NYX Division: Midnight Lights CD

Portland keeps producing bands that sound like they record exclusively at midnight, and NYX Division are among the best of them. Cold, propulsive, and built for the witching hour, Midnight Lights sits squarely in the tradition of post-punk and deathrock that never really went away, it just waited for the right people to pick it back up.

There's a clarity to this record that sets it apart from the murk-for-murk's-sake end of the gothic rock spectrum. The songs have hooks underneath the gloom, the kind you don't notice until they're already lodged somewhere you can't reach. Six-panel digipak packaging means it looks as good on your shelf as it sounds through your speakers at an antisocial volume.

Format: CD, 6-panel Digipak. Genre: Post-Punk / Deathrock / Gothic Rock. Origin: Portland, Oregon.

Fans of: Drab Majesty, Lebanon Hanover, She Wants Revenge, Boy Harsher