Floodland

About Floodland

Floodland is the second studio album by English gothic rock band the Sisters of Mercy. It was released on 13 November 1987 through Merciful Release and WEA, with Elektra Records handling the US release. After the release of the band's debut album, First and Last and Always (1985), members Craig Adams and Wayne Hussey departed the band, leading to the band's disbandment. As a result, band frontman Andrew Eldritch formed a side project, The Sisterhood, and recorded new material with them. After his first album with the side project received poor sales and a negative reception, he went back to recording with the Sisters of Mercy, albeit still without Adams and Hussey. Sisterhood member Patricia Morrison became a part of the band as a result. Eldritch wrote the songs of Floodland in Hamburg; the city's large amount of water influenced the album's title as well as its recurring lyrical theme of water. He then called upon Larry Alexander and Jim Steinman to produce the album with him. Recording sessions began in Manhattan, New York, during January 1987 and carried on throughout the first half of the year in various studios throughout England. Eldritch served as the vocalist and performed most of the instruments on all tracks, with Morrison performing bass on some tracks and the band's drum machine, "Doktor Avalanche", acting as the drum player. In contrast to First and Last and Always, Floodland was done in a less conventional way, with the album being pieced together on computers using sequencers. The album musically incorporates gothic rock and dark wave, while lyrically, Eldritch is cast as someone observing the world slowly deteriorating. Some of the events that inspired some of the album's songs include the Chernobyl disaster, Cold War, and the band's breakup. more »