Jul I'm Sorry

XIV Dark Centuries are one of those bands that I have known of since 2003 or so, however, for whatever reason, I always delayed in checking out their material until this little EP came out and, needless to say, after hearing it, I was kicking myself for not checking out the debut album (… Den Ahnen Zum Grusse …) sooner; Jul is definitely a pristine and perfect starting point for a newcomer to XIV Dark Centuries since, for one, it's rather easy to sit down and listen to it anytime since it's about 17 minutes long (which, umm, could not be said of Equilibrium's 80-minute Sagas beast, for example) and, besides that, it captures everything the band is about.

Love , lust and angst were the biggest topics of teen love songs back in the 50s, a time where the idols of the day , no longer your Mom and Dad s crooners, dominated the charts. The 1950s marked the birth of rock’n’roll. From big band tracks to jazz standards, until midway through the 20th century, music was a resolutely parent-friendly zone. But then everything changed. Elvis had flustered teenagers all shook up, while the likes of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and the like were destroying the old safety nets with a virile, passionate new sound.