Before you press play on any of these songs, I imagine you will have some idea of the style of music, Bela and the Lugosis – Vampire Kiss, screams 70s disco crossed with grime doesn’t it? I jest of course. If you are yearning for the days you wore only back, came out only in the hours of darkness with your pale complexion, eyeliner (or guyliner!) and black nail varnish, this album will have you re-living nights in the Tech. Actually, if that is still how you roll, this album is for you.
Of course, the band name recalls the gothest of all goth bands (cue debate from all the ”real” goths out there), the mighty Bauhaus. I suppose you could describe Bela and the Lugosis as neo glam goth. Lets’s imagine Bowie fronting a goth band (hang on – that IS Bauhaus is it not?) with added input from the Prince of Glam, Marc Bolan, and there you have it.
The album opens with just that vibe, We’re Getting it On is underpinned by a full on glam stomp (with a hint of Velvet Underground guitars), a surreptitious “hey man” slipped in to give it a nod to the Thin White Duke.
The Bowie vibe hits full motherlode in the vocal inflections on the wonderfully addictive The Heart Makes it Possible, supplemented by an almost Postcard era Glasgow indie band riff thrown in for good measure.
The Cure worked their work through the days of the week on their poppiest of songs, Friday I’m in Love. Bela & the Lugosis fly through the week in 90 seconds in No Meat Monday, sounding nothing like the Cure it has to be said, sticking with the dark goth vibe on this relationship debate of dietary preferences.
There are a few song title nods to the classics here too, on the atmospheric laidback groove of Bela Says complete with retro handclaps and on the hypnotically spellbinding Happiness is a Warm Body to name but two.
Despite what you might think from the title, Like a Hurricane ISN’T Bela and the Lugosis take on The Mission’s take on the Neil Young classic…This song is coolness personified with its foot to the floor driving rhythm as the band go full on Velvet Underground.
Before the final reprise of the album’s opener We’re Getting it On, the band take to that Velvet Underground vibe again and add a bit of a Jesus and Mary Chain like riff on She’s a Star.
This album is short and snappy, around half an hour, of welcoming and familiar retro sounds, but still manage made them sound fresh and full of exuberance and joy. Yes, joy, you read that right. Goth’s aren’t miserable you know (well, not ALL of them).
Children of the night, give yourself to Bela & the Lugosis, succumb to their Vampire Kiss and get drawn into their twilight world, or regret it for eternity.