It's a dark, scarred reflection of Talking Heads, a band who were hardly the cheeriest motherfuckers on the sofa to begin with. Talking Heads yacked about Buildings And Food. The Manics' yacked about the architecture of the body, and a dangerous lack of food of any damn sort.
And the Holocaust. Let's not forget that.
Richey was blessed and cursed with a deep concern for humanity, and a cripplingly obsessive mind. The fact that detestable motherfuckers were spouting rancid filth about how the Holocaust never happened, shit like that right there kept him awake for days on end. That such intense, impenetrable suffering could be so easily mocked by these fuckwit "historians", he couldn't cope with the weight of that injustice.
To this end, we get The Intense Humming Of Evil and Mausoleum. "No birds", hisses the latter, "The sky is swollen black." The former, an industrial death-march grind, is unbearably explicit;
"In block 5 we worship malaria,
Lagerstrasse, poplar trees,
Beauty lost, dignity gone,
Rascher surveys us butcher bacteria"
Unforgettable, deeply, deeply disturbing. Utter genius. Alongside 4st 7lbs, it's one of two tracks on The Holy Bible that I routinely skip. Not because they're bad, but because they're so fucking good. They're too intense, too painful to listen to. The melodies are beautiful, the playing is immaculate, the vocal performance is stunning. And death and loneliness hover over both like the terrible memories instrumental in their creation.
The Intense Humming Of Evil is, I would wager, the aural equivalent of Pasolini's Salo. Like Salo, it's a howl against fascism, and a tormented cry at the unspeakable horrors humanity is capable of. Like Salo, it's a commanding piece of work that never flinches, that even when presenting to us images or ideas that we don't for a second want to contemplate in anything other than a coldly intellectual manner, still captivates us. Like Salo, its creator vanished shortly afterwards.
Except Pasolini had a helping hand from a disgruntled rentboy and the flick of a blade.
On those two tracks, The Intense Humming Of Evil and 4st 7lbs, The Holy Bible becomes, for The Duke at any rate, something akin to Closer by Joy Division, something that is undeniably special and important, but something I can't for a second enjoy hearing.
For the rest, however, for those other eleven tracks, perhaps the most accurate comparison one could make, and it has been made ad naseum, is to Nirvana's In Utero. That was another record knee-deep in frustration and hurt, but it sounds phenomenal. It's not depressing for a second. It's touching, and occasionally sad, and it's complex and pained, but not depressing. It's joyous.
Article comments
1 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
hells bells. thats the third time i've used the word "fetishised" in almost as many articles. That Word Of The Day toilet-paper sure works better when a fella's got the runs...
2 - godoggo
re: fetishise: Your'e in America now, if I'm not mistaken. Allow me to introduce you to the letter Z.
That said, what in heaven'z name is LA Rock?
3 - wally bangs
Brilliant stuff, Duke. I bet you "laughed when Lennon got shot" too.
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
godoggo, i'm still residing in the UK, but it's a valid point. I keep forgetting to include the "z", which is odd, since is not only is it Costa Gravas' best flick, but it's a much cooler letter than s. I keep wondering why the MT desktop client has red lines under things i know are spelt correctly, and that's always the cause.
Wally, thanks man. And i didn't, probably, but i still roar along like as if i was there man. "Motown... Motown Junk!!"
5 - valeria
Here come the crazy urges to listen to the Holy Bible again, for maybe the millionth time in my life. It might be your incessant quotes that just beg a singalong, it might be that this article was just absolutely perfect.
6 - Duke De Mondo
Valeria, thank you! What a compliment it is, to have someone urged towards a re-listening of The Holy Bible on account of my scribbling.
and this reminds me, i really must pick up that grand new Everything Must Go set sometime soon...
7 - Drunks off my bollocks
Brilliant article. Expresses the importance, spirit and meaning of THB well. Doesn't slag off Lifeblood, which is also a bonus... 5 years old? The joy of teh_intarwebz and it's collectivist Elephantine memory. Well done, squire. Well done.
8 - Remedial_gash
Just picked up 'Journal for plague lovers' - a year late I know, and was revisiting earlier albums, in the age of 'random play', I don't think I've listened to an album since around 2005 (when this piece was written).
Anyway, what a fucking excellent piece of work, and please don't use 'z's - it's offensive to my eyes.
Gash
9 - Pris
Great article!
Hope I'm not intruding, here's my $.02 on Richey.