‘Ashes’ was Christian Death’s third album, originally released back in 1985 and since then reissued by the likes of Candlelight. Season Of Mist are giving a lot of love to their reissue series though and this sounds excellent after it has been re-mastered. Also they have gone and restored the original artwork, this one featuring ‘The Souls Of Paolo and Francesca’ by Gustav Dore on the cover. Historically the band continued with the apocalyptic themes experimented on by Valor Kand’s former band Pompeii 99, Randy Wilde from the band also joined Christian Death at this time on bass as did other guest musicians on a wide array of instruments such as tuba, accordion synth, trumpet and clarinet. This was actually to be Rozz William’s swansong from the band and the last studio recording he featured on.
Musically and thematically it is a pretty packed album with lots of ideas about it. I guess the themes deal with depression, mental frailty, melancholia and dementia. There are some interesting texts contained in the booklet to read up on some odd case histories as well as some rather disconcerting photographs. No two songs on this are remotely the same, we start with ‘Ashes’ which starts with some classical piano before Williams unmistakable voice enriches the melody with Gitane in the background. Everything picks up, guitars strike up a jagged jig and the female vocals rise to a crescendo. If anything this develops into a punk etched Gothic number which stands out as being one of the faster songs of the band at this era, certainly on this album. The lyrics are pure poetry and the chorus is hard hitting particularly due to Gitane’s more frenzied style which has spiteful venom behind it. This gets so fast towards the end it virtually implodes in upon itself. ‘Ashes Part 2’ is nothing like it, a much more ambient track which is fragmentary with only chanting for vocals; well the group never particularly did things by the book. It leads straight into an airy number, part ballad and far more reflective in delivery. ‘When I Was Bed’ is an odd enough title and it has a sort of 60s’ vibe to it probably due to Gitane’s soft croons.
Then things go distinctly weird. ‘Lament (Over The Shadow’ sees Gitane singing in German like Marlene Dietrich and the woodwind and brass joining in and playing a mournful circus like tune. ‘Face’ ups the pace and is full of twisting melody, much more in line with the death rock style one would expect from the band. There is a previously unreleased song ‘Before The Rain’ added as the penultimate track. I have to admit if this were an album I knew and loved it would bug me and I would prefer it at the end. It’s an interesting enough number and fits in with the rest of the album by basically being pretty much different from everything else and centring on guitar and Williams somewhat beseeching vocals. Last number is not at all pleasant, a crying baby (credited as Sevan Kand) no doubt set off by the discordant violin of his dad. We then get Williams reciting bizarre vocals and Gitane wailing like a banshee. It’s an odd way to finish but then again it’s an odd album
If you missed this first time around it’s certainly well worth checking out and if your old copy is looking a bit the worst for wear then the re-master makes this pretty essential. Just don’t go into this expecting straightforward songs, it’s more for the unhinged of which if you have read this far I am sure you probably are.
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