Christian Death

• Genre: Goth

About

Christian Death founder Rozz Williams always bristled at the "Goth" label, and perhaps as a result turned this devoutly anti-Catholic outfit into the most stylistically catholic act in the genre. The band's first two albums sounded like an even gloomier version of the Cure. But by Ashes, the band had undergone a major line-up change and a major shift in sound. Christian Death's Symobolist lyric poetry continued to wallow religious angst, but their music embarked on a circuitous journey through shadowy domains of classical, ambient, and oriental texture. Their music transported listeners beyond the quotidian, alternately attempting to capture musically the ecstasy of St. Theresa and the debauchery of Sade. After Rozz's departure, the '90s saw the band changing shape yet again into a primarily synth-oriented creature that took religious subject matter and turned it into campy music appropriate for bondage club pole-dances. If this all sounds a bit outre, then venture not into the world of Christian Death. The average citizen will find far more death-obsessed Romanticism and shameless blasphemy than he or she may care to digest.

- Chad Driscoll