THE GOLDEN AGE

The Legendary Pink Dots' customary psychedelic haze coalesces here into a choking miasma of gothic darkness on The Golden Age, a downright sinister album which evokes a haunting, melancholy atmosphere that pervades every single composition. When it gets back down to Earth, as on songs such as Lisa's Separation, it's a gloomy and poetic evocation of everyday mystery; when it launches itself into more fanciful lyrical territories, the bizarre phantasmagoria we are presented with is reminiscent more of nightmare than dream. Borrowing plenty of gothic rock motifs and bending them in tripped-out ways, this is darkwave for the madhouse. Four solid stars.