Back when I was younger and I had barely started going to highschool (10 years ago), I became obsessed with the local metal subculture, and considering mine never really had a strong representation of the genre, it was a breath of fresh air to bump into new, exciting bands from other places from time to time. It was back then, however, when I discovered a band completely outside of the metal genre, that marked a before and after in my music appreciation.
Tactile Gemma was featured on several metal magazines back then as a side-project of the vocalists from The 3rd and The Mortal and Atrox, and it was sort of expected to offer a similar vibe akin to these bands, that is, gothic/prog metal with weird touches here and there. Like many of us back then, I was wrong. Tactile Gemma is one of the most unique, weirdest bands I've encountered, and while it could be classified within darkwave/trip-hop, Ann-Marie and Monika Edvarsen's vocals were way too out there, shrieking and screaming in a way only singers in the vein of Diamanda Galás and Catherine Jauniaux are capable of doing.
The band released only one album, which I learned about through the name of Psychedelic Heavenly Voices. Nowadays is simply known as Tactile Gemma, and it has remained on hold since then. This is truly hypnotic music, which shows how talented these musicians were. Season of Mist took pride on the fact that they released this album even though they're "strictly a death/black metal label". I don't see what's the big deal about that to be honest, but whatever floats their boat.
Download it here: [V0]
Buy it directly from Season of Mist here.
