Christian Death are a band with an extensive back catalogue and as far as they are concerned things can clearly be split in 2 halves. On the one side we have the earlier works when singer Rozz Williams fronted the group between 1982 and 1994 and this essentially comprises of six studio albums. Sadly Williams hung himself in 1998 and further releases from 1996 album ‘Ashes’ through to the groups most recent album ‘American Inquisition’ in 2007 saw the group fronted by Valor Kand. Believe you me, this is just the bare bones of the history and it is both a really interesting and tragic one when you look into things further, which you are certainly able to do on various other sites such as Wiki if you see fit.
The flier in with my CD here shows that there are around 10 studio and live albums from the groups past up for re-release and these are all re-mastered and in many cases including unreleased tracks. Looking at the list I was certainly rubbing my hands in glee as it pretty much includes all the ones that I do not currently own including my all time favourite album by the band, The Scriptures. As far as this review is concerned we have the reissue of the group’s second album ‘Catastrophe Ballet’ from way back in 1984. I originally heard the early albums around the time of release at various more-hip-than-I friends houses but have not heard them for many years, in fact all that I own is from the Kand era (I appreciate that this is indeed heresy) so I was very much looking forward to reacquainting myself with this and found it quick to work its magick.
This album saw a completely different line up apart from Rozz Williams from the group’s first album ‘Only Theatre Of Pain’ and it was also the first to feature Valor on guitar and backing vocals. The sleeve art and indeed the sound has been faithfully recreated according to the info I have, by Valor himself. The lyrics “promoted Dadaism and Surrealism as Catastrophe Ballet is dedicated to French poet and writer André Breton, who was the godfather of the latter artistic movement's theory” These are in both French and translated into English in the sleeve artwork as well as an accompanying ‘Story Of An Ether Drinker’ and ‘Stories Of Masks’ by Jean Lorrain.
Although the labels notes state that this album was an “archetype of the Gothic scene” and “a major influence on the whole subculture,” I would have to disagree to a certain extent as we had already seen the best works by the likes of Bauhaus, The Cure and Siouxsie and The Banshees (and a score of others) by this point. Perhaps it did come a year before the seminal ‘First And Last And Always’ by the Sisters Of Mercy but certainly in the drab UK this was a movement which had already been firmly established. It is also interesting to note that at the time ‘Catastrophe Ballet’ had a ‘death rock’ tag anointed upon it, quite far removed from how that particular genre is looked at today.
As we start with ‘Beneath His Widow,’ that previously unreleased number, things are airy and light on the whole. You could even say this is reminiscent of the likes of Death In June and apart from the fluttering guitars in the background it has an air of both neo-folk and post-punk about it. I am sure this is going to be of interest to many and I think lovers of the album will be happy that it is at the start of the disc rather than thrown in and disrupting the flow of the songs as they originally came out. Onto the album proper and ‘Awake At The Wall,’ we are soothed by vocals that remind of David Bowie along with minimal yet eclectic instrumentation, the clear tones of Rozz really allow this to breath and give it distinction, perhaps like a fleeting ether dream. This is a precursor for the excellent ‘Sleepwalk’ which, despite name, springs into action with tribal drums, galloping rhythm, bat like guitar shimmers and wild backing cries courtesy of Gitane Demone. If anything this is perhaps a track that helped define the sound of Christian Death and despite all that has gone on since then it is a sound still prevalent in the group today. The slower passages have guitars strumming into freefall and spiralling around the vocals and it makes me think, listening to it all over again that if you have never heard a song by the band and wanted to get an idea of what they sound like, this would be a very good one to start your exploration with.
The ballad that is ‘The Drowning’ is pretty damn lush and beautiful; vocally I am reminded a bit here of Marc Almond and the melody almost has the fantastic Jefferson Airplane number ‘White Rabbit’ kind of lurking within it. Reflective, sad and miserable are all words you could use to sum up parts of the album such as ‘The Blue Hour’ it’s certainly blue and as you dip into the lyrics there’s little to put a smile on your face. It’s almost a relief when guitars and drums pick up the pace on ‘As Evening Falls’ and lay the torch song feel of the last couple of numbers to rest and by now I am enthralled, reading along to the lyrical content that is all so important on this release.
‘Electra Descending’ is another classic; with nonsensical vocals to an extent “nipples licking the clouds” and it lurches drunkenly around the dance-floor with an almost 60s’ pop laden beat to it, infectious and impossible to stay still to. As we finish with the strange and ghostly carnival fever dream of ‘The Fleeing Somnambulist’ I realise this review has slightly run out of control. This not only suggests that this is an album with lots going on, despite at times the simplicity of the music itself but also that Christian Death are a group that will always be one that there is plenty to say about. With this in mind, with any further albums from this series I will attempt to get to the crux of the matter a lot quicker, well that’s the idea, how things turn out may well be a bit different.
http://www.christiandeath.com
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