Cover-Art:
"Angel"
by Boris Brosowski
Record status: Released Nov. 2004 on Sonorium Records.
2004 WINTERTIME
After years of inactivity, Boris and Sascha team up again to release Wintertime. As the title suggests, this is a hard, cold, bareboned CD. The opener "Burn Witch, Burn!" is an immediate smash-hit amongst the european gothic clubs. The Album enters the German Alternative Charts top 30 and the German Metal Rock Charts top 30 in late 2004. The live tour sees CREAMVIII play throughout Germany and for the first time in England.
REVIEWS:
The German cult band at last comes undamaged through hard years from the' 90ies and our thanks to the solidity and quality of its proposal. Indeed, apart from the tender harp of the folk intro, the remaining songs continue to move relentlessly on territories of the gothic rock of the 80' s: simple, dark and obstinately danceable; the sporadicly modern infuenced beats show themselves timidly in "Empire/Rat Music" or "Burn Witch Burn" (containing the some resemblance to the beloved Rammstein) but those are the exception that confirm the rule. They confidently trust in their roots that go back to Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim, but also Cult and Alien Sex Fiend and sometimes they even cite the masters of the albion goth.
Evocative airs that reward the decennial compositorian efforts catch up the apex in "Tverde Blizo", a song of decadent and mesmerising Bulgarian love on the wake of the Nosferatu and upgrade them single supported from one wrapping, how much scarna recording. I can really say that this act has given new life to the genre of horror rock, given their maturity that only old lions such as this teutonic trio are in a position of generating. If you are tempted by tenebrous songs with morbid and cold guitars that evoce morbid rituals, you have come to the right place. Nihilism and genius.
Marco Ganzerli http://www.negative.it/
Not that the teutonic CreamVIII have given vent to their vision of composing songs structuring the present "Wintertime"... But of these times it has been forced to make of necessity virtute, Indians, we please ourselves. Someone has defined them icon of the gothic Germany, and they surely know how to carry this title with style: One manciata of brani that deserve the full sufficienza, with the particular one danced "Tverde Blizo" (to bulgarian love song!) decidedly intriguer. For the rest goth, independent and morbid goth. Beautifully guitaristic, with electronic inserts calibrated to you, sung lascive and vicious, the most punctual rhythmic section. Beautiful atmospheres, dark and decadent to the just point, some episodes can also induce to dance, some without doubt to remember ("Paid in pain", as an example), other particular (the bizzarre "Sabeth" is indeed disturbing). One of the true professional bands of the gothic movement, CreamVIII entirety deserves your consideration. And I listened repeatedly to "Wintertime" to give you this confirmation. And the vision? Beh, will be for the next time!
Hadrianus www.versacrum.com
(5
track demo)
After six
years of inactivity, CreamVIII reappears on the international goth scene
with a demo of five tracks that anticipates the full length
"Wintertime". The trio of Kerpen can surely be counted among those bands
that have contributed, in the early nineties, to the birth and the
development of the gothic rock in Germany and for this they can be
considered a cult band.
This voice
then becomes warm and lulling in the following "Tverde blizo", a ballad in
black with pizzicated guitars that follow the classic course of a "rising"
impact. In "Paid in pain" CreamVIII then reveal the not very hidden
devotion to the Sisters of Mercy, actually quoting one phrase from "Lucretia
my reflection". Finally the conclusive "Empire/Rat music", relying on aggressive
guitar riffs and drives, is the rockiest song of the entire demo.
In this beginning of a new century, where the lines that trace gothic-rock
sound by now are drawn and where there cannot exist innovative
albums but only good or insufficient productions, Cream VIII puts solid base
here that the future
CD
"Wintertime", will belong to the first category... I attend trusting.
Mr. Moonlight,
www.erbadellastrega.com
Neben der in Eigenproduktion entstandenen Best-Of-Compilation “Past To The
Past“, die einen Rückblick auf 10 Jahre Bandgeschichte bietet,
veröffentlichte die deutsche CREAM VIII kürzlich ihr neues Album
„Wintertime“. Auf diesem sind sie ihren Wurzeln treu geblieben und schütteln
locker ein Dutzend schräger, old-schooliger Gothic Rock-Songs aus dem Ärmel.
Deutlich erkennbar sind die Einflüsse der Sisters Of Mercy zu hören, welche
in einer Zeile Songs „Pain In Pain“ auch respektvoll zitiert werden.
Knallende elektronische Drums, roher, düsterer Gesang, schneidende Gitarren
und ein grummelnder Bass bestimmen den Sound der CD. Geschmackssache ist
allerdings die ungeschliffene, rohe Produktion, bei der die elektronischen
Drums teilweise etwas scheppernd und aufdringlich klingen.
Neben hymnischen Songs wie „Burn Witch, Burn!“ „Catherine“, „The Black Sea“
und „Swansong“ sowie einer melancholischen Ballade („Too Close To The Sun“),
die man auf einem Gothic Rock-Album alter Prägung erwartet, haben CREAM VIII
auch einige kleine Überraschungen parat. So leiten sie das Album mit einem
verträumten Harfenintro ein, intonieren ein Liebeslied auf ungarisch
(“Tverde Blizo”) und beenden das Werk mit einer akustischen Live-Version von
„Wintertime“.
Innerhalb der Genregrenzen ein abwechslungsreiches Album, das tanzbare,
hymnische Songs, düster-beklemmende Soundscapes und melancholische Balladen
vereint - verziert mit einer gehörigen Portion avantgardistischer
Schrägheit. Fans von traditionellem deutschen Gothic Rock sollten auf jeden
Fall mal ein Ohr riskieren.
edgeofdawn www.meltingclose.de
With WINTERTIME the german
goth rockers who were the talk-of-the-scene in the early nineties deliver
new material, regrouping themselves after a long time. Frontman and singer
Boris and guitarist Sascha Lecher have created a tasty cocktail, whose
melancholic-dark gothic hymns not quite incidentally show reminiscences to
the early SOM. "Catherine" is a song fully in the style of Eldritch's girl
songs like "Emma" and "Jolene", "Burn Witch, Burn!" is a fast clubsong and
again with "Paid in Pain" you even find one or the other SOM line.
Nevertheless as CreamVIII pay hommage, they do not to copy but stick to
their own style, and this is what makes this album remarkable. "Tverde
Blizo" is sung in bulgarian and the title track has been added as an
acoustic live version at the end of the CD. But by all its melancholy and
catchyness it is easily overshadowed by the seven-minute epic "Too Close to
the sun" wich is by far the most dark and melancholic track. Fans of
old-school Goth should listen to this one.
(SP) Zillo
Was Cream
VIII hiermit vorlegen, ist guter, solider Gothic Rock. Bandgründer und
Sänger Boris Brosowski hat eine angenehme, tiefe und vor allem wandelfähige
Stimme: mal klingt sie warm und schmeichelnd, mal autoritär, mal
beschwörend, mal aggressiv und mal rauh, beinahe flüsternd.
Der Anfangstrack "Pyre", ein Instrumentalstück, überrascht mit sanften
Harfenklängen, aber gleich der zweite Track, "Burn Witch, Burn", beweist,
dass CreamVIII auch für härtere Töne zu haben sind. Dieser sehr rockige
Track ist durchweg tanzbar.
Ebenfalls durch hohe Tanzbarkeit zeichnen sich "Catherine", "The Black Sea"
und "Swansong" aus. Mit "Twerde Blizo" folgt eine ruhige Ballade in
russischer Sprache. "Paid in pain" weist auf die Verehrung hin, die
CreamVIII den Sisters of Mercy zollen. Sogar eine Zeile aus "Lucretia my
reflection" wird zitiert. Der Titelsong "Wintertime" wiederum erinnert an
Nick Cave. In "Empire/Rat Music" wird durch die Stimme sowie den Einsatz der
Instrumente erfolgreich eine unheilverkündende Atmosphäre geschaffen,
passend zu dem Text, der mit Metaphern aus dem Ungeziefer/Parasiten-Bereich
spielt.Dem Abschluss bildet eine Ballade. "Too Close To The Sun" besticht
mit seiner aus dem griechischen Ikarus-Mythos entnommenen Symbolik.
Alles in allem ist "Wintertime" ein gutes, hörenswertes Album, das einem
eine schöne Stunde verschaffen kann.
Christine Höfig (www.subkultur.com)
Dans les années 90 ils étaient là, puis avant le nouveau millénaire ils
n’étaient plus. Le duo allemand Boris Brosowski et Sascha Lecher ont fait
renaître Creamviii de ses cendres. Le besoin de faire de la musique a été
plus fort. Leur portée se résume à un Gothic Rock de la première heure à qui
on a porté un nouveau souffle de vie. Il est doté de parties modernes,
notamment avec une fourrure électronique. Les morceaux sont aussi gluants
que glacés, devants lesquels on s’enflamme ou on reste de glace. La voix est
sombre comme le veut ce genre de musique, et porte à l’existence des
portraits d’émotions comme cette chanson d’amour qu’est chantée en langue
bulgare.
Orpheus Magazine
As a clear example of madness and listenability, there can be sufficient justifications for me to listen to CREAMVIII, who, with their decade-long experience are strong enough to know to wink to you an a cunning and mature way, to the single scope of true music. Their proposal, a goth-rock from the detached progressive wave, perfectly in equilibrium between the Eighties and the intriguing Tiamat`s "A Deeper Kind of Slumber" (but not equally touching and reflexive), travels on a fake-Rammstein line: Indeed they take over their compatriot`s dancable martiality, and, sometimes the resonant sound, and both entirely true. But I cannot neglect that the entire base is presented to you in the way of the minimalistic electronic romantics.
It becomes very clear to me that the plan of Boris Brosowski is that of a compositive immediacy of structures without frills and the essential instrument: The "gift of the able synthesis" to render together the pieces without getting lost in redundancies and (sovraimpalcature). To the fast memorization, the choice of untutored but sheer functional lyrics works absolutely for them: recited in loops they achieve the void power of deconcentration.
In Summary: If the need for large pretentions is not felt on one given evening, "Wintertime" will sure match your case.
Sara Moriconi Babylon Magazine