Veiled Manikin

The Veil found a sweet spot between the lush psychedelia of Hyæna and the drier, punchier sound of Kaleidoscope (era Siouxsie And The Banshees). Bryan Gregory (ex The Cramps) formed Beast in 1982 with a Gothic sound in mind, and they were pretty bad. Terrible production, no one could play or sing decently, the music just kind of meanders around sticking to a formula, and the lyrics are rife with allusions to graveyards, witches, werewolves and all the Goth clichés... which is funny considering this was recorded so early in the genre's history. But long story short, Bryan abandoned the band in 1984 and the remaining members (including vocalist Andrella) formed The Veil. With the first song of the first single, I immediately hear a massive leap in quality. They've been compared to Siouxsie And The Banshees and that's a fair likeness considering the vocalist's style and all the tribal drums, but this band really shines when they go a bit neofolk-ier as in "Dreams Endowed". There's more of that to come on their LP Surrender.