DE-LOUSED IN THE COMATORIUM

As I listen to this CD I wonder about the AGE of those who are ranking this recording so high. Four stars here, five stars there. Some will go as far as to say that this is the greatest record since the turn of the century and others have said it may very well be THE BEST progressive record of all-time!

Holy smokes! And I MEAN THAT! Holy SMOKES! What are these cats smoking?!

I sincerely believe that many people have not heard punk rock before, or at least not in this capacity, and TMV is their introduction to the genre and they are flipping out.

As a guy who grew up during the heart of the punk era(mid to late 70s to early 80s) and frequented CBGB's and the Mud Club and every other dirty punk club along Manhattan island and the Jersey shore I can tell you with MUCH assurance that what TMV are doing is nothing new. In fact, my buddies and I would catch a different band each week that sounded like the Volta. When I listen to this CD I have flashbacks of many varieties. Too many to count.

The main difference I hear between TMV and the punk bands of the 70s is that the Volta elongates their songs to epic proportions. They astutely use improvisation and VAST WALLS OF NOISE to stretch out their otherwise weak compositions(although noise is not new to punk rock). Hence the progressive tag is added to their work based on song length.

Granted, De-loused In The Comatorium has its progressive moments(key word MOMENTS). There are some tight grooves here and there that catch your attention, but as soon as you think it's going somewhere, bang! More chaos and screaming. Nothing that I hadn't heard before.

I specially find the drumming disturbing. As someone already mentioned, the machine gun approach has its place, but TMV overuse it to the point where it becomes cliche. Mitch Mitchell had tremendous taste and knew where to bring out the big guns. I don't see the same maturity and restrain from TMV's rhythm section.

This recording is a mish-mash of Led Zeppelin, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Sex Pistols and an attempt by a male vocalist to sound like Diamanda Galas. Unfortunately, TMV come up WAY SHORT on every attempt.

I was highly disappointed with this record. I followed the recommendation of some of the reviews I read and took the plunge, but this music is old. It's not progressive in the least. Actually, it's going backwards to a place I've already been and left in the rear view mirror and not interested in revisiting.

TWO STARS and that is being awfully lenient because I know how popular this band has become and I suppose there are some collectors out there interested in this CD.