Christian Death - American Inquisition mp3 album

Solid album, but this is an abominable pressing. The sound is a bit distant and grey and with constant loud crackle throughout. Time for a good quality pressing.

Starting with the dark folk chef d'œuvre "Water into wine" and follow by goth hits factory non stop till the end, a fantastic album !

This album is a total return to form on all fronts for the most consistently challenging, inventive and possibly most controversial band of all time; Christian Death. "Born Again Anti-Christian", its predecessor, contained some excellent songs, but suffered from a lack of the textural diversity and lush instrumentation associated with the group. Meanwhile, female vocalist and bassist Maitri's side project, Lover of Sin, reinstated the layered approach, albeit at the expense of melody and - sometimes - song-writing. By contrast, "American Inquisition" exhibits numerous brilliant arrangements, including wonderful violin playing from Valor, which often evokes eastern melodies, piano, ethnic percussion, samples and heavenly choirs alongside some scathing electric and sweet acoustic guitars. The swaying bass and snaking rhythms are topped of by Valor's trademark vocals, often in duet with Maitri. Valor really seems to have rediscovered the full range, power and beauty of his voice on this disc, and the end result is all the richer for it. Moreover, the CD showcases some of his most moving, poetic and potent lyrics in many a year. With such a range of feelings, styles and atmospheres contained on this opus, it proves difficult to choose favourite tracks. From the martial and thought-provoking "Water into Wine" to the energetic "Narcissus...", from the sepulchral orchestrations of "Dexter Said No to Methadone" to the layered guitars of "Surviving Armageddon", the quality of the compositions is amazing. And, that hasn't even mentioned the sheer pulchritude of "Angels and Drugs", which really should be a massive hit, if only it could receive the requisite radio airplay. Add to that the psychedelic toe-tapper that is "Seduction, Thy Destruction", the frenetic violins and arabic flourishes of "Worship Along the Nile", or the choral rock of "See You in Hell" and you have a recipe for an engaging listening experience that enchants and satisfies from beginning to end. Like all of their records, "American Inquisition" holds a myriad of unexpected surprises up its sleeve whilst managing to remain quintessentially Christian Death. When an artist embraces as many directions and produces as many records as Christian Death, everyone obviously has their own list of best-loved LPs. For me, though, this album counts as the greatest Christian Death release since "Prophecies". Thank you Valor, thank you Maitri. My congratulations on a job well done.