Sluka “Vampire’s Ball” Single Release

08/03/2020

Sluka is a San Diego-based, four-piece groovy goth rock band formed by the singer songwriter and multi instrumentalist Christopher Sluka. I reviewed their first album last year, a spectacular genre-busting opus.

This latest song, clearly the voice of the singer songwriter around which the band was created, Christopher, seems to reference the epic and shameless capitalism in our society. It’s a musical criticism of the greed that drives our present chaos, riots, protest, racism and a pandemic wildly disproportionately effecting the most fragile of humans.

The video is beautiful. Scenes shot at the protests in San Diego, rivetingly mixed with the band performing this theatrical, dramatic rock ballad. The end effect of what might seem an odd pairing, documentary footage and an almost operatic, lusciously produced track somehow works…absolutely brilliantly in fact.

The essence of the song is powerful and genuine, the musicianship superb. We need artists to speak out, as much as we need everyone to speak out. Mr Sulka has a true artist’s heart, full of the obvious madness of our world and this statement song is grimly honest yet somehow hopeful and heartrending. In the tradition of Bowie and Peter Gabriel, a song of the times with a distinct opinion, crafted to inspire. Loved it! More please!!