David Galas
The Nihilist
These Hands Melt
The slew of fantastic latter era releases American darkwave legends Lycia had been releasing since 2013’s Quiet Moments has, well, quieted, with no new tunes from the project seeing release since 2021’s charming “Simpler Times” single. However, Lycia’s erstwhile David Galas, hasn’t stayed silent since then. The three LPs and one outtakes release Galas has released since 2022 have ranged from stormy dark rock abutting upon Lycia’s more bellicose moments to pure ambience and experimentation. The most recent of these, The Nihilist, does an excellent job of underlining the moody weight Galas brings to Lycia while more importantly putting his bona fides as a writer with a clear sense of dark music’s past and present.
Galas has positioned The Nihilist as a conscious homage to pure, uncut goth and post-punk from the 80s, specifically namechecking the likes of Mephisto Walz and Joy Division. It’s not at all hard to hear those nods across any number of its tracks, from the classically goth pentatonic twang of “Halo” to more melancholy and dreamy ambiance; the smeared flange of “One Last Moment” in particular absolutely nails the middle-ground between the two aforementioned vintage acts. That said, a large amount of the sheer weight and direct rhythmic drive of Galas’ read on the genre’s he’s played no small part in shaping with Lycia aligns very well with that of the younger acts who’ve adopted a similarly bleak style. As indicated by recent field-testing of “You’re A Needle In My Arms” by this writer in club sets, it’s easy to blend The Nihilist‘s sounds with those of French Police, Harsh Symmetry, or Twin Tribes.
Thematically The Nihilist proves to be just as nimble and malleable as it is musically, while staying as resolutely monochrome as its title would suggest. From the weary unrest of “The Color Of Grey” to the fatalistic “Cloud Of Despair”, Galas’ aesthetic – both in lyrics and instrumentation – hits the romantic sweep and grandeur of goth rock’s more high-minded and stoic figures. At the same time, the self-aware nature of The Nihilist‘s conscious exercise in miserablism lets Galas knock out lines like “Kill your neighbours, kill your friends, nothing’s worth it in the end” without giving the game away. If you’ve been trading in goth as long as Galas has, you have to love it both earnestly and ironically.
Again, The Nihilist‘s strength comes from being able to hit upon so many levels of goth, classic and modern, while neither feeling too fractured nor wearing out its welcome (getting fifteen tracks in at just over fifty minutes requires some canny self-editing). Whether Lycia will be formally reassembling in the next few years or not, Galas has been showing with his recent run that he needs no help in tapping into a neighbouring but distinct and rewarding vein of darkness. Recommended.
