Up until hearing this album i'd heard little in the way of music by the Veils. "Nux Vornica" is their second long player to date and the London boys have painstakingly paid every detail to the CD booklet with stunning imagery and clearly produced lyrics for every song, obviously a labour of love for the band.

"Calliope!" has Finn Andrews vocal delivery very much like Nick Cave, a deep resonant voice which is distinctive and sounds wonderfully tortured when bellowing out of your speakers. A jaunty immediate feel, an uncluttered production and tender backing vocals from Janubia and Natalie Wilde. Although catchy, commercial and extremely radio friendly, the violins and
cello scream out culture and sophistication. Lyrically suitably Bad Seeds-esque in flavour and content with the line "laying bare with the granite and the moths" summing up the entire sentiments of the song.

"Jesus For The Jugular" is downright sinister and creepy and that's not even mentioning the provocative song title. The dramatic drumming if Henring Dietz and organ playing of Liam Gerrad conjure up a grisly, gothic mood with scratchy violins, putting you in mind of the swamp blues of the White Stripes, but to an even greater extreme. It has a punk spirit with bizarre guitar sounds from Dan Raishbrook with biblical imagery like "would the sun still see if there was no one around" littering the subtext like an extract from a gothic novel.

"Under The Folding Branches" is almost spoken word, backed by mournful string instrumentation, stripped down with the female singers sweetening the mood a little. It's another peep into the mind of The Veils frontman Finn Andrews. "House Where We All Live" has a world weary vocal, like an even more meandering Rufus Wainwright but this track unlike the other nine songs disappoints and doesn't really build to a dramatic climax. It's a plodding, unremarkable effort which isn't the most ideal way to close an album, but as the rest of these songs blew us away i'll forgive the Veils for the misjudged effort.

Nicholas Paul Godkin