A Spectre is Haunting Europe

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A Spectre Is Haunting Europe (2002-present) is a progressive deathrock / gothic rock band from Vancouver, Canada.

The band formed in 2002, during the height of Vancouver's 'post-punk revival', initallly billed as "Decora". The band's activity was intermittent for the first two years, due mainly to lineup changes and the band's cross-membership with electropunk outfit aLUnARED. It wasn't until 2004 that the band found its initial niche (politicized deathrock) and changed its name. Their first CD, Astonishing Tales of the Sea, was released that year. Through a succession of different drummers, the band stretched this material in a few different directions at once, culminating in a caustic 2004 appearance at the Drop Dead Festival in New York City.

Exposure in the online websites of MySpace and last.fm led to the band having a few hundred fans worldwide by 2006. With their second CD Flames (2006) the band broadened their audience to include a more general indie rock audience. Their recordings have been reviewed favorably in Punk Planet [1], The Georgia Straight [2], The Mick[3], as well as in several zines internationally. In early 2006, former Skinny Puppy member Phil Western joined the group as drummer.

Befitting their name (taken from the first line of The Communist Manifesto), the band takes unapologetically progressive stances on human and animal rights, war, organized labour, collectivization and global corporatism, recalling the pronounced socialism of bands like Test Department, Scritti Politti and Gang of Four.

Aesthetically they are only partly related to their ascribed genre of deathrock/goth, as their later material attests. Evidence in their music of influences such as The Fall, Pixies, Wire, The House of Love, ambient music, and jazz distinguishes the band from others who share the deathrock classification.