Christian Death
Love And Hate
Jungle
Considering the last Valor Kand-led album I attempted to stomach was Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ, and the last one I actually enjoyed was Atrocities (his first, go figure), you’re probably asking the wrong dude about Christian Death. Alas, what we’re presented with in Love And Hate is a “best of” (cough) sampler of the thematically unified but out-of-print pair of All the Love All the Hate • Part One: Love and Part Two: Hate, both from ‘89. More accurately, however, what we’re given here is tepid, clunky mid-tempo metal, barely produced and languorously executed, and a small handful of mostly acoustic toss-offs and slightly spoken-word soundscapes, equally laughable and only loveable by Valor’s mum and a scant few other miscreants. It’s a head-scratcher, really, why Love And Hate would see the light of day, given that it’d be more logical to have just reissued the two albums proper • then again, given this record’s contents, maybe not (I’d hate to see what the “worst of” comprised). Sure, there’s a previously unreleased version of “Temples Of Desire” (oh, bother) and a video track for “We Fall Like Love” (what a fruit), but this is pretty much hogswill to capitalize on Christian Death’s tour with Cradle Of Filth last year. Gotta admire Valor’s fuck-all ambition, but ack • Jesus, where’s the sugar?
Jungle Records, 62 Chalk Farm Road, London NW1 8AN; http://www.junglerecords.com, http://www.christiandeath.com
