It's cold outside, so it's time for a little goth cliched (more or less) music period. I don't know how long nor for how many abums it will be. Not too much...
Let's start with the ultimate "death rock" (american "batcave"? - anyway, nothing in common with "death metal") album, CHRISTIAN DEATH's 1rst. I love it, there's absolutely no humour here, nevertheless I don't feel there is so many cliches either. Well... The guitar is fantastic (a kind of early SONIC YOUTH's distortion and feedback style), the voice is very similar to Robert Smith's around "Pornography" era but even more desperate, the music is tense, well composed, a kind of "punk meets psychedelia in a cave". Many great songs, nothing useless.
Well, I won't tell better than this comment picked on rateyourmusic.com :"The beginning of everything we like is right here: heavy guitars, amazing bass lines, harmfull moods, desperate vocals which you really can get whatever Rozz is saying."
In the file you'll find C.D.'s 1st EP, recorded in 81 but released in 84 only. It sounds more like a demo, but a good one, and it features 3 songs that won't be on the album, particularly one of the darkest songs I have, "Desperate hell". Almost frightening! Great!!
Again, a right comment on rateyourmusic.com :
"Deathwish", "Desperate Hell" and "Cavity" suggest psychedelia, distorted hard rock riffs, existential terror and a horrifying intensity. "Romeo's Distress" adds romantic elements to the recipe, "Dogs" displays doom synths and electronic effects, while "Spiritual Cramp" is a punk maelstrom.
It demonstrates the formidable power of the first Christian Death line-up, and features excellent guitar and vocal work by Rikk Agnew (ex Adolescents) and Rozz Williams respectively."
My rates :
> Only theatre... : 5/5
> Deathwish : 3,5/5
No prejudice, try it here (ripped at 192)
Be warned : I will post most of the albums the various incarnations of CHRISTIAN DEATH have released, as they've really made some good albums.
3 commentaires:
Plein d' a priori sur ce groupe, forément, je me lance dedans tellement tu es convaincant.
Mon verdict dans quelques temps, une fois que j'aurais écouté tout ça !
Merci pour tes posts !
Pourtant en anglais j'ai plutôt du mal. Mais disons que je ressens confusément une proximité entre ce qu'ils faisaient dans la mouvance post-punk "batcave" (les tous 1ers goth, avant qu'on verse à 100% dans la caricature) et un certain esprit psych-kraut, que je n'ai découvert que beaucoup plus tard. "Only theatre" est vraiment un album à part, pour moi un immense classique. Merci pour la confiance en tout cas.
Mon commentaire ne s'était pas enregistré la première fois que je suis passé par ici, donc : longtemps après avoir revendu mes vinyl, content de retrouver ces albums. Bizarement, j'ai toujours préféré Deathwish ; peut-être le côté plus "squelettique" des morceaux... Je précisait aussi que Rozz Williams avait mené un C.D. parallèle dans les années 90 et que mon album préféré de C.D. était Atrocities, mais depuis...
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