COME ON DIE YOUNG

MOGWAI's slowest and most depressing album, but I mean that in a good way! Without a doubt, this thing is moody. It's MOGWAI's second release, and I heard it described once as "music to commit suicide by." Well, maybe so, and the song "Cody" - an angram of "Come On Die Young" - reads like a suicide note. But it really is beautiful music by which to drink coffee and read a book.

We kick off with a spoken word track of Iggy Pop on a talk show describing the evils of punk-rock, called "Punk Rock," which is ironic because MOGWAI has one foot in the punk world and prog world. The album ends with "Punk Rock/Puff Daddy/ANTiCHRiST." The song is obviously a remix of the opening track, sort of bookending the album (no idea about the Antichrist part). After the only song, "Cody," we get nine instrumentals, each slightly louder than the other, making the entire album one long crescendo. It's brilliantly done and has great melodies throughout. "Patient" is a word that describes MOGWAI's style on this album. Highly recommended to the mentally-stable. Depressed folks should stay away!