I was 16 when I first heard Bauhaus, thanks to Debbie Holtzhausen, a friend at school, who had loaned me a 180 min VHS video(yes, it was a while ago). I didn't know who they were, I had been loaned it to see The Birthday Party, Nick Cave in his much younger days. But the first hour on the tape was "The Shadow of Light". After fast forwarding passed the first hour, I gradually started watching the first part of the tape. A mixture of what felt like a half an hour version of Bela Lugosi's Dead, as well as the fantastic covers, Telegram Sam and Ziggy Stardust, got me eye-liner deep into Bauhaus.

Having listened to all four albums that were released during their relatively short existence, and thinking that I would never see them perform live, I was happier than a Goth on Halloween that they were touring again, in 2005-6. Shortly after this tour, Go Away White was recorded.

Thank God(or should that be Goth?) that they did. It's a finely polished piece of Bauhaus, that can stand alongside any of their previous 4 albums. To think that it's been 25 years between their 4th and 5th albums, makes me wonder how many lost albums happened during those years. Yes, they have separately released some great albums, Peter Murphy solo, Love & Rockets, etc, but as Bauhaus, it feels more complete. They sound more effortless.

Adrenalin, International Bullet Proof Talent and Endless Summer of the Damned all possess an upbeat tempo and updated sound makes them stand out on my initial listening. It sounds confident and ready to snatch some Nine Inch Nails fans. But importantly, this album also has the more austere, dark Bauhaus trademark ambiance, made famous by previously mentioned Bela Lugosi's Dead and lesser so, by Rose Garden Funeral of Sores. They could almost be accused of following the Pixies quiet-loud-quiet-loud formula, but doing it on different songs instead of the same one.

After all this good news, here comes the bad news. We will sadly not get to see any of these songs performed live, as it looks like the pressures of working closely together again, have lead to internal strife. I almost didn't do this review as it seemed a bit pointless to promote an album that the band has no interest in promoting. But this album deserves to be heard.

I live in hope(and you can too) that the next time Peter Murphy comes to town to perform his solo material, he squeezes in 2 or 3 of these gems.