Born in South Africa but now a denizen of the United States, Ashton Nyte is a big noise on the darkwave scene.

I love a bit o’Goth in my musical diet, so I must confess to being slightly ashamed to admit I’ve never heard his band, The Awakening, before now, despite the fact Ashton has been churning out his music of the, erm, nyte for nigh on thirty years. All that will change after listening to this new, self-titled effort, however, because I’m now genuinely excited to do a bit of mining in the Awakening back catalogue…

Basically, if you’ve any idea about Gothic rock, you already know what The Awakening sounds like; But that won’t stop you from listening, and Nyte himself cuts a suave figure in the centre of the dark maelstrom he creates. At his most effective he’s like a beguiling mix of Bauhaus eminence noir Peter Murphy and Icehouse Titan Iva Davies – standout cut Through The Veil is an absolutely fabulous mix of these two giants – and when you throw in a few other obvious reference points – Eldritch, Vallo, Jyrki 69 – then what you have is ostensibly a tired old trot through the black-clad playbook…. However Nyte is a genuinely gifted manipulator of sound, and, against all the odds, he creates something genuinely fresh and exciting from these well-weathered ingredients.

The balladic Your Vampire changes things up a little, adding an almost eighties metal sheen to proceedings to create a lighter-worthy anthem, whilst the menacing post-punk of Haunting is another highlight, bass-driven and malevolent; It’s hard not to get swept away when the glorious chorus kicks in, and you may find yourself engaged in the act of tearing bits of paper up to throw above your head, Eskimo-style, in order to get full value from the track in your own lounge room. As they say, If You Know, You Know, as they say…

I could go on, but I’ll stop there because I don’t want to detain you when you should be heading off to your local record n’tape exchange to purchase this little beauty. This is a real gem of it’s kind, and you need it in your collection if you have even a sneaking regard for any of the names I’ve mentioned. Great stuff!

The Awakening releases today (October 18th).