I got my copy of 'The Unquiet Grave' last week and I have listened to it several times. Its a remarkable production with each track standing alone and yet a sense of continuity so that one gets the impression of one song leading to another as in a passage of text. 

The subtle backing tracks the percussion/beat box really support rather than override the vocals and keyboards and this creates the gothic sadness that pervades the album/a sense of the compositions dream like internal logic which is the emotional revelation of the composers feelings unfolds subversively but not in a self indulgent manner.

The lyrics are sparse and clever and stay in the unconscious at the end of the tracks. 'The Birthday Party' had this impact on my sensibilities and I resonated with it and the chorus remained on the abstract threshold of my mind for days afterwards. The signature tune 'The Unquiet Grave' is a great opening track and sets the mood for the rest of the CD the voice and technique and tones of the keyboards fit perfectly and continue through the other tracks.

Alien Skin's  vocals are quite unique and flow through a limited register of tones somewhere between singing and an organic space of symbolic, almost dreamlike allegory; a harbour of secret paradise, singing a poem or a liturgy if you will. 
The stripped back restraint becomes mesmerising and overwhelms the imagination until you enter the world of 'The Unquiet Grave' and its cold isolation to quote the titles of two of the tracks. There is a sense of confrontation with death and an exhumation of the inevitability of an end to our short time in this life. The mix is excellent and the various effects and working of the androgynous vocals breaks up the steady flow of the music. I was pleasantly surprised at the more dramatic interludes of sound; some almost industrial effects. These give the compositions a tension and momentum that counter acts with the dramatic melancholic flow of the music itself. For things are what we feel they are. The absence of a bass guitar line does not detract from the dynamics. 

A great passage of work Alien Skin, a masterful use of your instruments and clever compositions and story lines makes for an excellent listen as with all your work!
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A thought runs through your head when you see a sophomore album from an artist that it can be really great or just more of the same from the debut. Somehow I knew the former would be the case with George Pappas and Alien Skin. I could not think or say enough good things about “Don’t Open Til Doomsday” and now I am faced with the same dilemma with this CD. The only exception is that this album is even better than the first with more attention given to each and every song and every minute detail of the tunes!

The title track has to be the incomparable standout as this is a song that harkens back to many eras in content and also sounds and yet is completely original and contemporary. Amazing synths and perfectly placed spoken words add to the hauntingly beautiful music found in this and all of the tracks on the album. Most artists seem to get “stuck” and almost refuse to stretch and try new things that are outside their comfort zone or what they have always known. This not the case for Pappas, who pushes the envelope with new sounds and arrangements and makes songs very relevant and upon listening closely almost before their time in musical quality. The title track illustrates this exceedingly well but so does “History” and “Cold.” “This Isolation” is a must listen to over and again to capture the feel and emotion within this song and is another example of going outside of an artist’s previous comfort zone and revealing more about themselves and their talent.

Nothing about this CD is stuck in a genre or back in time but rather is a stunning representation of what artists who have had great success should do to move ahead and garner new fans. This album also shows you what creative genius and talent can evolve to given freedom to express. If you have not heard of Alien Skin and think it is not in your genre category then you are mistaken. This is an album with many facets and one that all music lovers should buy!
- Macavity Eliot
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Alien Skin is an Australian project that was set up by George Pappas who was previously involved in the famous Australian band Real Life. This band got international fame by the 80s hit 'Send Me An Angel'.

A few years ago now G. Pappas started this new project. After the debut album "Don't Open Till Doomsday" (2008) we now get "The Unquiet Grave". While the title and the front cover of the album are rather gothic like Alien Skin can be easily defined as a pure electro-pop formation. What I like in their sound is the less typical synth-pop production. "The Unquiet Grave" sounds quite intimate and surprising. The title song opening is based on a traditional 14th century folksong. We have to admit that this isn't really common for a synth-pop band. This song sounds like an intro, but we have to recognize it all starts an original way.

The main songs are quite wafting and moody with some ambient touch on top. The album becomes interesting when listening to 'History', 'Love', 'This Isolation' and 'Cold'. You can easily perceive the mature sound and production while the 'pop'-style revealed by Alien Skin takes some distance with the established standards. All songs and especially the lyrics of a few tracks aren't always that groundbreaking, but other cuts are revealing certain fragility and quietness. It sometimes moves on the edge of an imaginary pop-lounge style.

"The Unquiet Grave" is more a kind of down-tempo pop release crafted with emotion and devotion. This is nothing like dance-pop, but just a fascinating experience throughout emotional pop music!
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In the 80's, you probably heard "Send Me an Angel" so often that Heaven imposed a draft just to meet the demand. The band was Real Life, with George Pappas on keyboard. He continues as Alien Skin with "The Unquiet Grave" (not related to Cleopatra's goth compilation series). If you like Depeche Mode or Martin Gore's solo work, Alien Skin is a close fit. Gentle, vibrato-laden singing with moody synthpop.

The album starts with a cover of the anonymous traditional ballad "The Unquiet Grave". For fun, play this version and Faith and the Muse's version in either order. They're both good and it's fun to hear how something changes in different artists' hands. The next track, "History", reminds me of DM's "The Sweetest Perfection". That kinship to DM recurs throughout the CD.

"Dirty Kisses (A Vampire Love Story)" is a guilty pleasure. I mean, c'mon: "Dirty kisses / from a Vampiress / dirty kisses / Dirty kisses / from the mouth of death". When I can afford Absinthe, I'm revisiting this song. Later on "The Birthday Party" takes the baton from "Enjoy the Silence". The closing "If" isn't based on Rudyard Kipling's poem, but for me this track has the strongest lyric: "When I held you in my arms / I thought I was special". I'd wager that strikes an old bell within many people.

Alien Skin exemplifies goth with the rock bled out of it. We have Pappas' voice to guide us through a haze of dark and mellow synth.

- Scott Sweet
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