THE SACRILEGE OF FATAL ARMS (OST)

A single 79 minute song may sound cool in principle, but it's pretty agonizing to listen through all the way and not at all easy to describe. How do I even begin? I originally planned this review to be one that dissects the various parts of the album. But I found myself repeating the same phrases over and over again, which surely isn't a great sign.

Basically, this single track has got loads of sound effects (is there an excerpt from a Mussolini rally?), some massive quasi-classical choir sections, prominent organ and strings, substantial doses of occasionally excellent prog-metal, spoken grim disturbed spoken word sections from vocalist Mr. Doctor, usually over some distracted piano playing. The underlying dark tone really calls to mind the worst excesses of King Diamond's Abigail/Them rock operas and after a while it became too much for me. Just to let you know, my favourite bit of the song is the piano and string-driven segment that starts off at around the 29:30 minute mark ... I'm not kidding, by the way.

The Sacrilege Of Fatal Arms plays out like a film that is too difficult to understand, and while it's cool to have checked it out once, it's not something you'd want to revisit too often. I can actually see this album being used as an instrument of torture. ... 27% on the MPV scale