Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 10/06/2009
The second and final studio album done as a full collaboration between
Rozz Williams and
Valor Kand,
Ashes finds
Christian Death at what might have been simply the beginning of a long-term partnership of quality rather than a final break.
Williams' vocals are now much more controlled and immediately powerful than the overwrought early days, substituting a quieter sense of later,
Bowie-inflected drama instead of, say,
Ziggy-era
Bowie squealing.
Kand's lyrics aren't any less laden with images of religion, twisted sex, insanity and mystic rites -- a ritualism well matched throughout by the music -- but the near-adolescent goofiness of earlier times now feels much more considered and focused.
Kand, in the meantime, brings a much more consciously artistic edge to his music than
Rikk Agnew did on
Only Theatre of Pain; here the aggressive power is tempered by a huge theatricality that still works, almost in spite of itself. Not to say that this era of
Christian Death can't rage as hard -- the conclusion of the opening track,
"Ashes" itself, is a frenetic explosion of sound, where drummer
David Glass and singer/keyboardist
Gitane Demone also earn their keep. Restraint, though, is a key element to what's going on -- consider the almost
psych/frug worthy
"Face," or the wonderful
"When I Was Bed." The title may be a bit nonsensical, but the shadowy pulse of the music, ratcheting up just a bit on the verses, is attractively paced throughout.
Williams and
Demone make for a good harmony team on the chorus, and the whole is equal to the
post-punk hooks-and-vibe of bands like
Echo & the Bunnymen. A great detour from the overall mood is
"Lament," an oompah/
music hall anthem that sounds like a twisted carnival anthem, where
Demone gets to sweetly intone things in German and
Williams really exercises his
Bowie fetish.
~Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
;)
Listen
