Kill A Celebrity - Ramallah

Advantages: wide range of musical influences, Celebrity Skin is an anthem
Disadvantages: Some forgettable tracks

...Right, i want to start by getting a few things straight... I am not going to talk about the controversy of who wrote the songs on this album, who killed who or whether Courtney Love is a murderous b*tch or a misunderstood widowed genius. I am going to tell you about this album in music terms, what it is, what it isnt, what it could have been and what it should have been. Right... Having not heard Live Through This, I bought "Celebrity Skin" becuase i had heard a few songs from it and liked the sound of them, liked their energy and the harsh, raw sound of some of the stuff i had heard. "Celebrity Skin" - the song, is something of an angst driven anthem, its confrontational, its raw, its loud and its what hole are all about. This is what i associated with Hole... until i heard track 6 from the album "Dying" which is softer, sincere, cold... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Amazing lyrics and concept.
Disadvantages: Not for the faint-hearted.

...Personally, I couldn't give a shit about what the Manic Street Preachers produced before or after this album. They started life as inept Clash-wannabes screeching about high street banks ("Death sanitised through credit"; er...okay.) and have ended up as bloated stadium behomoths searching frantically for their lost muse. However, this album pretty much single-handedly justifies their career. Made at the height of Richey's depression, the entire concept, artwork, and at least 70% of the lyrics are his doing. Themes range from self-mutilation and anorexia to why murder victims never achieve the same heights of celebrity as those that killed them. If there has ever been a more shocking expose of mental illness committed to vinyl, I don't know of it. Listen to this record and weep; not just because of its content, but because, with Richey... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: ---------------------------
Disadvantages: ---------------------------

...for this personally. "Aeon" makes up for this with some watery fluid guitar Goth-like guitars and some more proficient tribal drumming and has some very though provoking lyrics about where we could be heading if we only had the vision, pity man-kind is so blind………….. "Pilgrimage" is about a pilgrimage to the east, and again is classic melodic Killing Joke, beautiful music for those of us who can see through the noise and uplifting. "Intellect" mixes abrasive guitars, tribal drums and techno sounds and is dam good the only thing letting it down being that the drums are just not enough. "Medicine Wheel" celebrates the use of alternative therapies by people from all walks of like and like the previous song mixes techno sounds with abrasive guitars, however the drums are just not enough again, but still good stuff for Killing Joke, astounding stuff for any... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful