DELÌRIVM CÒRDIA

This album is unlike anything else. While it falls just short of being a masterpiece ( I'll explain later in this review) It still should be heard by prog fans. It is a SINGLE 74 min orchestrated by Mike Patton himself (Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Tomahawk, other things) with help from Dave Lombardo (Slayer) on drums, Trevor Dunn (Mr.Bungle) on bass and Buzz Osbourne on guitar. But on this album, the members are less like musicians and more like tools used by Mike Patton to create an extremely terrifying album. This entire album is a musical interpretation of a patient undergoing surgery while still awake. Mike Patton really wants you to understand that as the inside booklet sets the tone with pictures of real surgery that are just disgusting. This album takes the listener through different stages. It takes you through the beginning of the surgery to each part of the surgery, represented by heartbeats, talking doctors, and surgical noises, among other things. There are also sudden bursts of different types of music, metal being the type that I remember best. The album would've been perfect if the last 20 mins weren't just the sound of a skipping record, though this still evokes a kind of tense and paranoid emotion because you never know when something is going to burst onto the scene. I recommend this to anyone with an open mind that want music that is dark and full of emotion. Great Stuff!

Sick,completely sick!I can't tell more!--Noises from a surgery on someone still alive..... and some Slayer type of metal in between.If you like noise and sick music and you are fan of Slayer (and horror movies) well go for it,just have fun .....or just the most terrifying experience in music you've ever got!For sure "progressive" yes indeed! Even the most difficult FRANK ZAPPA albums are much easier to get into (maybe Mainstream compared to this), but once again....music????I would say rather NO!!!!Really only recommended for fans of very sick music (and of horror movies), humanoids,aliens and so on!!!!

This is scary scary stuff. Most of the time i can barely call it music, just the scary sounds of surgery on the concious. There are bits of music inbetween. i would say this is a progressive piece, mainly just one giant build up. It is very much let down by the last 20 minutes which is a loop of a record scratching which builds up to the band just saying 1,2,3,4 and then the album ends. Not at all worth the wait. This part should have been cut from the album.

This piece is ultimately very difficult to rate. It isn't gripping, it isn't a good piece of music, yet it is good experimentally and good at scaring the listener. Its definetly a worthwile listen, i can even imagine this piece having repeat qualities but i have to give it a pretty much strip down the middle score as that's all their is here. Good effects, good concept. It's not for everyone. I listened to it only because i made myself. I thought it was good yet i still wanted to turn it off at times, it is a very difficult piece to tackle. I recommend you at least give it a try and then after that you can do whatever you want with this record. Ultimately it is a good piece, debateable whether it is even a piece of music, its weird for the sake of weird.

Delerium Cordia sounds like a soundtrack for an old black & White horror movie. Very dark music with great build up of tension and fright. The created atmosphere digs deep in your soul. Alternating soft slow build ups with explosions of sound and noise.

The music is frantic, weird and ultimatly scaring as hell. I don't rate it higher than 4 stars, because it's not a musical journey you would be willing to undergo daily, but maybe I should reward it with 5 stars, for the sheer brilliance of the piece and the artistic achievement.

Recommended to people who like horror movies/books and dark sinister music to acompagny it.

While the casual Fantomas fan may want to begin with The Director's Cut (most accessible of their albums) Delirium Corida is hands down their crowning achievement. A masterpiece in every sense of the word. This is most ambitious, risk-taking album they've done. It not only combines every element of Fantomas' repetoire, but it adds some of its own. This album is the closest experience you can have of a near-death or deathlike experience without going to the hospital. The sound effects alone exhibit a nightmarish soundscape of surgery and emergency rooms, but then the music just pushes everything over the edge. Mike Patton elicits every sound in his vocabulary from gentle crooning to abrasive screaming and yelping. What's more, if you're wearing headphones, the bone-scraping sounds actually FEEL like they're in your head. Some of the other surgery-themed sound- effects can also make you a tad queezy if you start thinking about what you're listening to. To top it off, there's even a little bonus for the oldschool vinyl fans after the whole thing's over: taking advantage of the cd format, they play out the rest of what would have been dead cd-space (the actual music is the first hour or so) with the sound of a needle in a runout groove. Back when vinyl was the way to go, records had runout grooves so that all none-automatic turntables would stop before they hit the label. Lots of bands played with that format by putting little phrases and snippets in this groove. Fantomas have pushed that little novelty by tagging a little treat at the end of about 20 or so minutes of the vinyl static.

Let me state that Fantomas aren't for everyone...yet if you're on this site, you're not a Britney Spears or NSync nut: you're a fan of intelligent, thought-provoking music. If you're up to it, Delirium Cordia is the most progressive album of its ilk and you will be hard pressed to find another album that contains the quality, musicianship, and sheer thought- provoking power of this one.

You're going into surgery, but something isnt right. You can still hear the voices of people around you, but you can't speak, or move. You can feel the cold knives cutting you open, and you can feel them reaching into your insides, picking you apart. Horrifying to even think of. Now take this feeling, and put it into song.. Hard to imagine yes? Enter Fantomas - Delirium Cordia.

...... MY GOD. This is the most insane 'music' ive ever heard, if you dare call it music. It really cant be put into words, a mad mix of ambience, death metal, jazz, and everything else Mike Patton can cram in there. This is Patton's creativity going overboard, creating something completely original and impossible to describe. The concept is intense, and the music can get very frightening. Sudden bursts of death metal in between ambient segments, this music will scare the hell out of you. Not for the faint of ear, this is definitely a tough peice to wrap your head around.. I don't know what to think of it, but i'm definitely intrigued. The album ends on an odd note, 20 minutes of vinyl crackling, only to build up to someone saying 1234. Save yourself the trouble and consider the song over when this starts. Epic, frightening and wierder than you can imagine. I would'nt recommend buying this album, but if you have an open mind and enjoy dark music, you must hear this. It's like nothng else ever recorded. 3.5/5 -con safo

What can I say about this monster of an album. This is just so experimental, so avantgarde, so un-music that it's bound to knock you right out of your chair. I was totally blown away when I heard this completely for the first time.

The album consists of one 74-minute suite; it actually has 55 minutes of the "music", and 20 minutes of needle scratch noise. I really have no clue what that last 20 minute is supposed to be about, but it makes no sense, just the repeated needle noise loop for 20 minutes. It's totally unnecessary, and it's the only reason I can't give this album the 5 stars it would otherwise deserve. We all know Patton is a lunatic, but this goes beyond art.

Anyway, let's return to the music itself. It's a concept album: about being awake in surgery, and not being able to do anything, feeling the needles cut you, feeling the doctors dig out your organs one by one. It's about the horror, fear, pain, agony; everything one goes through during that experience. And it really succeeds, Delirium Cordia really is a creepy album. I mean really creepy. There's not a lot of metal here, but all the more moaning, screaming and squeaking by Patton, dark keyboard sounds, and wonderfully spinethrilling bass lines. AND of course surgery sounds, really creepy stuff.

This one is best to listen to with headphones to provide the right atmosphere, really imagine yourself in the surgery room and hear all the strange and terrifying sounds, there really is something happening all the time, although it might not seem like it all the time. This music it at times even ambient. It could take a few, or a few dozen listens to realize how ingenius music this really is. SO, put on your headphones and feel the knifes piercing your skin while you can do absolutely nothing about it! I can easily admit I got frightened several times during this album, so I think Patton and the other lads have really succeeded here, hence the 4 stars. Great stuff!

Weird, weird, weird, weird, weird.

This album is for the most daring prog fans. It is a fantastic journey all its own, but it is certainly not for the faint of heart. This is an album to listen to and own just to say you have. Listening to this record from start to finish is quite an accomplishment, and it gives the listener a sense of sick pride at the end ("I dont know what the hell that was, but I made it through alive..."). Surgical Sound... cannot truly be enjoyed in bits and pieces, only as a whole work, which makes it incredibly difficult to listen to, but it should be appreciated at least for the amazing artistic effort put in by Mike Patton and friends. It is a truly original work, listing influences would be redundant, with the exception of, say, Ed Wood horror movie soundtracks mixed with Slayer.

Approach this album with caution, but enjoy it once you get there.

Ello first i just want to say that is a definitive masterpiece in the art of making sound atmosphears. It is just fantastic the way Mike Patton manage to get a story told without use of words, and although it can not be reviewed and a normal music album the mood this album captures is terrific!!! First off this is a concept album consisting of a single song that is 74 minutes long and it is takes only one track on the album. The concept is about being operated when the anaesthetic turns out to be faultry. You can not move or talk but you can generally feel the pain of being cut open. Sounds like a nightmare? Yep it is, and that is exactly what this album is all about; capturing the soundtrack of a nightmare. It does so by using alot of strange vocals and choirs but with almost no proper words sung. Also there is alot of soundeffects on this album wich add to the overall creepyness of the album and there can be entire passages of 1-2 minutes with mainly sound specimens from operations. And every now and then there is some piano passages wich sound like taken from some kind of horror movie soundtrack. Fans of the metal side of Fantomas will generally be disappointed because there are really few heavy guitar parts except for perhaps 10 second passages, but i personally think that keeping it very quiet adds to the overall dark mood that washes through this album. Yet after 30 minutes of music it sort of looses direction as there are more random sounds wich has nothing to do with a operation at all. And that is really sad because it looses its scary mood and generally this passage does not have that many interesting melodies either, yet after 15 minutes the song seems to yet again return to its dark feel and goes on for another 10 minutes of real music before it ends with a vinyl record scratching over and over again for the last 20 minutes. Although the ending part is not at all interesting the album still features 55 minutes of fantastic, scary soundscapes. All in all i would rate this album for the total of 5 stars because i belivie that there is no better example on how to create a mood for an album without the use of images and words, and that if you listen to it on a dark night before going to sleep then it certainly is a bit scary and that is great because i cant really recall any album doing that to me. A MUST HEAR FOR EVERYONE!!!

Further investigation: I recommend The directors cut wich is properly the closest to this album although it is yet miles away.

Similar bands: Ah well there is no but generally Tool on lateralus creates many great dark moods on that album. And also Sigur Ros is another great artist wich creates ambient music with imensive soundscapes.

It's hard to me speak anything about any Mike Patton project. This man is a musical mentor to me, he changed my way to see music with Mr. Bungle's Disco Volante. Since then I created an enormous interest in experimental music. I thought "What a crazy album!"... Yeah, right. I didn't know Fantômas then. I remember, dear friends, that the first time I heard this album I got shocked, I didn't believe at the time that a 'song' could create images so perfectly as this does. You'll feel like lost in hell, while you watch yourself being separeted in two parts. Slowly. Painfully. This is pure magic, ladies and gentlemen! Even if you don't like Patton or Fantômas, you should try this album. It's... Unique. The musicians in this band are all over the top, but that doesn't really count here. Here it's you, Patton, his insane mind, and terror.

Why don't I give a 4 stars rating? Obviously, the album deserves. But it isn't 'music' at all. Comparing this to the everyday music is like comparing apples and monks. As I said before, everyone should check this. However, at the same time, it's not for everyone. Some people won't be able to take this fully at once, and this MUST be heard this way. If you believe in me, you should give it a spin. It will be a... Different hour...

Although being warned about it, this was my first true introduction to Fantômas and the world of Mike Patton. This is basically one 74-minute long experimental suite going through a countless of different moods and musical parts. The main concept about this album is the horror of waking up while under surgery, this being reflected in the intense, creepy and downright uncomfortable atmosphere of the music. At the same time, this is extremely unpredictable stuff and very demanding and need patience and concentration while listening to it. Unlike their other albums, this one is more ambient styled rather than the "start-stop-BANG!" madness of their other ones, and that's what makes it so creepy and downright sick at times. The band rarely plays together here and for the most of the time it's Patton noodling with samples, vocals and so on, but the result works extremely well although being VERY unaccessible, but convincingly unique and original.

A very chilling and scary album which is a perfect example of a "love it or hate it" release. Me personally love this stuff though it's doesn't quite top their debut or Suspended Animation. A few moments are weaker than others, and the last 20 minutes with the sound of an LP at the very end of it, are rather unecessary. But overall a very interesting release, but definitely not for the faint of heart!

What the heck was the point of this? It is my understanding that this was the soundtrack to some horror film or surgery documentary or something. It should never have been separated from the movie. Listening to this album was the biggest waste of 74 minutes of my life; and writing this review adds another 15 minutes of waste to my life. The highlight of this album is that it is one song that is 74 minutes long. I was able to download it from eMusic and it only cost me 1 download. Unfortunately, I want that 1 download back so I can download an actual song. There is very little of anything that I would actually call music involved with this song/album. It is just noise and sound effects with some nonmusical instrumental noodling thrown in here and there. I could run a tape recorder of me sleeping and then take all the highlights of my snoring, coughing, farting, and maybe the occasional talking in my sleep (or if I listen to this album again the nightmare screams) and it would be just as musical as this album. Throw in a good sheet rustle and I'll have a masterpiece compared to this.

I don't like doing negative reviews but I think that it is important that anyone who has decent musical tastes and puts a lot of trust into fellow PA members tastes and reviews not be fooled by all the 4 and 5 star ratings this albums has gotten. This is in absolutely no way a masterpiece. Oh, one other possible benefit of this album might be with Halloween coming up this could be the background music that you play at your home in order to spook the trick or treaters.

Not for everyone, and honestly if you review this piece with the missaprehension that it's going to be a fun trip then you missed the interior photos of surgeries, hell you didn't even bother paying attention to the albums title. If you did miss those photos before you listened and you expected anything less than what you received then I'd be remiss if I didn't call you more than a little unobservant. This disc is a long dark journey and I love it. Mind you it's a piece I can only listen to once in a while, it takes a lot out of you as you listen as any journey should.

My only real caveat is a I can't just flick a finger and jump to the parts which I feel like listening to at any point in time. The disc could easily have been broken down into movement, but hey it's a minor thing as far as I'm concerned.

It's a heavy listen. I think that just about sums it up.

Fantomas - Delirium Cordia

There will be little to nothing to say about this album, but most everything of what needs to be said will certainly be positive. Delirium Cordia is quite an insane piece of work, and stands as quite the opposite of much other Fantomas work. The album is but one long, 70+ minute song (unless one cuts down on the last quarter hour of noise the album features--one of its few, yet major weaknesses), full of atmosphere and bleak arrangements of somber electricity.

Throughout the album, or song, the mood stays relatively similar, with a few interspersed moments of typical fury-filled and frantic Fantomas thrown in for good measure. The arching theme connecting the album concerns a patient going under for surgery, except that the anesthetization fails and the patient is awake; Delirium Cordia details this patient's senses and emotions while in this claustrophobic, air-conditioned nightmare (couldn't resist.). The tale is harrowing, and the music follows suit.

Patton's vocals are all over the place on this one, with everything from choir arrangements featuring himself, to spine-shattering screams of passionately rendered chaos appearing more than once, taxing the listener as the patient detailed might be taxed. (Don't believe me? Check out some of the other reviews on this site!)

The album, because of its leisurely pace, is even less accessible than former Fantomas albums, and even later ones, as almost all of the quirkiness of the short-bursts-of-song approach is removed, instead replaced with slow-paced, disturbing hints of odd sounds and downright haunting atmospheres. The album is certainly interesting and, in my opinion, better than the more frantic, less focused albums that came before and after this one, though many would disagree with me.

Worth 4 stars when taken on its own, but one must judge the entire record, and therefore, I am forced to give this one but 3 stars due to its nonsense ending. Let it be known that I HATE when artists waste time on the end of their records with silence or noise (see: 90 Hour Sleep, among others, such as this record/song). This is why I can give this album only 3 stars. The record skipping that persists for nearly twenty minutes at the ending of this album, put there just for intimidating length I suppose, is entirely worthless space, and kind of infuriates me.

Certainly this is better than the other Fantomas albums, and certainly it is worth checking out, at your own risk of course. Special props to the disturbing liner art as well. 7 on my scale, 3 stars on this one.

Mike Patton is the equivalent to metal as Frank Zappa is/was to rock and John Zorn is to jazz. All three take the rulebooks of their respective genres and threw them out of the window.

In Patton's case, he probably burned it, crushed it in a trash compactor and then ate it for dinner.

I love Patton's work in Faith No More and Mr. Bungle, and I've also taken a liking in his side project's like Tomahawk and his "pop" project Peeping Tom, but Fantomas is the most difficult of any of his works to get into (besides his solo stuff where he's just making noise and sounding like a dying 3 year old throwing up a grand piano with a knife in his back).

Despite the fact I'm not a huge fan of Fantomas, this record especially, it's massive to see what a pioneer in avant-garde metal he has been, much like Zorn and Zappa.Only a sick, twisted mind like his would create a 76 minute long track recreating surgery without anesthesia squeezing in thrash metal and punk, jazz, even chant in some sections! It's as if Patton requested to make a movie on this subject, got denied and decided to make that movie into one long song.

A song nobody would probably ever buy in their lives (except diehard Patton fans).

Easily stated, this is not for everyone. This and their self-titled album are more sonically experimental that most of Patton's work, period. If anything, "The Director's Cut" and "Suspended Animation" are more intriguing releases, where the former is Patton's take on popular movie tunes, while the latter is similar to their first disc, except through a blended Japanese cartoon show.

All in all, if you don't like the sounds of metal objects moving flesh around, steer clear of this disc. You have been warned.

Delirium Cordia was my first introduction to Fantomas (not the best intro piece I know), but it definitely achieved its goal of being a disconcerting concept piece about surgery. Maybe I was in the proper environment of a dark room with windows open to night skies or something - but it was creepy. subsequent listenings made me see that despite its effectiveness, I didn't have the patience for it - though it is good, most people will likely have that issue. 74 minutes!? Yeah, but the last 20 don't count. Still 55 minutes is a big ask for a busy person, and though it's a good horror soundtrack, most people may find it intolerable after a few spins. Still, you may be surprised and enjoy it a lot. depends what kind of person you are really.

Mike Patton's sure an interesting person. He's surely one of the best vocalists of our generation (along with being an awesome composer/keyboardist), but his works are definitely not accessible. Take any of Mr. Bungle's records (perhaps excluding California, one that's actually a bit sane), for instance. The first album was pure insanity, blending funk, prog, jazz, and bunch of other wild elements into one giant mixing pot. Disco Volante was even crazier, bordering to downright creepy. After the Bungle years, he created a project called Fantomas, named after a French crime novel.

This particular work, the mysteriously named "Delirium Cordia," stands out from the others in Fantomas's collection because of it's sheer length, clocking in at 75 minutes. Basically, the record sounds like the equivalent of a horror movie soundtrack (something Patton might have intended to make, considering his mind), but with one exception: YOU are the victim. That's right. Especially if you listen with headphones, everything will feel like it's happening to you. This includes, but is not limited to: Surgery, voices, light piano sounds, indescribable noises, crashing waves, etc.

The members surprisingly have little to do in this album. Mike Patton is really the star of the show here, while the other members just generally do other supporting noises/riffs. Dave Lombardo actually contributes to some cymbal noise and drum rolls for ambiance, but little else here. Buzz "King Buzzo" Osbourne does really low, distorted guitar fills through moments of tension. To be honest, Trevor Dunn doesn't do much of anything here, aside from riffs with the other band members. Again, Mike Patton rules most of the music here.

As with most ambient listens, this record will turn off a lot of listeners. There are especially some moments that will scare the living hell out of you. When lying in bed in the dark, this becomes even scarier, mainly when you just anticipate something to happen in the utter silence of a part of the piece. However, there are some instances of relief from the sorrowful creepiness on occasion. For instance, there is a portion of the song where a Hawaiian easy-listening tune is being played. Don't hold your breath, though, as that will disappear soon enough.

Also, there are plenty of moments that sound like you are a victim, as has been said before. As an example, there is a portion where surgeons are operating on a body, and it sounds like the tools are scraping at you madly. Unless you are patient and can handle that creepiness, you won't last for even a minute of the incessant craziness going on. Likewise, some noises will leave your imagination to fill in the rest, as they're pretty indescribable.

Overall, this album is not for the light hearted in ANY way. If you are a Mike Patton fan, looking for risky and daring music, or a fan of ambient works, I'd suggest checking it out as it's quite good. Others, I'm afraid, might be turned off by this album.

(Originally published on Sputnikmusic)

Inspired by the very rare but terrifyingly real phenomenon of people remaining immobile but conscious through surgery due to an odd reaction to anaesthesia, this album-length track from Fantomas is a strange ambient metal opera taking the listener through the twists and turns of this predicament. It isn't just surgery sound effects, though - a diverse range of musical sounds pass by on the journey, yet at the same time I find that most of them aren't particularly memorable. As a project Fantomas has always been one to live or die by its concept, and here the idea is fun in theory but not so hot in execution.