7/10

Toronto’s shadow-drenched dream alchemists Loveproof return with 'Neon Blood Volume 2', a long-gestating follow-up that feels like a fully realised mythology. This is goth-dream-pop at its most evocative, the kind of album that seems to materialise fully formed from a velvet void.

What began as the creative fusion of Ciaran Megahey and Brendan McGarvey has now crystallised into a world entirely its own. Megahey delivers a vocal performance that slinks between sardonic croon and wounded romantic, while McGarvey, playing every instrument and weaving every texture, constructs a labyrinth of bass snakes, vaporous synths, and rhythms that pulse with supernatural intent. Years in the making, the record wears its obsessive craftsmanship like armour.

The opening track 'Blood Eagle' sets the temperature instantly. Its slow-rising synth throb feels like dawn emerging through smoke, guiding Megahey’s cryptic declarations toward a chorus that lands with ritualistic intensity. McGarvey’s signature basslines steer it like a psychic current, grounding the mysticism in something bodily and urgent.

From there, the record shapeshifts without ever losing its centre. 'Midnight Sun' is pure incantation, marrying dub-borne pulse with a melody that feels lifted from some forgotten cathedral of night. Megahey summons darkness as a portal, meeting the void with strange, triumphant clarity.

While 'Mirrors' pulls the us straight into its reflection, delivering something quick, shimmering, and unsettlingly direct. A meditation on self-worship in the age of glass screens, it critiques modern hollowness through an almost sacred wash of synth chords. Its hook is both sardonic and spiritual, offering a hymn for a world addicted to its own echo.

But what makes 'Neon Blood Volume 2' so compelling is its dual nature. It is lush yet severe, romantic yet razor-sharp. Loveproof draw from dream-pop, alt-rock, dub, and gothic ambience, but everything is filtered through their unmistakable chemistry.

Across ten tracks, the band expand every dimension introduced in their early work while pushing deeper into atmosphere, tension, and emotional scale. This is their most assured release where every choice feels intentional, and every lyric carried by a sense of arcane purpose.

For those who crave music that glows with melancholy neon, haunts like a beautiful curse, and feels both cinematic and confessional, 'Neon Blood Volume 2' is a triumph.