In the early 1980s, a darker variety of music briefly reared its dour head. Combining the energy of punk with morose melody, bands like Joy Division, Bauhaus and the Cure created kinetic, dark anthems which have resonated with audiences ever since. Even though those bands died (let's face it, the Cure were as good as gone a decade ago), the movement they created lives on in bands like Sixto. The nine tracks of this eponymous debut revel in minor key rock. Like their forebears, Sixto (which contains members of Seam and the defunct dis-) combines apathetic vocal delivery with a sourceless, subtle layer of agitation played out by the instruments. This technique compares favorably with Joy Division tracks like "Transmission" -- and that's a comparison I do not make lightly.

While this description might make you want to shake your head in disgust over yet another quartet of black-eyeliner mopers, don't let the music fool you. With track titles like "Your Nemesis Wears Sideburns", "The Naughty Mime" and "Scandinavian Metal", the band clues you in to the fact that this is not the standard "I'm so sad" routine. By indulging in the sound of early goth rather than its dramatic excesses, Sixto injects their songs with a refreshing burst of life rather than vampiric un-death.

The interplay of Chris Fuller and Craig Hutler's guitars keeps the songs varied. This synergy works particularly well on "When Ozzy Was Subversive", in which one guitar strums as the other fills the speakers' icy spaces with a sustained feedback. Underneath this, Chris Manfrin applies solid, simple drum work while Matt Sholl's bass adds an additional melody. I am particularly taken with Sholl's bass, which makes good on the Peter Hook (New Order) and Simon Gallup (The Cure) influences. Furthermore, the band is not afraid to grab hold of a groove and shake it up, as evidenced by the coda to "The Jackals, The Cocks." This song veers more towards the punk at the roots of goth, but retains its sense of shadow. Although nothing here is likely to attract any radio attention, the music is played with plenty of nuance and enough honest enthusiasm to engage me for multiple spins. While the band clearly intimates its influences, it lives up to the history it has studied so well.