yelworC – Trinity

Over a decade passed before Yelworc released this new album and in that time, much changed. Pop music infiltrated the once impenetrable fortress of dark electronic artists; chart placements were now routinely mentioned.

The turmoil surrounding Yelworc’s untimely demise was an ugly one. Dominik van Reich and Peter Devin descended into a conflict the likes of which had not been seen since Andrew Eldritch reclaimed the name Sisterhood from a disgruntled Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams . Ultimately, Devin won the exclusive rights to the Yelworc name. Upon releasing their last album 'Brainstorming', a double compilation disc of unreleased works was issued in 1995 as a holdover for the fans.

With the collapse of Celtic Circle Productions in 1997, Yelworc’s future appeared over.

In the ensuing years of silence, rumors began to arise that Peter Devin was indeed writing new tracks under the Yelworc moniker. I managed to hear some of these tracks on a rough cassette in 1999; the album title was still 'Trinity'. The production was poor but the ideas shined through. Add to this that the ground Yelworc broke was now being shamelessly exploited by a host of others.

It was quite easy to see that there was indeed still a place in the world for Yelworc.

So in 2004 the end result of all this toil and effort was released to a grateful public. This album remains a breath of fresh air, a warlike opus against mediocrity. The fact it got a loving re-master by Dennis Ostermann (In Strict Confidence), elevates it even further into the stratosphere. Van Reich’s absence will undoubtedly cause much anger to some of the fans, but this is an unrealistic hope. There can be no going back to the way it was. In any case, his lack of involvement does not harm 'Trinity'.

This album is not a club killer, rather it is a collection of the past decade which shows the Yelworc sound evolving away from the earlier EBMish approach and into an amazingly complex, and yes, extremely dark vision of apocalyptic tone. Surely, there can be no question that he sounds just as visceral and vital as in the days of yore.