Death Rock is alive, Baby!
And on “Unholy Burial” Voodoo Church shows us what a perfectly balanced death rock album is supposed to sound like.
The album is split in two: “Face Up” and “Face Down”. Honestly speaking, there isn’t much difference between the two parts, but nobody really cares about that.
“Face Up” opens with the obligatory ‘Unholy’ and ends with the delightful ‘Zombie a Go-Go’. In between we get a couple of songs which are exactly according to the rules of the genre: very catchy guitar riffs, some church bells here and there, mournful female singing, and all of this delivered in tight, pointy songs.
According to the lyrics we are all going to die. We are also being chased by voodoo dolls and we keep howling at the moon. All of the songs are warmly arranged and especially ‘New Death’ catches attention with its mixture of melancholica and rock. Only ‘Ragged Souls’ is a bit disappointing, but this is only because of the effect that is placed over the singing – a superfluous addition.
The second part, “Face Down” keeps on going like the first part. The only differences are perhaps to be found in the lyrics: we are really dead by now and are forever in possession of female singer Tina Winter. ‘May I’ doesn’t even last one minute, but is very creepy and ominous. The listener is now fully prepared for the absolute highpoint of “Unholy Burial”: the cover of The Cure’s ‘The Figurehead’. I myself believe that this is one of the best songs of Robert Smith and his companions, so I was a bit skeptical when I saw the track list. But as soon as I heard this version, I was amazed. The fact that we are listening to a female singer in stead of the drawling voice of Robert Smith, is in itself renewing. But the geniality is to be found in the sound of the bass. The perfect creation of Simon Gallup is really lifted to higher grounds by Voodoo Churchs bass player Randall Cole. Goosebumps…
The second part ends with the cliché outro ‘Burial’ and so the album ends. The most important minus of “Unholy Burial” is just this fact: an album such as this can entertain the listener for hours and it’s a pity everytime the fairytale comes to an end.