BONDAGE FRUIT II

Despite the dreadful moniker and rotten front cover, 'Bondage Fruit II' from 1996 is in fact an excellent album. There's a lot of Zeuhl sound present - but also a lot of what might be termed punk. I'm liking the female vocals by women who's names are too difficult to repeat. They lift the tunes to a higher level.

Damn - the Japs are good at this kind of stuff! Magma are the clear core influences here, but whereas Magma are darker and more oppresive overall, Bondage Fruit are livelier and more playful.

There's a lot of nice strings on 'Cottleston Pie' which adds a good dose of diversity. Although, more disturbingly, I remember 'Rolf' the dog from the 'Muppet Show' singing 'Cottleston Pie' in 1976! What the????

Some parts of this album sound quite 'Koenjihyakkei' which is always a good thing in my books. The guitars are a bit too raw sounding for my liking, but the drums, bass and vocals are super. Things become quite deranged during the last 15 minutes - a bit like Tom chasing Jerry in the cartoons! Good stuff.