PHALLUS DEI

The title track is weird and wonderful. This track always reminds me of some crazy spaced out Halloween party.

It opens with spooky weirdness and wails that you're granny does to try and scare the kids at Halloween except far far more musical. Come to think of ti, the kids woudl be a lot more scared of this album than gran trying to do ghost impersonations.

The mood moves on to up tempo jazzy riffing jazzy riffs with, at times, a guitar sound that reminds me of Toni Iommi. In fact, if you know early Black Sabbath then if you can imagine some of their jazzy interludes, you're not to far aware from one of the major passages in Pallus Dei. Since, Sabbath is good in my book, this saves the album from the liquidizer. Still working as a beer mat though.

Once the twiddling is over we enter the dark and mysterious world of echonig howling and screams (all of course still done in a musical way). Obviously gran has been Ushered out of the House, and Weird Uncle Al has come in the back door, a bit worse for wear, intent on rehashing his werewolf routine. Luckily for the listener he passes out and a new phase begins. the music lurches along with a passable rhythm and vaguely folky instrumentation, unfortunately cousin BinLid has escaped form the local asylum and starts giving his best Yip Yip Blurble Blurble over the increasingly manic drums (hmm is Uncle Al trying to get to the WC??). there's a sound of crashing galss, that must have been gran hurling herself out the window in an effort to preserve her own sanity.

Some sort of order is restored. Uncle Al pipes up "Oh I'm getting sick!". better out than in I say. That is until we listen to the fiddle. I'm sure in krautrock land this passes for excellence but for an ear brought up on traditional irish folk it has the same effect as scraping a fork across a greasy plate.

Everytime I listen to Kaanan I want to shout "Yee-Haw!": maybe it's just me but there is definitely some sort of country undertone here. But since this is waaay out there, such banalities are reined in and squished as true krautrock progness is asserted.

The vocals in Dem Guten make me burst out laughing. I just don't get it. it reminds me too much of people extracting the michael. I know it's meant to be serious and tremendous, but I just can't help myself.

Here we face on the the great dilemnas of reviweing a genre that just doesn't float your boat.OK I really can't stand this music. So for me it's a trash it & use the CD as a beer mat, however, each to their own. s.

This is album not for me (but I've already got it). I prefer Wolf City and Dance of the Lemmings, but being honest that's like saying I'd prefer my front teeth pulled out rather than have my tongue hammered flat by a meat tenderizer and spending a day with Blackadder and his codling grinder.

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