Cinema Strange- Quatorze Exemples Authentiques du Triomphe de la Musique Decorative

Artist: Cinema Strange
CD Title: Quatorze Exemples Authentiques Du Triomphe De La Musique Decorative
Label: Trisol Music Group
Reviewer: Matthew Johnson
Date: 10-1-06

Cinema Strange have always cultivated a captivating persona, but beneath the elaborate stage shows, whimsical lyrics, and vocalist Lucas Lanthier's earsplitting falsetto, there always lurked the question of whether or not they were all that competent as musicians. The band's latest awkwardly-titled opus should put any such doubts to rest. In addition to the usual weird Victorian tales set to blistering death rock, the band has branched out with some extremely experimental, if still dark and heavy, musical offerings. "Unlovely Baby," for example, is fast, noisy and intense, driven by a punk rock rhythm section, but features numerous breakdowns and unexpected tempo changes, a bit like Dillinger Escape Plan by way of Sex Gang Children, while the ten-minute "Molars" is an avant-garde death rock epic that meanders all over the place but with technical precision. "Rat Catcher" is also particularly unconventional, an extended instrumental selection of eerie finger picked guitars that eventually gives way to a burst of Bauhaus-inspired guitar screech and clattering percussion. On the other hand, "The Toad Curse And How It Perished In Flames" is an altogether different beast, more chamber music than punk rock, with Lanthier's high-pitched wavering vocals delivering a delightfully dour fable over tinny pianos. As per the band's usual style, Cinema Strange's latest opus is exquisitely packaged in a double-sized cardboard gatefold, and contains a bonus CD with two short stories read by Lanthier. Cinema Strange have always been one of the most unique harbingers of the new death rock movement, but this album, following in the creative footsteps of their predecessors in such groundbreaking bands as the Virgin Prunes, shows that they are as talented as they are theatrical.

Visit www.nightmarezone.de/cinemastrange/ for more whimsy and weirdness.