When Ménage à Quatre was launched as a taster for the upcoming full album I was delighted. Today I have the album and I can confirm it’s their best album ever! The dark side has awaken and the result is an orgy!
Forty Years After Null (There’s No Answer To The Riddle) is the opening track and sounds exactly as dense as their live sets. The bass line is at some point pretty clear on the sound. The synth, percussions and the acoustic guitar … they all blend in whilst the vocals are telling the story and it’s not the brightest one. Time to shed a tear and feel very tiny. Two Girls & A Goat (I never knew …) has some sadness and with the violin it reminds me a bit of the Viking series: raw, bloody, dark, fearful, dangerous, dense, mystical, pain & blood, sex, rage, false gods … The percussions play their role, just as the snared instruments. The song builds up towards a high with a live feel. It’s the first time that it really feels as if I’m sitting next to the studio and can even touch the people producing the music. It’s dense and real: as real as it can get. It’s so strong and passionate. It’s a dark trip and I am getting sucked in, all the way. Hot and yet dark. Evil Wears A Mask With Your Name: singing about his Phallus, hell, SM, sex, … The classical touch gives it something extra. The more you listen to it the deeper it takes you into it’s own world. It’s almost like Dante’s hell.
More fun comes with I Met Jesus In A Dream (Till Illusions Fall apart): it’s a bit of a slow song where the storytelling is more important. There is despite the message a positive feel due to the piano synth. More bass and a higher tempo comes with Let’s Play Said The Rose To The Goat. I can’t wait to see the clip if they ever decide to make one. At least you can let your fantasy go whilst listening to the lyrics or play it yourself. I adore the mix between percussions and electronics. Once again it’s worked out in such a way that you get the best sound and the best setting possible for the music and the lyrics. This Is Life This Is War (Let’s Play and Make Believe) sounds like a bridge built between old and new songs. It’s a phenomenal track with an impressive sound. I feel like repeating myself: from great to greater and even better and even more … Every song on this album is a top track. There are no fillers. I’m still stuck in it and have been listening to it for a while, every bloody time getting back to it and pushing repeat all!
This Knife Will Steal Your Heart – Let’s Waken The Judas In You. God is a Man in a dress is the sentence in this song, guided by some backings. It’s sweet and yet bitter or salty. This is THE song for the dark churches all over the world. Turn the cross whilst playing this song and get inspired. And you know: look at the pictures of Jesus Christ and notice his dress. Is it a perversion? The concept of truth is obscene. I adore the lyrics, for sure as they are part of the truth. There’s No Pride Love Is Dead (Kiss My Eyes And Crush My Head) has a lot of pathos in it. I like the mix in the tempo, the building up, slowing down and giving time for different instruments to merge whilst the story is getting told.
Anoint Me With Vomit and desecrate My Beliefs: perversion at it’s top. The semen is running for free, just as the temptation. There’s A Chalice with My Semen (And Another With My Blood) feels like almost composed by Wagner whilst watching a painting from H. Bosch. (Social Darwinist Contortion) Who Is Born To Rule The World is highlight number 11 on this album. I like the piano synth, the church bells and the lyrics. The tempo is perfect. You feel like getting pushed towards a climax and it’s hard to stand still. Can’t wait to see this one getting performed on stage. The next one already figured in my previous review, so I just re-take it here: Ménage à Trois (There is Nothing To Regret) drives on a dark passion for trio’s. Talking about taking in a women into their relationship, followed by a man and killing it all in a very passionate way. The music heats it all up and takes you to a lot of highlights. I also like the violin in it. The lyrics are pretty explicit and will shock believers (Catholics, Muslims, …), but that is nothing unusual for them. They close with The Hierophant – The Devil (You Taste Like Innocence, and Broke Dreams) sound melancholic, dark and dangerous. The pathos reigns whilst it gives you the feeling it might be a good track to close down a live set. There is nothing godly in the abstinence of passion! So let’s roll!
Simple fact: I feel like repeating myself: from great to greater and even better and even more … Every song on this album is a top track. There are no fillers. I’m still stuck in it and have been listening to it for a while, every bloody time getting back to it and pushing repeat all! It’s the best album they made so far! It’s the highlight of 2019 and yet dark, doomed, sexy, dirty, scary, unbounded, shocking … and delicious for dark souls!
