Butterfly Messiah: album reviews and ratings

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Reviews & Recommendations

	Butterfly Messiah

Artist Listing:

S - Z

Line Up:
- Shannon Garson (vocals, keyboards, lyrics)
- Robert Nightshade (vocals, percussion, programming, lyrics)
- Josh Harrington (keyboards)

"A band with a strong Projekt records sound, electronic Gothic/Ethereal with some obvious EBM influences. Shannon Garson has a dark and airy quality to her etheric vocal style. Very haunting and enchanting. Robert Nightshade sings on some tracks and he has more of a deep dark voice. Like moody industrial without the grating edge, much more insinuous. Both share duties with synthetic harmonies and atmoshperes as well as guitar and other instruments. Xayden, I'm assuming, handles mainly the percussion aspects of the band. Lyrics for this group tend to sway from personal perspectives to the mystical and symbolic."

RhythmUS Network ,8/00

Butterfly Messiah Discography - Album / CD Reviews

2000: Synthesis EP (demo)
"An original and very promising duo... their approach crosses goth, synthpop and ambient to produce a varied, interesting and attractive sound...... let's hope someone gives them a break."

Flux Europa

¾ 2002: Priestess

Musicfolio Picks: When Autumn To Winter Resigns, Land Beneath the Waves, Eternal Undone
"The combination of synthpop, ethereal, and industrial-dance/EBM in a darkwave/goth context is seamless and produces an exciting synthesis melding the warm and reassuring beat of electronic modernity with dark melodies and lush vocals. The style is exemplified in the opening track where an atmospheric introduction and whispered female vocals are joined by driving dance beat percussion, an exciting oriental-inclined New Romantic style synth riff and vocoded male vocals. (...)
I particularly liked the sinister, ritual quality of 'Eternal Undone' whilst 'When Autumn To Winter Resigns' - which gives full vent to Shannon's soaring vocals - is almost Mediaeval Baebes territory."

-- fluxEuropa.com

2002: It's Time EP

Track Listing: 1-It's Time 2-It's Time (Post Kronos Dance Mix) 3-Monument 4-Machines 5-It's Time (Intsrumental Demo)
"This follow-up EP to Butterfly Messiah's debut album offers the same blend of electro-industrial music backed with ethereal vocals. The main track, It's Time, combines the driving beats of a smoky-dancefloor hit with Shannon's eerie vocals... a potential winner amongst goth club crowds. But the cleaner instrumental version of It's Time would have to be my pick from this album. Monument is hauntingly beautiful, while the track Machines featuring Robert's vocals, instantly brings to mind the more recent Theatre of Tragedy work on 'Musique' and 'Assembly'. As a whole, this EP displays more sophisticated music arrangements than 'Priestess'."

-- Said Sukkarieh, musicfolio.com, 10/02

2004: Eternal

"The sound on 'Eternal' is more rounded, mature, and actually has a direction whereby Priestess was a lost child in the Industrial realm, wandering round and hardly knowing what to do with itself. Eternal is more grounded, the songs are more self-assured, and carry a certain belief and confidence that the numbers in Priestess couldn’t brag about. The strength of this album lies in the assured heaviness of the synths and how they generate a dark, sometimes sinister, yet energetic feeling throughout the songs. This is shown nowhere better than on It’s Time, one of the best Industrial tracks I have ever heard, Shannon’s vocals elevating what could otherwise be quite a black and trenchant number. (...) On the rest of the album, not only are we served up a dish comprising of rather dark growling synths, but there are some nice EBM sounds in there as well, vis-à-vis the title track and Ascension. (...) I get the impression that BM are a band who are well aware of the importance of developing their sound and I’m sure that 'Eternal' is just one step on a long road of self-discovery for them."

-- Sam Grant, Sonic Cathedral, 6/04

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