Christian Death

小简介 Christian Death这支老牌传奇性的Death-Rock Cult乐团在哥特摇滚进化史中的地位就象一座里程碑，他们影响着ristian Death成为第一支在死亡面前倒下的哥特乐队。 Rozz Williams在80年代初期发展了一个叫L.A的地下音乐组织，在一次L.A内的现场演出中，Rozz Williams被一支叫Pompeii 99乐团的death-rock所深深吸引。在欧洲巡演前夕Rozz Williams开始了与Pompeii 99的合作，之后乐队有了一个更好的名字Christian Death。 1982年Christian Death推出了第一张EP“Only Theatre of Pain”。Rozz Williams惊人的嗓音使得音乐充斥着毁灭的抑郁，他善于从B级电影种获得丰富逼真的恐怖氛围。歌词直白的讲述一些异端宗教和邪恶的主题。在过度令人窒息的音乐背后我们却不难找到灵感的摇滚的声音，更多的是一种理智的反抗。 乐队接下来的专辑“The Decomposition of Violets: Live in Hollywood”可以说是Christian Death的最佳作品。音乐中有一些Bauhaus和早期的Jane'Addition的影子，但相比较而言Christian Death更为恐怖和阴暗，大多数歌曲都证实了这一点象“Awake at the Wall,”"The Drowning,” "Electra Descending,” "The Blue Hour,”还有失控的“Cavity"。正是这些优秀的作品使得这支伟大的乐队被高度的推荐和介绍。同样的时期同样的阵容Christian Death的成员经常在舞台上忍受着巨大的喧嚣演绎着专辑中的作品。 85年的专辑“Wind Kissed Pictures”推出时吉它手Valor开始接管了声乐作品的创作和演唱。Christian Death在演绎时成为了一支三重唱式的乐团。音乐受当时风靡的吸血鬼电影的影响清晰开阔额的音乐体现着自负的颓废。Valor的歌声充满着孤独，音乐更加多元化。应该说“Wind Kissed Pictures”是一张非常优秀的专辑，但乐迷却并不太接受。而同一年的Rozz Williams开始尝试在混音中埋葬低音的手法来突出他刺耳的声音，在专辑“Ashes”中有明显的体现。键盘手Gitane DeMone 也开始了部分歌曲的演唱，Christian Death的音乐引起了不小的争论，而争论的关键是在歌曲的使用上。“Ashes”中沉重的乐曲为后来的David Glass打击乐奠定了坚实的基础，整个专辑的歌词部分更加成熟和诡辩，主题多为中世纪放荡或邪恶招魂的含糊宗教。 Valor试图把乐队的名字作为一个文学团体去破坏传统的宗教Christian Death的音乐走向回到了冷酷的污秽场所。在狂怒的利己主义和未加抑制的野心驱使下Valor在专辑“Scriptures“中开始尝试一种有趣的宗教历史比较，专集的副标题居然是Valor的世界信仰译本（哈，在这里感谢你了Valor)。音乐的三重演唱（一种是信奉正统**教的教士的读白，一种是恶魔带着虔诚外貌的**，另一种是以无礼的方式模仿教皇的口气）在专辑中多次出现，其中包括用这种方式对Jimi Hendrix作品的重新演绎。 82至86年间Christian Death在不断的发展和对音乐自我表现完善期间赢得了美洲的超自然颓废派哥特摇滚乐队的名誉，Rozz Williams的哀嚎声和隐喻的歌词以及Valor即性重复且沉实的吉它声引导他们的音乐走向黑暗的领域，介于Sisters Of Mercy"和Dazig之间的神秘产物。Valor标榜自己是自毁主义者并认为乐团内有些成员是群体的享乐主义者，在86年没有通知的情况下便离开去了英格兰并重新组织了自己的团体也叫Christian Death。Valor在新乐队不断的利用发行小册子和组织一些活动来宣传自我，令很多人误解并相信Christian Death在海外革新重组。而Rozz Williams也结束了对Christian Death这个名字不牢固的拥有地位并且对此事一直保持沉默。他在90年代偶尔的以自己的名义参加一些小型演出并和其他的音乐人自由组合创作过为数不多的作品直到最后选择了一种自我结束的形式走完了一生。 Valor仍旧狂热的继续着自己天真的对宗教的诅咒，在88年的专辑“Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ”中除了内容可怕音乐方面根本没有发展，只不过是鼓，贝司，吉它悦耳的合成。乐队成员开始频繁的与歌迷会面来解释他们的理解或爱好，再有就是时不时的进行一些懒散虚弱的演出，这一切仿佛是无理性的解释着自己应该比其他乐队更出色。乐队93年出版的一盘名为“All the Hate”的专辑，封面是黑色的心包围着那个纳粹的标志。更象是一张金属唱片，煽动性的歌词不断的为人性的邪恶作法提供着理由，纳粹的血腥及所有无意义的HATE无非是种苍白金属发狂的幻想标准罢了。 发表专辑： Born Again Anti Christian(2001) The Bible(2000) Pornographic Messiah(1999) The Path of Sorrows(1998) The Iron Mask(1998) Prophecies(1996) Death in Detroit(1995) Amen(1995) Iconologia(1994) The Rage of Angels(1994) Sexy Death God(1994) Sleepless Nights Live 1990(1994) All the Hate(1994) All the Love All the Hate, Pt. 1: All the Love(1989) Heretics Alive(1989) Sex & Drugs & Jesus Christ(1988) Scriptures(1987) Atrocities(1986) The Decomposition of Violets: Live in Hollywood(1985) Ashes(1985) The Wind Kissed Pictures(1985) Catastrophe Ballet(1984) Only Theatre of Pain(1982) The founding fathers of American goth rock, Christian Death took a relentlessly confrontational stand against organized religion and conventional morality, with an appetite for provocation that made Marilyn Manson look like Stryper. Regardless of who was leading or performing in the group, Christian Death set themselves up to shock, both in their cover art and their lyrics, which wallowed in blasphemy, morbidity, drug use, and sexual perversity. Their self-consciously controversial tactics set them apart from the British goth scene, having more to do with L.A. punk and heavy metal, and thus the band dubbed its sound death rock instead; however, their sensibility was ultimately similar enough that the goth designation stuck in the end. Their music also relied on slow, doomy, effects-laden guitar riffs and ambient horror-soundtrack synths, and their theatrical performances were strongly influenced by British glam rockers like David Bowie and Roxy Music, as well as industrial provocateurs Throbbing Gristle. The latter was especially true of the bands first incarnation, led by vocalist and founder Rozz Williams, who masterminded much of what many critics consider their best work. When Williams left in 1985, guitarist Valor Kand took over leadership and sent the group in a more intellectual, political, and metal-oriented direction. A subsequent dispute over ownership of the Christian Death name led to a bitter feud between the two, not to mention competing versions of the group, leading many of their fans to take sides. The unconverted tended to dismiss Christian Death no matter who was involved; critics often found their poetry florid and overwrought, their subject matter self-important, and their shock tactics ham-handed. Nevertheless, Christian Death had an enormous influence on the American goth scene, shaping the sensibility of countless goth, metal, and even industrial acts that followed. Sadly, the Kand-Williams dispute ended in tragedy in 1998, when a heroin-addicted Williams took his own life.Rozz Williams (born Roger Alan Painter, November 6, 1963) founded Christian Death in Los Angeles in 1979, having grown up in the eastern suburb of Pomona in a Christian family. Originally, the 16-year-old Williams called his group the Upsetters, which also included guitarist Jay, bassist James McGearty, and drummer George Belanger. The band didnt really take off until it changed its name to Christian Death (reportedly inspired by a goof on designer Christian Diors name) and added onetime Adolescents guitarist Rikk Agnew. In 1981, they made their recorded debut with several tracks on the L.A. scene compilation Hell Comes to Your House, which also featured the more tongue-in-cheek death rock compatriots .45 Grave. Hooking up with Frontier Records, Christian Death issued their debut album, the goth landmark Only Theatre of Pain, in 1982. Featuring genre touchstones like Romeos Distress and Spiritual Cramp, the record also included guest vocals from Superheroines leader Eva O. (born Eva Oritz), who would become Williams wife and semiregular collaborator in 1987.Having already booked a European tour, the original lineup of Christian Death splintered amid infighting and drug abuse. Williams quickly assembled a new version of the band in 1983 by merging with their scheduled opening act, another L.A. death rock band called Pompeii 99, and eventually settled on retaining the more evocative Christian Death name. Australian-born guitarist Valor Kand, keyboardist/vocalist Gitane Demone, and drummer David Glass joined with Williams to create the best-known Christian Death lineup (bassist Constance Smith was also onboard, but was soon replaced on the tour by the Sex Gang Childrens Dave Roberts). While overseas, the group recorded the second Christian Death album, Catastrophe Ballet, another much-revered goth rock record that appeared on the French label LInvitation au Suicide in 1984. Returning to the U.S., the band formed its own label, Nostradamus, and the Valor/Rozz lineup issued its second album together, Ashes, in 1985, once again to an enthusiastic reception from goth fans. A live album, The Decomposition of Violets, was culled from the supporting tour (with second guitarist Barry Galvin now in tow) and released by ROIR.By this time, Christian Death were drawing predictable fire from religious groups in the U.S. over their lyrics, artwork, and concert performances, and were finding it easier to mount tours for their growing European fan base. In mid-1985, Rozz Williams left the band hed founded, partly due to his increasing interest in experimental music and surrealist performance art. Valor Kand took over leadership of Christian Death, now serving as lead vocalist and songwriter. Reportedly, Kand and Williams had agreed to rename the existing band Sin and Sacrifice; however, on the ensuing tour of Italy, fans assumed they were still watching Christian Death. Defrauded and left penniless by the tour promoter, the band recorded a quick EP for the Italian label Supporti Fonografici called The Wind Kissed Pictures, which was credited to The Sin and Sacrifice of Christian Death in order for fans to know whom they were buying. The band raised enough money to return to England, which they made their permanent base; meanwhile, The Wind Kissed Pictures was issued in the English-speaking world under the Christian Death name, as once again few people comprehended the change. Williams, meanwhile, all but dropped out of sight for several years, eventually resurfacing in side ventures like Premature ***********, Heltir, and Shadow Project (the latter with his wife Eva O.).Now settled in England, Christian Death added bassist Johann Schumann and returned to the Welsh studio where theyd cut Catastrophe Ballet. Their first post-Williams effort was 1986s Atrocities, a concept album about the aftereffects of World War II on the European psyche. Their next project was Jesus Christ Proudly Presents Christian Death, a box set of concert EPs from 1986 and early 1987. The proper follow-up to Atrocities was even more conceptually ambitious; 1987s The Scriptures was Kands musical treatise on comparative religion, and surrounded him with a revamped lineup of Demone, Glass, guitarist James Beam, and bassist Kota. The Scriptures marked the beginning of Christian Deaths evolution into a mouthpiece for Kands one-man crusade against political corruption and organized religion (the Catholic Church in particular). His liner notes explained his elaborate intellectual concepts in painstaking detail, and he increasingly used interviews as a platform to launch vitriolic attacks on his favorite targets.Longtime drummer David Glass left the group following the release of The Scriptures, and returned to California, where he eventually worked with several of Rozz Williams side projects. That whittled Christian Death down to a quartet for the 1988 single Church of No Return, one of their more accessible efforts. Despite the groups more intellectual bent, they werent above resorting to the calculated offensiveness of old; the cover of their 1988 LP Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ depicted Jesus shooting heroin. The ensuing furor helped make the album the groups biggest seller; it also saw them evolving into a more basic, straightforward goth metal band. In 1989, with new second guitarist Nick the Bastard onboard, the group issued the concert document The Heretics Alive. Gitane Demone subsequently left the band, not to mention her longtime lover Valor Kand, citing dissatisfaction with his new direction; she relocated to Amsterdam and pursued a jazz singing career.With Demones departure, the always-unstable Christian Death lineup splintered completely, leaving Kand essentially a solo auteur despite continued instrumental assistance from Nick the Bastard. In 1989, Kand completed another far-reaching concept opus, All the Love All the Hate, which was released in two separate full-length LP installments that covered love and hate themes respectively. The latter featured one of the bands more notorious latter-day cuts in I Hate You, a profane tirade by Valor and Demones five-year-old son Sevan Kand; its artwork also utilized Nazi imagery to a somewhat ill-defined end. Nick the Bastard subsequently departed, and bereft of any backup, Kand turned his attention to archival material; 1990 saw the release of the demos/outtakes compilation Insanus, Ultio, Proditio, Misericordiaque, and 1992 brought the Valor Kand-era singles retrospective Jesus Points the Bone at You?.Meanwhile, a penniless Rozz Williams had resurrected his own version of Christian Death during the late 80s, with his wife Eva O. contributing guitar as well as the bands signature female vocals. Billing themselves as the original Christian Death, they were rejoined by first-album guitarist Rikk Agnew for a 1989 tour of Canada. Despite the dubious legality of Williams use of the Christian Death name, his efforts attracted the interest of the goth-oriented Cleopatra Records label. In 1992, with Valors version of the band in recording hibernation, Williams issued The Iron Mask as Christian Death, its title a pointed reference to the Alexandre Dumas novel about a usurper who imprisons the rightful heir to the throne. He and Eva O. were joined by bassist Listo and drummer David Melford, and most of the repertoire dated from Williams first three albums with the original band. The similarly conceived Skeleton Kiss EP appeared on its heels. An all-new studio effort, The Path of Sorrows, followed in 1993, with a new lineup behind Williams and O.: keyboardist Paris, multi-instrumentalist William Faith, and drummer Stevyn Grey. In June that year, Williams re-formed most of the early Christian Death lineup — bringing back Rikk Agnew (once again) and George Belanger, with support from guitarist Frank Agnew and bassist Casey Chaos — for a one-off show in Los Angeles. The result was released in 1994 by Triple X as the live album Iconologia.Williams reclamation of the Christian Death name sparked a fierce court battle with Valor Kand, who eventually won trademark rights and forced Williams to bill his version of the band as Christian Death Featuring Rozz Williams. In part to keep his rival from stealing his thunder, Kand assembled a new Christian Death of his own, centered around himself and new wife Maitri on bass and vocals. He returned with 1994s Sexy Death God, which many longtime fans greeted as his best and tightest effort in quite some time. Confusingly, Williams Christian Death also issued a new album that year, The Rage of Angels, which found its leader dabbling in spoken word at times. A steady stream of archival reissues — live material, outtakes, remixes, etc. — from throughout the bands history also began to appear on Cleopatra.Adding guitarist Flick and drummer Steve Wright, Valors Christian Death picked up their recording pace, offering the double live set Amen in 1995, and returning to the ambitious concept works of old with 1996s Nostradamus-themed Prophecies. As it turned out, Williams version would not release another full album of original material. He pursued several other projects, including a duo album with Gitane Demone (1995s Dream Home Heartache) and a spoken word examination of his heroin addiction (1996s The Whorses Mouth). That addiction would help claim his life on April 1, 1998, when the 34-year-old Williams hanged himself in his West Hollywood apartment. He was mourned by a still-devoted cult of fans, and even Valor Kand put aside his previous animosity to dedicate that years Pornographic Messiah album to Williams, going so far as to draw from some of Williams more experimental influences.Kands Christian Death soldiered on, issuing the two-disc singles/outtakes compilation The Bible in 1999. In 2000, they added drummer Will Was Sarginson (ex-Cradle of Filth and Blood Divine) and toured Europe alongside Britains Cradle of Filth, one of the more popular black metal bands of their time. The two groups got along well enough for several Cradle members to guest on Christian Deaths 2001 album Born Again Anti Christian, helping it become one of the most metallic records in their catalog. The following year, bassist Maitri issued the black metal-influenced solo album Lover of Sin (confusingly labeled on the cover as Christian Death Presents...). In 2003, Cradle of Filth guitarist Gian Pyres officially joined Christian Death for their European tour.