Spiritual Front: Singing Sodomy
Stimulus: Blow The Moon And His Fool
Coph Nia: Lord Of The Air (Vocal)
Of The Wand And The Moon: Gal Anda (Alternative Mix)
Blood Axis: Reign I Forever
Midnight Syndicate: Ride To Destiny
As All Die: Love Lorn
Allerseelen: Traumlied
Von Thronstahl: Lawrence Of Arabia (Unreleased Version)
The Days Of The Trumpet Call: Rendezvous
The Caretaker: We'll Go Riding On A Rainbow
Project Fahr: Swollen
Caithness: Solesmes's Echoes

Judas Kiss, for those not in the know, is a magazine / journal / whatever which prides itself on covering all aspects of Industrial Culture. Primarily devoted to music within all genres it has delved into the darker waters of some very strange and peculiar practices which hold a repulsive fascination for most normal people. Being printed in small numbers and arriving infrequently (blame Lee Powell whose vision this solely is) each edition is sold out quickly and has become something of a cult item amongst those in the know. Over the years it has slowly lost its reputation for taking itself far too seriously but held onto the belief that the freedom to express your thoughts is the right of the individual. Publish and be damned indeed.

Celebrating the many years in existence of Judas Kiss this compilation serves as an overview to the many artists who have been interviewed and had their releases critically acclaimed / mauled. Featuring 13 diverse acts - not superstitious is Lee - the tracks range from the unreleased, to alternative mixed, to original versions with a small excerpt from interviews they gave to the magazine / journal / whatever…if they had done so.

"Past, Present and Forever" is a fitting title for this compilation. For within this recording are to be found Spiritual Front, Stimulus, Coph Nia, Of the Wand and the Moon, Blood Axis, Midnight Syndicate, As All Die, Allerseelen, Von Thronstahl, Days of the Trumpet Call, The Caretaker, Project Fahr and Caithness. A veritable who’s who of highly accomplished musicians. Of course every compilation ever put out suffers from the problem that not every track on it will appeal to everyone and "Past, Present and Forever" is no different in this respect.

The tracks by Stimulus and Caithness, I hate to say, did absolutely nothing for me. Every other act, apart from Spiritual Front and Midnight Syndicate and Project Fahr of whom more later, I know so well having collected all their official releases. I’ll not even write up these illustrious acts because the names Coph Nia, Of the Wand and the Moon, Blood Axis, As All Die, Alerseelen, Von Thronstahl, Days of the Trumpet Call and The Caretaker have stamped their footprints forged in steel, giants amongst mere men, within their respective spheres of music and need no introduction. On the million to one chance that you haven’t had the pleasure of their uplifting music then these tracks will act as a guidance for further future investigation. Spiritual Front and Midnight Syndicate took me by surprise. The EBM influenced track by Spiritual Front was a guilty pleasure as too the Gothic soundscape by Midnight Syndicate. Project Fahr’s slightly ambient electronic noise adventure was also better than hoped for.

"Past, Present and Forever" is a valiant attempt to reproduce the type of music which Judas Kiss covers. The packaging by the French label Kaosthetik Konspiration on this limited to 420 copies release aping admirably the style of JK. There is a slight quibble in that to be fully representative there was no room for extreme electronics. Nor every flavour of ambient / drone. Or those out of control experimental / avant-garde artists. Perhaps volume 2, if there is one, will redress this imbalance. Otherwise this compilation, like the magazine / journal / whatever, is well worth dipping into time and time again.

ANM