I'm not a Death in June fanatic, and my exposure to them has been limited, but having thoroughly enjoyed a few of their other classic reissues as of late, I picked this up thinking that the contributions from David Tibet and Boyd Rice would make this full-length (originally released in 1989) quite interesting... but I'm not so sure. The title track opens with childlike keyboard notes and noises as well as some narration/vocal samples of children that runs for 16 minutes and comes off as a twisted sort of lullaby/nursery rhyme or something. At times its persistence actually makes it interesting, but all in all I'd have passed on it as an opening track! "Giddy Giddy Carousel" brings things back in order to the bright acoustic guitars and calm vocals I'm more accustomed to from the group, granted there are some obnoxious and sort of cheesy female backing vocals as well, leading into the droning minimalism of "Heilige Leben". "Fall Apart" is the first truly great track herein, using nothing but a simple, dry acoustic chord progression with heavily chorused vocals. "Bring in the Night" is a bit more ominous with dense, thudding percussion and militant narration that leads into some male/female vocal harmonies in the background. I'm not that fond of the singing in this track as it disturbs the atmosphere, and frankly this female vocalist they've employed (Rose McDowall from Strawberry Switchblade) is just not my cup of tea at all. "In Sacrilege", though, is fucking awesome... brightening up the acoustic guitars a bit and layering in some excellent volume swells with various vocal styles contributing to an array of slightly more aggressive lyrical deliveries. "Death is a Drummer" has a faint sample of a marching band amongst loads of sinister scribbling sounds shuffling across the foreground with some pulsing ambient drones - a consistent and somewhat hypnotic piece for its 9+ minutes. As with most of these other Death in June reissues the disc comes in a sleek digipack, this one being one of the finer looking ones as it has the group's oft used skull emblem repeated on the cover in a subtle gloss overlay with metallic red foil text on the outer sleeve. Inside is a high gloss booklet with photos and lyrics, which are as strange as ever. Moments of the lyrics do nothing for me, but there are nice passages: "And if I fall from dreams, All my prayers are silenced, To love is to lose, And to lose is to die..." As a casual fan of Death in June I don't regret purchasing this in the least, as a few of these songs are absolutely wonderful. But despite this being one of the more diverse records I've heard from the group, I far prefer some of their full-lengths from the early- to mid-90's (namely "But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter?" and "Rose Clouds of Holocaust")... making this an interesting record, but not a mandatory acquisition.
[Tesco/NER]
Running time - 42:49, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Fall Apart, In Sacrilege, Death is a Drummer]
Tesco Distribution - http://www.tesco-germany.com
