Review Text
Prolific punk pioneers Penny Rimbaud and Youth proudly present their collaboration album Corpus Mei. In a series of epic, cinematic soundscapes, Penny spits tales of the grotesque and absurd. Gargantuan sermons delivered in counter to swelling, emotive orchestration where he and former bandmate Eve Libertine deliver a slew of anti-capitalist weaponized poetry. With their carefully constructed verse, they arm the listener against corrupt institutional powers as well as the abstract. High concept and highly descriptive, these vivid and dramatic pictures are painted with artful, honest passion against a monstrous, post-apocalyptic backdrop. Recorded and mixed over the year 2011 and then remixed in 2019 (it took all that time to see the depths), Corpus Mei brings together two disparate elements and makes them as one - Rimbaud and Youth. Rimbaud is perhaps best known as a founder member, drummer, and lyricist of the seminal anarchist punk band Crass. Since those times, he has dedicated his life to the headier pursuits of poetics and philosophy. Youth, whose post punk band, Killing Joke, remains a vibrant musical force, has at the same time become one of the most sought-after record producers of today. Realizing from the outset that they shared an interest in the creation and promotion of "matters spiritual", these two now legendary characters set out to recreate and externalize the dream that it might further become a living reality.
