Out on January 13th is a deluxe box for the Italian goth rock act Spiritual Bats (now called The Spiritual Bat) holding 4 individual digipak-CDs inside. The release is limited to 300 copies.

This release on the Swiss Dark Nights label comes after “The Acqualuce Years” collector edition of Burning Gates and The Elysium Facade “Trichotomy” Box. The remastered box includes remastered versions of early band releases, deleted for ages: the “Spiritual Bats” vinyl EP, a unreleased tape of band rehearsals called “Confession”, a complete remixed and remastered version of the “Sacrament” EP and the album “Through the Shadows”.

The journey across these 4 different CDS spans the period between 1993 and 2008, featuring four different line-ups. There is a chronological order, except for the bonus tracks on CD1 Taken from the 1996 “Confession” album, but recorded by the “Sacrament” line-up during a rehearsal at Ultrasound studios in 1998, before a one-off US show, at Alchemy Mondays, CB’s Gallery, on August 3rd 1998.

Note that the “Through the Shadows” album was originally conceived and recorded by The Spiritual Bat in their home studio as an instrumental album with programmed drums, but later vocals and acoustic drums were recorded and mixed by Claudio Mura, in a garage in Serrone.

Below are the visuals.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Gothic, Dark-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: This is the fifth studio album by Italian Gothic formation The Spiritual Bat. Previous works have been released by Alchemisti Music and mainly Danse Macabre Records. A live album was already released by Swiss Dark Nights.

Content: The album sounds in the tradition of the band. A perfect mix between Dark-Wave reminiscences reminding me of The Skeletal Family (for the guitar playing) and a Dark-Goth/Rock approach. The songs are driven by female vocals injecting a true bewitching effect to the production.

+ + + : The Spiritual Bat stands for passion, which is emerging from the vocals and the guitar. There’s a bombastic touch running through the work creating a very personal approach. This is a fully enjoyable production without real potential hits, but cool songs.

– – – : The songs are missing little details to become potential hits. It’s maybe about choruses, which don’t have a true elevating effect. I also regret that the album features only 9 songs.

Conclusion: The spiritual Bat is a warrant for well-crafted Goth-Rock music with a personal approach.

Best songs: “Sanctu”, “To The Kuiper Belt”, “Heroes Anymore”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/thespiritualbat.band.page

Label: www.facebook.com/Swiss-Dark-Nights-Records-348565442615812

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Out on March 18th via the SwissDarkNights label, and ahead of their new album “Mission: Create”, is the all new The Spiritual Bat MCD “At the Edge of Life”.The release comes in a 4-panel clear tray digipak with all Lyrics included on the inner panel.

“At the Edge of Life” is another one in the series of limited EPs on SwissDarkNights and features all exclusive material, this time with a number of guests.

The opening track for instance was produced by Stephen Carey (This Burning Effigy, Adoration, The Eden House, ex-NFD) and features violin and viola player Shir-Ran Yinon, one of the two violinists in The Eden House, ex-Krayenzeit and also ex-violinist for New Model Army. The second track features Doc (Eric) Hammer, husband of Lisa Hammer and both of Requiem in White & Mors Syphilitica. “Lockdown” has Peter Bugg Rizzo of Gene Loves Jezebel as guest, who also mixed the track and the last track on the EP is a song from their 2017 Danse Macabre Album “Your own World-And the Vision of Sound”, remixed by Claus Larsen.

You can check out the Video for “Mission” below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Goth-rock, death-rock.

Background/Info: Dario Passamonti (music & arrangements) and Rosetta Garrì (lyrics, arrangements & percussions) are now already active for a couple of years under the Spiritual Bat moniker. They awoke my fascination with ftheir latest albums “Cruel Machine” and “Mosaic” so I was eagerly awaiting this new opus.

Content: The sound and influences haven’t changed, but there’s no real reason to change a successful sound formula. The songs have been carried by a raw, gothic expression while the bewitching and icy vocals of Rosetta are once again filling the work with coldness. Her timbre of voice always reminds me of Siouxsie Sioux, but it’s even colder and enigmatic.

+ + + : The Spiritual Bat without the vocals of Rosetta Garrì would definitely be different. This woman makes the splendor of the band injecting mystery and constant intrigue. The vocals also bring the passion to the album. But at the other side a good vocalist is also pretty abandoned without great music. The Spiritual Bat is not reinventing gothic music, but the power and darkness of the sound is cool and accomplished. Music and vocals together create a great sonic osmosis resulting in a few magical songs.

– – – : While previous work always took me by surprise, this album is a bit more predictable. The sound formula remains efficient, but it’s the kind of experience appealing for some extra elements on further work.

Conclusion: The Spiritual Bat is not exactly the most familiar and recognized band from the gothic scene, but they still get my entire support for being a band you directly recognize and that’s what makes the difference with other formations.

Best songs: “Intimacy”, “Killing”, “Your Own World”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.facebook.com/thespiritualbat.band.page

Label: www.dansemacabre–group.de / www.facebook.com/dansemacabrerec

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com