Jack Rabid reviews singles from Angels Eyes, Spring 2026- The Big Takeover Mag
cliff and ivy
“lockdown” single
“the healer” single
“the raven and the wolf” single
(House of Extreme Darkness)
“Alaska’s Only Goth Duo” must have gotten a taste for albums again, after 2025’s Sinister Stars supplanted 2017’s Spirit Room as their most recent. The seven-year hiatus was leavened by copious singles, but word reaches that these new three herald another long-player in 2026, Angel Eyes. As usual, they fly 2341 miles south to their dark, punishing brand of post-punk’s ancestral home, L.A.—where they habitually invite its founding practitioners to join them. Here The Screamers/Twisted Roots legend Paul Roessler once again co-produces and adds keyboards, and 45 Grave’s Tom Coyne slams the skins. Lockdown” is a heavy, martial beat-down, with Killing Joke guitars from coldblooded Cliff Livingston’s gnarly slashing and Ivy Silence’s (yes) “wolf”-snarling, horror-soaked daymare vocal. “The Healer” is like a swaying bomb underneath Livingston’s up-down, gnarly singing; only “The Raven” provides good cop/bad cop respite, like an outtake from T.S.O.L’s Dance With Me. (cliffandivy.bandcamp.com) The Big Takeover Issue 97
Jack Rabid Review of Sinister Stars, The big Takeover Magazine Issue 95
cliff and ivy
sinister stars
(House of Extreme Darkness)
Alaska’s Only Goth Duo (What, Anchorage isn’t crawling with ’em?) releases copious ferocious, “sinister” singles, yet their depth of dark influences lends breadth to occasional long-players, too. Don’t think they’ve had one since 2016’s CXI III, but fully unleashed like rapacious ghost dogs, the pair present a vicious voyage through the harsher hellscapes of postpunk history. Already holding honorary degrees in such sorcery, they perpetually summon legend-veterans to assist. (Scan these credits, tick off living legends from The Screamers/Twisted Roots, Public Image Ltd./Killing Joke/Brian Brain, Smithereens, Gripweeds, etc.) But it’s guitarist Cliff Livingston’s pitiless, power guitars and dark-hearted chanteuse Ivy Silence’s ice-cold snarl-phrasing that make this C&I finest hour. In its death-rocked wall-of-guitar scarring, SS mingles the harsh power of Killing Joke (whose late Geordie filled speakers heavy like this), Public Image: First Issue, early Effigies, Big Black, Pornography Cure, and TSOL’s Ron Emory’s Beneath the Shadows licks, while Silence’s hooks are relentless. Don’t sleep on this blasting nightmare; actually, sleep no more. (cliffandivy.bandcamp.com)
Jack Rabid review of We Ignite, Big Takeover Magazine Issue 93
cliff and ivy
“we ignite”
(House of Extreme Darkness)
Two things about “Alaska’s Premier Goth Duo”: One, they like releasing music in bite sized bits: “We Ignite” continues a string of vicious post-album singles from the Anchorage assassins. And two, they continually ensnare inspired veteran guest stars in their dark web. This time ’round it’s no less than Smithereens’ guitarist Jim Babjak, who doesn’t just cameo: his tasty licks and slamming leads are like the slithering, flashing tongues of a lizard. Affix them to CliffMonk’s sinister wall o’ guitar, like Killing Joke’s Geordie befriending T.S.O.L.’s Ron Emory, and Ivy Silence voice of doom vocals , and you have another C&I keeper. They ignite, alright—at night and on sight. (cliffandivy.com; cliffandivy.bandcamp.com)
Jack Rabid review of "Bloody Ghost" April 2022 The Big Takeover Magazine
cliff and ivy
“bloody ghost”
(House of Extreme Darkness)
After suggesting last year that “Alaska’s Premier Goth Duo” might change their premium boast given the vicious, savage, pure punk feast they unleashed like beasts on the four-song “Bring Us the Night” EP, this single returns them towards gothic footing—only intriguingly, it splits the difference, into walloping wall of guitar post-punk. Following Ivy Silence’s red herring piano intro, CliffMonk unsheathes his six-string hammer with an overdriven gnash that might come from The Adolescents’ “Creatures”; but instead of going thrash with a double-time MDC/Fartz/Neos breakneck beat, a half-time tribal dance rhythm anchors it into a Play Dead/U.K. Decay/even Big Black (“Kerosene”) sway. Meanwhile, acing goth’s punk roots again like Dinah Cancer’s demon spawn, Silence brings the creepy deathrock juju, singing rapidly in nervy fashion of headstones, bloody ghosts, parasites, and open graves. Welcome to their nightmare! (cliffandivy.com; cliffandivy.bandcamp.com)
Review of "Die Tonight" single by Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover Issue 92
"Alaska's Premier Goth Duo" keeps us on our toes. The "Bring Us the Night" EP was a wild dive into classic So Cal style hardcore; last year's "Bloody Ghost" returned to goth, now "Die Tonight" splits the difference like a deviously delicious peanut butter cup (my whole life I've loved peanuts and chocolate), saving Ivy Silence's classic gothic crooning for a late-in-sing breakdown/cooldown when the guitars drop off. And those guitars! ClifMonk's playing is a post-punk firestorm roaring over a speed-demon bassline, slammed forward by a thwacking snare that seems to chase you down the street. This is vicious, harsh and punishing yet joyous as they always seem to be. Repeat! Repeat! These are the bad dreams you'd like more of!
After suggesting last year that “Alaska’s Premier Goth Duo” might change their premium boast given the vicious, savage, pure punk feast they unleashed like beasts on the four-song “Bring Us the Night” EP, this single returns them towards gothic footing—only intriguingly, it splits the difference, into walloping wall of guitar post-punk. Following Ivy Silence’s red herring piano intro, CliffMonk unsheathes his six-string hammer with an overdriven gnash that might come from The Adolescents’ “Creatures”; but instead of going thrash with a double-time MDC/Fartz/Neos breakneck beat, a half-time tribal dance rhythm anchors it into a Play Dead/U.K. Decay/even Big Black (“Kerosene”) sway. Meanwhile, acing goth’s punk roots again like Dinah Cancer’s demon spawn, Silence brings the creepy deathrock juju, singing rapidly in nervy fashion of headstones, bloody ghosts, parasites, and open graves. Welcome to their nightmare! (cliffandivy.com; cliffandivy.bandcamp.com)
Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover Issue 90 Spring 2022
Following two singles late last year, Alaska's goth duo has another, finally portending a forthcoming LP. But this hellraiser possibly signals a new approach... Cliffmonk and Ivy Silence trade in the lashing harsh dancebeat post-punk for a speedy, breathless punk rock breakout. It's still werewolf dark, foreboding, and even ominous- the way you like it from C and I. But it's like a frantic X cover of a Germs song, or Rhino 39 and the Flyboys-era Flesh Eaters, and you won't need a second play to shout "We're desperate, get used to it! - and "bring on that album!"
Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover Magazine #88
“If the world is going to hell we need music like this!”
— Jack Rabid, Big Takeover Magazine #82
Jack Rabid, editor of Big Takeover Magazine has reviewed Cliff and Ivy 's newest music, brand new issue #87 - thank you!
"Alaska's goth duo are between albums but Cliff Monk Livingston and Ivy Silence fill the gap with a couple of typically gnashing, sinister heavy-hitting digital releases. "Will to the Power" pairs a skipping dance beat with a Killing Joke doomsday guitar and a chunky industrial authority to dance its way to a portentous and foreboding future. The faster, "EightStar" sounds like the post-punk side of The Effigies and Big Black, if mixed with Sisters of Mercy and Christian Death - they've collaborated with members of the latter. It's another darkly menacing yet danceable floor-shaker. (cliffandivy.com, cliffandivy.bandcamp.com) House of Extreme Darkness January 2021
http://bigtakeover.com/news/BigTakeover87
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“Cliff and Ivy are fantastic Goth Duo with music and lyrics that seem to come right of our a beautiful deep dark fairy-tale. It's the perfect music to sooth the soul. Favorite track: Velocity Drift.” - Kat Monroe