Requiem in White (R.I.W.)

I do not know much about gothic music and Requiem In White was a surprise for me - the album is excellent. however when i searched the internet for any stuff about r.i.w. i found out that there is almost nothing except for rare references on amateur goth pages & cd catalogues... that is sad and that is why i have made this small page.
if you know something that might also find its place on this page, pls drop me a line or two.

The Band

The R.I.W. (formed - 1985) is the U.S. band which played very impressive guitar gothic music with female vocals; in terms of influences I could say that Requiem in White is where The Cure and Dead Can Dance meet - the influences of these two giants can be heard quite clearly. They have a very small discography, but actually the band played for 10 years. During that time they were never into "self-promotion", i.e. no promo shots, no interviews and a very limited, only local touring: NYC, Connecticut, Boston, Providence, and Bennington, Vermont, USA. The song-writing was shared between three members of R.I.W. - Eric A. Hammer  (guitars) and Lisa Hammer (vocals) (both now are at Mors Syphilitica) and Christopher Walsh  (now at Judith). There were several drummers in the history of the band and Javier Madariaga  was the last one before the band (unfortunately...) broke up at 1995.

CD Review

The album which came to my hands, which are always greedy for all that sounds, is Of The Want Infinite, 1994. Very good work: Lisa Hammer  has got a strong "ethereal" voice which fits perfectly to the guitar/bass/drums framework. The bass & drums lines remind a lot of The Cure, but still they are as unique as everything else. It is extremely hard to say what tracks I liked more - all of them are equally good, but Everlasting Peace , Santonin Kiss  and Centuries  were the best for me...
As I said, the internet lacks information about this very impressive band and I think that the people which really dispose of any valuable info on R.I.W. should come out with it and share! Nevermind that the band does not exist anymore - the music is all that matters.

Discography  (might be incorrect, no reliable sources found) 

  • Releases:
    • Requiem In White LP, First Communion, 1990
    • Prides Unhappy End, First Communion (?), 1991
    • Of The Want Infinite, First Communion, 1994
  • Compilations:
    • Doom & Gloom/Visions of the Apocalypse CD (Nesak International 1994) 
    • Jekura - Deep The Eternal Forest CD (Apocalyptic Vision 1995)

Line Up  (as of 1994) 

    Christopher Walsh - electric bass
    Eric A. Hammer - guitars
    Lisa Hammer - voice
    Javier Madariaga - drums

Of The Want Infinite (1994): tracklist

  1. Everlasting Peace
  2. Santonin Kiss
  3. Beneath The Leaves
  4. Call Before Me
  5. Centuries
  6. My Shame
  7. Want
  8. Secret of Secrets
  9. La Perdida De Un Encanto Infantil
  10. Acanthus
  11. C.F.
  12. A Fixed Place Of Heaven
all music and lyrics © 1994 R.I.W./except "A Fixed Place of Heaven": music by R.I.W./lyrics by D.G.R. 

Now it's a good time to go to my Mors Syphilitica page.

You also can find some info on Requiem In White on the following pages:
http://tyranny.com/tyranny/corps1/newused.html 
http://kzsu.stanford.edu/eklein/artist/artistre.html#812 
http://www.infrarot.de/katalog/3839.htm

Thanks to Eric & Lisa Hammer for their music.

Thanks to Madeline of Amphion Music for her great help. Also thanks to Haydn Black, Mark aka Klopeck and Curveboy.

Thanks to my cousin Alya "MopeyGoth" :-) Kourbanova, who got me to know both Requiem in White and Mors Syphilitica!

Background texture by Ben Z. Thanks, Ben!

This page is best experienced with

in your headphones.

all the comments on both the contents and the design will be greatly appreciated...
© 1997 wirecrawler aka Peter Pomelov-Zhilinsky -- appzhi@dol.ru