Since 1997, Mexicans of Isenngard, composed of Carlos Carrera and Alfredo Castaneda, evolve/move in a Goth rock'n'roll style with the many various and easily recognizable influences.

Thus, left in self-production, "Wishing Not To Fall", the seventh album of the duet, very quickly makes think of worships groups such as Fields Of The Nephilim, Love Like Blood, Dreadful Shadows or Ikon and The Mission.

The ten titles which make it up inform beautiful powerful and melody guitars in a perfect tradition Goth rock'n'roll, accompanying a major song, melancholic person and quite as powerful, while machines come to give a strong key of modernity to the whole as on excellent "Plugged", "It's only me (nucleomorphosis)", "Wake up!" & "Crap". Some notes of piano and violin also come to enrich all these compositions already much succeeded and particularly successful.

The few calmest titles are certainly worse also, because often too slow and too long ("Sadness", "Why?") but this album proves to be a true treat and much of formations of the kind should take seed of it.

                              Dusk.

A very very welcome revival of the goth rock/electro-goth mix of the old days, coming from the unlikely spot of Guadalajara, Mexico (one of the more popular resort towns there to most people). There are those classic chainsaw guitars ripping out soaring riffs that could even make the metalheads turn and take note, and then at the next turn painting an intricate metallic web with it’s lower C chord textures. The vocals are surprisingly are completely in English, which is quite rare to see in the Mexican music scene, sung by vocals that are rather reminiscent of Italian goth-group Artica, very dry and appropriately sepulchral on top of the tense guitaring and ambient patterns in the back. A little bit of industrial, a little bit of Clan Of Xymox-style keyboarding, that marvelous guitar playing, and the vocals all add up to one band that can stand up there with bands like Clan Of Xymox, Artica, and.......well, not too many others (given that Corpus Delecti are gone and the rather cheesy but good London After Midnight are missing in action), really, in keeping the old school goth rock tradition alive and well. And for those disenchanted with the whole goth thing like I am, the music is refreshingly glam-free and emotional, just like the golden oldies I used to grow up on! And finally another goth band besides Artica that can play guitar, and not another glam goth band just beating out nu metal chords and their sloppy riffs! Some of the material, to actually compare and give you an idea of their sound, is basically somewhere between the late great X Mal Deutchland and post “Creatures” and “Notes From The Underground” era Clan of Xymox, with perhaps a pinch of circa “Sin Pecado” Moonspell. Also, as a side note, for those who have not gotten to check out Mexico’s incredible goth and industrial scene (I don’t know about it’s synthpop scene. Mexican death metal is utterly brutal though I will say that!), definitely give it a peek, it’s soon going to be THE place to go for this type of music. The goth and industrial music coming from that region is so raw, so honest and a new twist of sincerity is in it, it revolutionizes the way one can think of music in general, both as a matter of expression and as a matter of social revolt and pride. With Hocico and Cenobita spearheading the industrial side of Mexico with other fine bands like Deus Es Machina (Machine God), Isenngard spearheads the movement with almost no other peer but Fernando Viana (another amazing Mexican goth artist). No makeup and posing in this group, just sheer emotional goth-rock that seems like it could well be a necessity for them once you hear the amount of emotion involved on this CD. This is goth rock the way bands like Joy Division intended it to be: as a necessary catharsis for one’s self, not posturing. Every last note sung and played on this CD is meticulously planned and executed, with a bit of classical principle behind this already massively complex and elaborate mix. Favorites on this CD are very hard to pick, but to choose a couple I choose “A Lady’s Craft” and “Eclipse”. But overall, you can listen to this CD all the way through and still pick up something new on your next playing of it, like a piece of the atmosphere you didn’t catch before in the keyboards. Hopefully next time around they will whip out some of those Spanish vocals, which would sound perfect on this CD. Highly recommended, and all this from an unsigned band (to the labels: best start getting to it before you lose this one!)! Rating: 10 all the way.

Isenngard is the musical project of Carlos Carrera. This one-man show, with the exception of some backing vocals by Monica Padilla, is based out of Guadalajara Mexico. Carlos churns out old school goth-rock, in the same vain as Love Like Blood and Two Witches, both musically, and vocally. The best songs on his latest CD, straight from mp3.com, are the more up-tempo numbers, like "Between Lust And Everything" and "In My Soul". These tunes are killer, and will take you back willingly to the goth sounds of the late 80s and early 90s. However the slower numbers, such as "Never" and "Something I Can Not Tell You", fail to hit the mark… they just never seem to pull you in, or get to where they were going. Depending on what path Carlos takes for his next release, it could be a must-have CD for your goth-rock collection, or it could fade into musical obscurity. To see what Carlos is up to next, go to www.geocities.com/isenngard.