The Fair Sex – The Dark Ages

This is a two disc collection of tracks from goth/electronic/industrial band The Fair Sex. The material is drawn from the band's early self released and out of print albums circa the late eighties and early nineties, and this is often apparent in the production which is a bit thin by modern standards. The guitars also have that distinctly eighties sound (think Duran Duran). It may not be as skullcrushing as Rammstein, but give 'em credit. They were mixing the six strings with the electronics as early as 1985 when the band first got together. I'm sure those more heavily into the genre are already familiar with The Fair Sex, but this is my first exposure to them.Both sonically and thematically they share a lot with Skinny Puppy, Land of Rape and Honey period Ministry, KMFDM, Alien Sex Fiend, etc., with the Puppy comparisons being the most pronounced. Quality wise, most of this isn't quite on a par with those aforementioned artists, but a few tracks like the gothy Hanging in Kareyth and the dark industrial Faceless are.Sound quality varies a bit from track to track due to these songs coming from different releases, but not distractingly so.Probably not for the casual dabbler in the genre, but if you live for gloomy music with danceable beats you should add this to your collection!

Catchy electronics, electric guitars and inspiring vocals make up this two-disk compilation release of the German band The Fair Sex, released by the American label Van Richter. This most recent release came after a long time of absence and features the most well-known songs of the band, taken from the out-of-print recordings The House of Unkinds, Demented Forms, Oddities and Bite Release Bite. This anthology also features two completely new songs, "Children of the Revolution" and "Beautiful Nightmare: The Number One"; these tracks don't even appear on the track listing, but are still very good, nonetheless. Powerful and aggressive, in the style of The Fair Sex. The first disk commences strong with the Divine Service track from 1987, blowing you away with electronic beats combined with the electric guitar, accompanying the vocals of singer Myk Jung. It is difficult to imagine that even during the eighties, this band was producing this kind of revolutionary music. The first disk never loses the fast pace set by Divine Service. The second disk continues the pace. The Fair Sex doesn't use any samples and hence their music becomes very personal and intense. It is far away from contemporary "industrial" bands, and much better as well. These two disks are an excellent introduction to anyone who has never listened to The Fair Sex, taking the best of the best from their previous albums.