Current Members:
Bryan Erickson (a.k.a. Hexfix93, Disease Factory) - lead vocals, composition, guitar, lyrics, mixing, production, various
Early projects, early changes, and first albums (1990–1995)
In the early 1990s, Erickson and Grigory, both residents of Colorado, brought together their shared interest in creating music to record a series of demos. With the addition of Gary Slaughter and Chris Workman, the group attempted several bands, including Disease Disco Factory, a parody of then-popular Dance group C+C Music Factory. Following a turbulent period for Erickson and Slaughter, Workman left the group. Slaughter and Erickson experimented with two new side-projects, Cyber Christ and Vortex. Cyber Christ explored a harsh and melancholy sound that was a sharp contrast to the group's other projects. When Erickson discovered that the term "Cyber Christ" had been used in the 1992 film The Lawnmower Man, he renamed the band Velvet Acid Christ in honor of a bad acid trip. The Vortex project was merged into Velvet Acid Christ to form one body of work.
In 1994, Workman returned to assist with the band's self-produced gothic-styled demo tape, Fate. Given encouraging response from friends, the band followed up with other self-produced albums, 1994's Pestilence, a dance-oriented album, and 1995's Neuralblastoma, a harder-sounding album.
Erickson, along with friends and minor contributors Steve Bird and Dan Olson, started the brief-lived record label Electro Death Trip (EDT) Records to better promote these recordings. In 1995, the three began distributing hand-made CD copies of Fate, Pestilence, and Neuralblastoma for resale in local music shops.
Label interest, touring, and a troubled rise (1996–2000)
Slaughter and Workman temporarily left the band during the first half of 1996 as Erickson continued the project alone, handing out copies of Velvet Acid Christ's recordings to industry representatives, including musician Bill Leeb of industrial pioneer Front Line Assembly. Leeb passed the music to Thorsten Stroht, a media promoter with European label Off-Beat Records. Off-Beat A&R negotiated a deal with the band.
For their first Off-Beat release, the group submitted 1996's Church of Acid, a compilation of selected tracks from Velvet Acid Christ's first three albums with an additional two new tracks, Disflux and Futile. Church of Acid was well received in Europe, and Futile became a regularly played track in many nightclubs across the continent. In 1997, United States label Pendragon Records released Church of Acid in America, though the two new tracks were removed due to a lack of trademark clearance for television samples used in the songs.
The band's next album, Calling Ov the Dead, was rejected by Off-Beat for not sounding edgy enough, prompting Slaughter's permanent departure. With the assistance of Bird and Olson, the band addressed the label's concerns and released Calling Ov the Dead in late 1997, with American distribution following through Pendragon in 1998. In the process, Erickson had accumulated a substantial financial debt.
With a line-up consisting of Erickson, Stroht and German musician Ingo Beitz, the band toured Europe in 1998 with Off-Beat label-mate Suicide Commando, which attracted the attention of Metropolis Records, the largest industrial label in United States. The parent label of Pendragon, Metropolis distributed the album Neuralblastoma, as a partnership that would endure.
Velvet Acid Christ spent the majority of 1999 in the studio, first collaborating with Germany's Funker Vogt on a remix EP entitled Velvet Acid Christ Vs Funker Vogt: The Remix Assault, then shifting to Velvet Acid Christ's next full-length recording, Fun With Knives. With Workman an occasional contributor, Erickson sought production assistance on Fun With Knives from the bands Luxt and 4th New Army. Fun with Knives, released by Metropolis and new Off-Beat sub-label dependent, became the band's best-selling album. Sales were propelled by the singles Decypher and Fun with Drugs, and by the track Slut, which featured vocals from Luxt's Anna Christine.
In spite of the success of the band, stress had led Erickson into depression and increased drug abuse, which channeled into the creation of the band's next album, Twisted Thought Generator. Simultaneously, the band toured Europe with industrial acts Project X and Stromkern and toured the United States and Canada with bands Din_Fiv and Haujobb. The line-up of the band during this period was unstable. Workman, citing a conversion to Christianity, resigned from the band with a request that his name be retracted from all previous albums. The first leg of the European tour consisted of Erickson, Bird and Stroht; the second leg, Erickson and Olson. The North American tour was performed by Erickson, Stroht and drummer Paul Lipman. With various contributors, Erickson completed Twisted Thought Generator. Due to lingering disputes, he withdrew the band from Dependent Records and submitted the album to Metropolis.
A change of pace, new early material, and beyond (2001– present)
Erickson placed Velvet Acid Christ on a short hiatus in 2001, as he abandoned his dependence on drugs in favour of exercise and a vegan raw foodist diet. Newly clean, Erickson created the 2003 album Hex Angel: Utopia/Dystopia. Though critical response was mixed, Hex Angel: Utopia/Dystopia ranked #1 on Germany's Deutsche Alternative Charts (DAC) for four weeks after its release, and the album's single Pretty Toy reached #18 on the Billboard Alternative Chart during the same year. The album also marked the band's short-lived return to Dependent Records.
Erickson spent 2004 releasing and reissuing some of Velvet Acid Christ's earliest material. With the four-volume compilation series Between the Eyes, the band published a collection of its singles and B-sides, then followed with subsequent re-releases of Fate (Vol. 2), Pestilence (Vol. 3), and Neuralblastoma (Vol. 4). The band also offered free MP3 downloads of Dimension 8 and Oblivion Interface on its website until early 2005. Dimension 8, which had been available as a hidden bonus on Twisted Thought Generator, and Oblivion Interface (informally known as Between the Eyes, Vol. 5) provided fans with previously unheard work from the Cyber Christ-Vortex era of 1991–1994.
In 2005, Erickson collaborated with guitarist Todd Loomis on a new album, Lust for Blood, which was released on September 26, 2006. With Lust for Blood, the crew labored intensively to create a new overall sound while maintaining the band's original characteristics. Following its release, Lust for Blood ranked at the top of Germany's DAC for four weeks; the album's single release, Wound, ranked on the DAC's singles chart for eight weeks and held the #1 position for four weeks.
In 2009, Erickson began to create the next LP with minimal input from Loomis this time when he was working on his project The Twilight Garden. The result was The Art of Breaking Apart, released October 27, 2009. This LP was a tribute to bands like Current 93 and Death in June and brought VAC many new fans while making the others angry at the new direction of the music.
In 2010–2011, Bryan Erickson teamed up with William Anderson of Louisiana. William did a ton of sampling, and Bryan made a bunch of VAC B-sides that turned into Toxic Coma tracks. The project had a revolving door of members, again Bryan being the main constant. They released a LP entitled Satan Rising under Toxic Coma on Metropolis Records. It fused the techno sound of Fun With Knives and the brutal black humor of Toxic Coma. Erickson then began to write more music for future VAC LPs.
In October 2012, Velvet Acid Christ released their tenth LP entitled Maldire. The release marked a return to the dark electronic sound. Erickson formed a live band and toured extensively (2012-2014) to support the album. The latest album entitled Subconscious Landscapes was released October 28, 2014. A remastered Greatest Hits compilation was released by Metropolis Records on May 6, 2016.
Discography:
Studio Albums
1994 - Fate
1994 - Pestilence
1995 - Neuralblastoma
1997 - Calling Ov the Dead
1999 - Fun With Knives
2000 - Twisted Thought Generator
2003 - Hex Angel (Utopia/Dystopia)
2006 - Lust for Blood
2009 - The Art of Breaking Apart
2012 - Maldire
2014 - Subconscious Landscapes
Compilations / Demos / EPs / Singles
1992 - Oblivion Interface (demo re-released in 2004)
1993 - Dimension 8 (demo re-released in 2000)
1996 - Church of Acid (1994-1995 compilation)
1998 - Neuralblastoma (1994-1995 compilation)
1999 - Fun With Razors (remix EP)
1999 - Decipher (maxi-single)
1999 - Fun With Drugs (maxi-single)
1999 - The Remix Wars: Strike 4: Funker Vogt vs. Velvet Acid Christ (remix EP)
2001 - Dial 8 (maxi-single)
2003 - Pretty Toy (maxi-single)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 1 (singles compilation)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 2 (re-release of Fate)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 3 (re-release of Pestilence)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 4 (re-release of Neuroblastoma)
2006 - Wound (maxi-single)
2009 - Caustic Disco (maxi-single)
2016 - Greatest Hits (remastered compilation)
Mysteric
Velvet Acid Christ Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mortal I try in vain
Mortal the terrified
Mortal the mortified
Mortal the holy nation
Mortal in devastation
Mortal I wash your tears
Mortal through all the years
Curse unto you
Mortal I terrify
Mortal just look inside
Mortal the purest fear
Mortal through all the years
Mortal your holy angel
Mortal your twisted fables
Mortal your crooked years
Mortal the bloody tears
Mysteric hiding mine
Mysteric so unkind
Mysteric in the mind
Mysteric you are mine
Mysteric death in kind
Mysteric undermined
Mortal I speak your name
Mortal I try in vain
Mortal the terrified
Mortal the mortified
Mortal the holy nation
Mortal in devastation
Mortal I wash your tears
Mortal through all the years
Curse unto you
Mysteric hiding mine
Mysteric so unkind
Mysteric in the mind
Mysteric you are mine
Mysteric death in kind
Mysteric undermined
Mysteric take the fall
Mysteric is the law
Mysteric is the law
Mysteric is the law
The lyrics of "Mysteric" by Velvet Acid Christ seem to be a blend of different themes and emotions based on mortality and fear. The singer of the song is trying to convey a message to all the mortals out there, who are terrified and mortified by the reality of life. The verses start with the phrase, "Mortal I speak your name," which could be interpreted as a declaration of empathy and understanding towards the human condition.
The lyrics also carry a cynical tone towards the idea of religious beliefs, with lines such as "Mortal your holy angel, Mortal your twisted fables." The chorus dives deeper into the singer's psyche, feeling a sense of ownership and control over the concept of death and fear, with lyrics like "Mysteric you are mine, Mysteric death in kind, Mysteric undermined."
Overall, the lyrics seem to be a reflection of the human experience, acknowledging the fragility and mortality that comes with life, and ultimately accepting that death is an inevitable part of it.
Line by Line Meaning
Mortal I speak your name
The singer addresses humans, acknowledging their existence.
Mortal I try in vain
The singer recognizes their own mortal limitations and inability to affect change on their subject.
Mortal the terrified
The humans are fearful of the world and their place in it.
Mortal the mortified
The humans are ashamed and traumatized by their experiences.
Mortal the holy nation
The humans see themselves and society as pure and just, perhaps even divine.
Mortal in devastation
The humans are suffering and struggling through difficult times.
Mortal I wash your tears
The singer acknowledges and attempts to console the humans' pain and suffering.
Mortal through all the years
The humans have been dealing with this pain and suffering for a long time.
Curse unto you
The artist condemns the humans for their actions and thoughts.
Mortal I terrify
The artist elicits fear from the humans.
Mortal just look inside
The singer challenges the humans to self-examine and confront their inner demons.
Mortal the purest fear
The humans' deepest and most terrifying fears.
Mortal your holy angel
The humans' perception of a divine and perfect being.
Mortal your twisted fables
The humans' beliefs and stories that are corrupted and distorted.
Mortal your crooked years
The humans have lived a life of moral and ethical wrongdoing.
Mortal the bloody tears
The humans have shed blood and suffering with their tears.
Mysteric hiding mine
The artist has a hidden and mysterious aspect that is not immediately apparent.
Mysteric so unkind
The singer is not benevolent and shows no mercy.
Mysteric in the mind
The singer's mysterious nature exists within the psyche and thoughts of humans.
Mysteric you are mine
The artist has control and possession over the humans.
Mysteric death in kind
The artist's nature and actions result in death and destruction.
Mysteric undermined
The artist is working to overthrow the humans and their beliefs.
Mysteric take the fall
The humans will ultimately be blamed and punished for the singer's actions.
Mysteric is the law
The artist holds power and control, and their will is the governing force.
Contributed by Muhammad D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Stone Tudabone
I am glad to see this type of music is still awesome. Been into industrial since the early 9os and these guys are a breath of fresh air..
Iconic Films
In this one, he almost sounds like Rudy Ratzinger of wumpscut. Very cool.
y08arrow
I'm glad I discovered the Maldire album where this song is on in january 2018. Listened to the album the last hour again and still, every single song is enjoyable and the album will never lose anything of its magic.
I love the atmosphere on this album and all the small details, Maldire is a near classic for me and it refreshed my love for futurepop, ebm, dark electro and electro-industrial again. those were my main genres in 2007 and 2008 and I have to admit my love for those genres will always be there, even if I discovered many other amazing genres.
FUKU OK
Awesome album!! ^~^
kefka242
Going to have to pick up this album, awesome video as well
Osiris Jenkins
I bought this from metropolis . A master work. Playing it in headphones is a MUST
Eric Gann
Awesome video and song! :)
Thomas Matthees
support this great musican by buying the entire album .. its a masterpiece!
ivan geld
“Maldire” is actually a very good album!
Strange Giirl
I love the video, I love the music, I love black hair girl!!!