ARTIST: Christian Death
TITLE: Death Club 1981 - 1993
LABEL: Cleopatra Records
GENRE: Gothic Rock
BITRATE: 195kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 1h 10min total
RELEASE DATE: 2005-11-15
RIP DATE: 2005-12-19
Track List

01. Dogs                            2:54
02. Deathwish                       2:14
03. First Communion                 4:09
04. Romeo's Distress                3:17
05. Cervix Couch                    4:59
06. The Drowning                    4:02
07. Ashes                           7:16
08. The Luxury Of Tears             6:59
09. Spectre                         3:56
10. Haloes                          3:40
11. This Mirage                     2:24
12. The Angels (Cruciform)          3:53
13. Venus In Furs                   5:21
14. Psalm (Maggots Lair)            3:36
15. Interview With Rozz Williams   11:58
Release Notes:
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 band's 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 didn't really take off until it
changed its name to Christian Death (reportedly inspired by a goof on designer
Christian Dior's 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 "Romeo's 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 Children's 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 L'Invitation au Suicide in 1984.
Returning to the U.S., the band formed its own label L'Invitation 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 he'd
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
Ejaculation, 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 they'd cut Catastrophe Ballet. Their first
post-Williams effort was 1986's 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; 1987's The Scriptures was Kand's 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 Death's evolution into a mouthpiece for Kand's 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 group's more intellectual bent, they weren't 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 group's 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 Demone's 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 band's more notorious latter-day cuts in "I Hate You," a
profane tirade by Valor and Demone's 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 band's
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 Valor's 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 1994's 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 band's history also began to appear on Cleopatra. Adding
guitarist Flick and drummer Steve Wright, Valor's 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 1996's
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 (1995's Dream Home
Heartache) and a spoken word examination of his heroin addiction (1996's The
Whorse's 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 year's Pornographic
Messiah album to Williams, going so far as to draw from some of Williams'
more experimental influences.Kand's 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 Britain's 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 Death's 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.