1992-1994

Jesus Wept were a St. Albans-based band active from 1992 to 1994.

Tracks 1-3 taken from the 1992 demo "Reincarnation".

Tracks 4-9 taken from the 1993 demo "Mother of Violence".

A review of "Reincarnation" from Organ No. 31:

Jesus Wept were first brought to our attention by Creaming Jesus, after a gig in St. Albans. A three track demo, driven by drum machines which inevitably lead to Sisters comparisons. Jesus Wept avoid the Eldritch-type 'drain emptying' vocals and steer clear of the obvious Goth trap. It's a swirling, circling sound that's almost dance-like in a Sunshot way. "Rise" is fast and forward moving, slightly Webcore-ish, a driving sound. "Don't Ask" is more of an atmospheric, weaving Goth-out in the positive sense, reminds us a little of Gorgeous Space Virus. Third track "Dive" is instrumental self-indulgence with guitars spinning around drum machine patterns almost becoming a Prog rock-out colliding with early Cult riffs. Jesus Wept have a good demo, good sound quality, good ideas, they're playing the London toilets at the moment so watch out for them.

A review of "Mother of Violence" from Future Music, July 1993:

Demo of the month

With its grainy photograph (which is the classic Vietnam shot of the kid running down a street) and typewriter typography, the inlay for this cassette bears a striking resemblance to the cover of the Rage Against The Machine album, so you'd be forgiven for thinking that Jesus Wept's sound is a wall of guitar power accompanied by pounding rhythms and controversial lyrics. In fact, if the band were to be compared with anyone it would more likely be a cross between Curve (Toni Halliday… Swoon!), 4AD dreamy guitars and Manchester band What?Noise.

The first track shows that the band aren't afraid of adding samples to their guitar noise, starting with the demon explanation from "Jacob's Ladder" which launches into a What?Noise-style track with a wealth of reverb-soaked guitars and fast paced drum machines. Although this is a powerful track, the vocal is so bassy that it's almost indecipherable at times. With a wee bit of remixing on the vocal, this track could be even more brilliant.

Before the second track gets going, there's a filler which is a Gregorian chant sample (the one from the FM CD with issue 4, actually) played at different pitches. Although a simple idea, the chords work well to create a dreamy, mystical piece.

"God's House" starts of with some very laid-back drums and guitar playing, which is reminiscent of Dif Juz, leading into some uplifting guitar work which wouldn't be out of place on a 4AD compilation album. The vocals are much better on this track, being brought further up in the mix with some panning reverb to add a swirling quality. Now this much reverb would be too much on most tracks, but for "God's House" it works very nicely.

"Rise Up" is where the Curve references come in, since the track starts almost exactly like many of the tracks on the "Doppelgänger" album. Once the track settles down though, there are various elements that come in (including a touch of New Fast Automatic Daffodils—especially in the vocals). The only problem with the track is that the vocal seems too laid back and ethereal to fit in with such a pounding guitar track. This is followed by another filler track which sounds exactly like What?Noise, being based around a drum loop, a bass sound and two vocal samples from the FM CD (including the almost ubiquitous "31 Seconds") along with some echoing guitars. Although only on the tape as a filler, this is absolutely superb, but that "31 Seconds" sample just has to go—it's used far too much.

The last proper track is "Love Lost", which is another rapid-fire Curve-type track, and although the vocal is similar to the rest of the stuff on the tape, there seems to be more of a sense of urgency which makes it work—in a New FADs kind of way. The tape closes with another filler track which is simply a couple of guitar lines over the odd vocal sample. The feel is very much like the Cocteau Twins, which makes for a very pleasant ending to the tape.

Jesus Wept have combined influences from throughout the indie music scene to put together an extremely captivating tape. There are a few niggles here and there, which are mainly down to the mix rather than the songs or the performance—which all stand up extremely well. These four lads should be able to carve a niche for themselves in the indie market with their great guitar tunes, and pretty soon too, so look out for them. credits

Vocals/Guitar: Anton Schubert
Guitar: Martin Colborn
Bass: Ian Clementson
Machines: Stephen Christopher Stamper

Recorded and mixed by Adam Hodgson between 1992 and 1993.

Digitised and remixed by Stephen Christopher Stamper in 2020.