahannya’s dark world as the hard edged guitar of Milden rip through the track, along with the solid backing of Lutz and Belle.  Although it’s the vocals of Lahannya that really get my vote of approval, as they are mellow with just a touch of female angst that is perfectly suited to this genre and the addition of electro backing really adds to the dark cyber atmospheric tone of the song.

The EP continues to impress with ‘No Tomorrow’, again it has a certain dark edge about it but with the guitars of Milden taking a more heads on role in this song that give it a heavier sound.  Once again the vocals are superb, this one is probably the most commercial of all the tracks on the EP.

‘Beneath The City’ has a more gentile refrain with the introduction of some orchestral strings to give atmosphere to this dark satire of mans belief of having freedom to choose a life as and individual, or one of the masses.

The next one is the title track ‘Welcome To The Underground’ and is my favourite of the five new tracks on the disc.  This anthemic mix of heady guitars and bass mixed with Belles deliberate back beat are just the foundation for Lahannya’s excellent mood ridden vocal.

This EP acts as a sort of preview of what is to come from the bands new album, which I hope, will be coming out sooner rather than later.

The EP also boast a few remixes of the some of the above tracks by some of the scenes finest artists including Xotox and Soman, as well as ASP, with particular note to Xotox remix of ‘Bleed For Me’ from the bands debut album 'Shotgun Reality'.

All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated.