GERMINAL: 'FROM HIBERNATION'REVIEWS
http://www.the-mag.me.uk/
(Elemental Sounds)
"From Hibernation" isn't so entitled just for fun. This is Germinal's first release since an EP in 2001 and yet they sound as though they have always been with us; in the 90s, surely, rocking and terrorising American arenas with Depeche Mode, or in the experimental scene of the late 80s, throwing together collages of noise, melody and ambition. They grab the attention from the start. "Clean" has a monster hook and builds into an obsessive-compulsive roar with equal parts Dave Gahan and Trent Reznor. It is, unarguably, a potential single. Having got up a head of steam, it then cuts off - dead - which should make for some amusing moments among unsuspecting DJs. Hey Edith, where's the song gone? I'd popped out to the loo!
"Clean" offers a quick look at their talents, but even more extravagant riches are found within the album. This is widescreen music, be it the country-noir road song "Unknown Company" or the multi-part epic "One Great Emotion". Whoever thought of fitting Johnny Marr guitars to choral fantasia (amongst other things) should be given a medal. "Layers" hangs around for a while, quite low-key, before becoming something quite different, a nihilistic giant like Scott Walker's "Nite Flights".
Criticism? Sometimes the lyrics seem obviously pilfered from Ian Astbury's cliché room, most blatantly in "Baby Doll", being the one minor bum note; its blues affectations sound out of place and, if it didn't come so late in the album, it could spoil the atmosphere. That's a very minor quibble though. Germinal have the wit and imagination to make both hits and great albums. This trip through the DNA of industrial/goth/noir/whatever you want is truly magnificent
8/10. Posted By: Stuart M on 21/06/2006
WWW.BIGCHEESEMAGAZINE.COM
FURTHER FROM VIEW
INTRO TO COVERMOUNT TRACK
Combining heady hard rock with a jones for the experimental, Germinal have been bubbling away on the underground for sometime now, honing their craft. The resulting album 'From Hibernation' is packed to the gills with sonic heroics and strong songwriting and is refreshingly aloof of trends and fads.
GERMINAL
FROM HIBERNATION
(Elemental Sounds)
3/5
Germinal's album is somewhat of a mixed bag, it varies in styles and moods, though always seems to be reaching forward with ambition. Understandably, it doesn't always hit the mark, whereas 'Further From View' matches perfect, and playful,production with poetic lyrics and propulsive rhythams, sounding somewhere between the agression of dEUS and the Zinc's soulful declarations, other songs don't hit the mark so well. 'Unknown Company' is wordy, and whilst it matches the music well, it still feels somewhat theatrical, as though the dabbling into ballardry isn't as natural a process for the band.
Its comparable to Seachange and highlights the difficulty in making sterm rock music that still has to rock in some way. A valiant album stuffed with rewards for the more determined listener.
JONATHAN FLACONE.
GERMINAL
FROM HIBERNATION
(Elemental Sounds)
www.subba-cultcha.com
Despite having perhaps the worst name since Peter Hand, Germinal are a nice bunch of boys; when not rocking out in a garage full of dirge and fuzz, I’m pretty sure they amuse themselves and others with impressions of old schoolteachers. Lead singer Purvis is well known for his classic ‘Jones’ rendition how the others laughed when he wore that cat on his back and danced till mummy reminded him that Mr. Jones was in fact her pet-name for a particularly friendly neighbour. Sensing an awkwardness growing between mother and son, the amiable drummer Road thankfully cut through the atmosphere with a mouth of cheese shouting ‘I’m the cheese, I’m the cheese. WON’T SOMEBODY STOP ME, I’M THE BLOODY CHEESE!’
No really, stop me. I could go on forever recounting the peaks and troughs of Germinal’s extra-curricular activities, but the truth is I need to add a little about the album produced on the side. From Hibernation is as straightforward as rulers and chock-full of sexy effects and barren guitars, all the while the aforementioned Purvis wails like a lusty widow full of want. First track Clean is the kind of song that could break playlists on mainstream radio stations everywhere if they were lucky, whilst acoustic beauty Unknown Company is more than capable of accompanying the next Spiderman upside-down/underwater/inter-species kiss. Yum yum.
By Ross Breadmore
This release was published on 02 Apr 2006.
UNPEELED.CO.UK
January 06
BIGGER THAN TEXAS
Germinal “From Hibernation” (Elemental Sounds)
Sleazy, fat, nasty and just the right side of cheap. Now, we need to be clear that there are two things going on and on offer here. First up, there are cooly classy songs, secondly, they are smothered, muscled up, rubbed down and rammed full of electriod riffery of the most attractive and addictive kinds, but, as the man says, “do what I will”. All right then, this is a fine rock album of tunes that are empowered (good morning USA!) with sleaze and electricity, bit like the relationship between making love and porn, but I digress and nearly missed the rip of half the riff from “Heart Of Glass” for “One Great Emotion”, which tells us nothing and in order to remedy that, know this, “From Hibernation” is a cheap, come get me rocker dignified by good songs, or good songs dusted with the cheap heroin of wall-smackingly fine guitars. You pays yer money and sets yer volume. They will, mark me, be fucking huge. (www.germinal.info)
ZONAPUNK.COM
Germinal - From Hibernation (2005) - Elemental Sounds
for: Wladimyr Cross January 2006
The Germinal one is an English band who has obtained a good reply of the critical one, mainly for its melodies. The set if assumes influenced for bands as Throwing Muses and Nine Inch Nails, but I classify them as a beautiful mixture of The Cult (phase more dark), David Bowie (phase to crooner) with Interpol, or either, puta is melancholy with one punch.
The set has everything pra if to transform into hype between English weeklies, and clearly, later being adored by moderninhos daqui, its musicalidade backwards atmospheric bridges but is not nothing flat, has a lightly radiofônico format, still more if we estivessemos in years 80.
Great newness, great band, one of the revelations of 2006
DIESHELLSUITDIE.CO.UK
Reviewed By: James Davison on 30/12/2005
GERMINAL 'FROM HIBERNATION'(Elemental Sounds.)
By the looks of the bland cover, the name and a general vibe I was getting from this Germinal CD I must admit I had seriously questioned the greatness of the disk before even playing it. Yes, you could call me a doubter. Well then it’s a good thing that Germinal managed to win me round then isn’t it.
One question has to be raised however, and that’s why does “Clean” their opening song end so abruptly? Did they think it’d be clever and cut dead when you were least expecting it? They got that right if so, but I wasn’t expecting it because it sounds crap when it just stopped. I was getting into a song steeped in the early 90’s rock music vein, some great guitars and a punchy chorus and then BOOM. Silence. Note to Germinal: Don’t do this again.
Drama, yes drama is what Germinal have and the builds within songs like “One Great Emotion” and the David Bowie style vocals add to the dimensions of the album, aiding it to maybe not be THE most original thing ever, but definitely succeed in not sounding like the wash of generic bands being pushed right now.
Guitar driven “Baby Doll” stands out for sheer musicianship and extravagant guitars and “From Hibernation” as an album may not get me wanting to dip into my piggy bank and pluck out the few coppers I’ve saved up to purchase the disk, but for those of you into more atmospheric rock like we got in the 90’s, then Germinal might be your thang.
Track Listing:
1. Clean
2. One Great Emotion
3. Further From View
4. Unknown Company
5. Skin
6. Layers
7. Baby Doll
8. Witness
9. Great Mourning
Rating:3 out of 5
Buzz Magazine - TEL: 02920256881
December 2005
Germinal
From Hibernation (Elemental Sounds.)
Cardiff based band Germinal offer psychedelic space rock, all acoustic strumming and effects pedals, with added gothic baritone vocals. If you're in the right mood it works well. Some of the songs, like ONE GREAT EMOTION and the nine-minute GREAT MOURNING, get the balance spot on; the one track that will really haunt you is BABY DOLL, whose pulsing bass drum and tyre-screech guitar recall The Idiot-era Iggy Pop. 3/5 SH
ROCKMIDGETS.COM
GERMINAL
FROM HIBERNATION (Elemental Sound Records)
Germinal unleash their version of melodramatic indie pop with this debut album release From Hibernation. If the truth is to be told, though, it doesn't sound much different from the other melodramatic indie pop that dominated last year and seems to be carrying on in 2006.
Vocalist Purvis presides over the tracks sounding like Simon Le Bon's troublesome younger brother whilst the rest of the band plod alongside him creating music that sounds more fed up than inspired. It is an inoffensive style and is easy to nod your head along to and enjoy but the clear stylistic signifiers are way too predictable. The "oh look it's a slower song so we'll start off with some acoustic guitar to make sure you know what's coming" signals do get somewhat tiresome after a while
Name a current indie fave and you can guarantee that there's a bit of them in this album, it's a bit Kaiser's, very Franz Ferdinand, with a touch of Bloc Party and Coldplay. They've obviously done the commercial crap to get the NME types interested - however they have two master strokes when they throw in a bit of meat to add some flavour to the tasteless vegetables. 'Skin' and 'Baby Doll' are darker, deeper and much more interesting than the rest of the album. 'Baby Doll' even kicks off the kind of guitars you'd find on a Gun's N' Roses record. Unfortunately these are the only highlights.
Other than that, this album boils down to a bland compilation of the best of influences of the big acts out there at the moment. The two previously mentioned tracks seem to be where Germinal should be headed, but being that most of From Hibernation is simpering and spineless, don't hold your breath.
Rating: 2/5 by Lydia Clare - Jan06
HARDWIRE MAGAZINE
"This release offers us a taste of what similar bands have forgotten about - Originality" "Germinal made me sit up and listen, such is the overall presence of the vocal style. The vocals are dramatic, the music energetic and the acoustics atmospheric" "definitely worth getting "
MELODY MAKER
"Incredibly well done" "Unfashionably un-mod (welcome in my book) - Acoustic guitar fuelled chunks of melodrama"
THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
"An exhilarating & often wonderful trip through Purvis' psyche"
"Somewhere in their sadness & anger is an unequivocal beauty" -
"Germinal sound like nothing I've ever heard before - that's why I like them" -
WARTHOG ZINE
"Weird vocals, plenty of tempo and rhythm changes , brilliant" "As eclectic and inspired as the rest of the CD" -
A&B MAGAZINE
GERMINAL The A&B website has really expanded the zine's readership, and I'm getting releases from all over the country these days...keep them coming. Germinal hail from South Wales, and some of that region's eclectic reputation for producing weird and wonderful sounds has certainly rubbed off on them. The most striking aspect of the band is Darren Purvis' chillingly deep voice, which, combined with gentle musicianship on 'Mild Deliverance', creates sinister atmospherics. Musically, the band are rooted in dark-edge rock, but 'Skin' still sounds remarkabley fresh; I think it's the drama and energy of the song that appeals to me so much.
GERMINAL Contagion is a good thing (CD-single) (Holier Than Thou Records)
I really don’t know how it comes but when you see some names of bands then the attraction is so big that the interest is already growing by seeing the name alone, that’s what happened when I saw their name and even if all Belgians will think of that footballteam from Belgium, I’m convinced that they soon will change once they heard their music cos it’s one of the strongest indierocksounds you can hear at the moment. Lots of it has to do with the singer’s voice that has such a big charisma that you tend to think of big names like Hugh Cornwell, Jim Morrison or Ian Astbury of The Cult. Sometimes it happens that voices don’t fit with a certain sound but in Germinal’s case everything seems like it’s be destinated to be fit as their heavy blues-indierocksound come very close to the likes of long forgotten heroes like The Stranglers or MicrodisneyÉnot that Germinal are retro-musicians but it’s just that bands like them aren’t that easy to be found these days. If you think Paul Weller is the sole modrocker around then you’re urged to discover Germinal! (CONTACT : www.germinal.info, enquiries@germinal.info
GERMINAL - "From The Salamander Motel" (demo)
This was quite a hard CD to review as there's so much going on in it. Germinal mix elements of indie, Goth (certain aspects of the vocals and music remind me of "Alternative 4" era Anathema) and acoustic folk music to create a sound that is pretty much indescribable. But then, that's obviously what they want, their info pack prominently featuring the slogan "So, in a world where everything is becoming strangely familiar, be definitively different (join the movement)." Germinal will confuse you, but at the same time, will attempt to persuade you to join their so-called definitively different movement. And they'll succeed, if you'll let them. Music Underground Review 04042000 Reviewed by Chris Walker
