Catastrophe Ballet is Christian Death

Christian Death

Christian Death is an American deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was founded and fronted by Rozz Williams. Christian Death is most notable for their first album Only Theatre of Pain....

's second studio album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

. This is the first album that featured Valor Kand

Valor Kand

Valor Kand is the current vocalist/guitarist/songwriter of Christian Death, an American deathrock/goth rock band once fronted by Rozz Williams. He is an ex-lover of Gitane Demone, with whom he has two children, Sevan Kand and Zara.-External links:...

. Besides Rozz, the lineup was completely different from Only Theatre of Pain

Only Theatre of Pain

Only Theatre of Pain was the debut studio album of American deathrock band Christian Death, originally released by Frontier Records in 1982. The album is considered the harbinger of deathrock....

. In addition, Rozz said that he got the idea for the bizarre looking album cover from a shroom experience

Psilocybin

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug, with mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline, after it is converted to psilocin. The effects can include altered thinking processes, perceptual distortions, an altered sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as...

.

History

Catastrophe Ballet featured a change in Williams' vocal delivery. While Only Theatre of Pain

Only Theatre of Pain

Only Theatre of Pain was the debut studio album of American deathrock band Christian Death, originally released by Frontier Records in 1982. The album is considered the harbinger of deathrock....

 and the Deathwish EP had Williams presenting a rhythmic spoken word style with an almost androgynous pitch to his voice, Catastrophe Ballet showed a richer, less harsh side to his vocal stylings, with more influence from David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

 and Lou Reed

Lou Reed

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

. Rather than the occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

-oriented lyrics from the first album, the singer showed a new-found interest in Surrealism

Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

 and the Dada

Dada

Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...

 movement. Kand, Demone and Glass shared these interests, and the synergy between them helped cultivate the musical change from the old band's murky, dark punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 to a more elegant, romantic strain of guitar-driven rock, though a tribalistic drumming was also added into the mix.

Track listing

• Arranged By Valor. All Songs Copyright
  Copyright
  Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
  
   QAH Music U.S.A.

1. "Awake at the Wall" (Valor, Constance Smith, David Parkinson, Gitane Demone, Rozz Williams)
2. "Sleepwalk" (Valor, Williams)
3. "The Drowning" (Williams)
4. "The Blue Hour" (Valor, Williams)
5. "As Evening Falls" (Valor, Williams)
6. "Androgynous Noise Hand Permeates" (Valor, Parkinson, Eric Westfall, Williams)
7. "Electra Descending" (Valor, Williams)
8. "Cervix Couch" (Valor, Smith, Demone, Williams)
9. "This Glass House" (Valor, Williams)
10. "The Fleeing Somnambulist" (Valor, Westfall, Williams)

Re-Releases

The album was re-released in 1987 as A Catastrophe Ballet With Rhapsody of Youth and Rain with three bonus tracks:

1. "The Somnolent Pursuit" ("The Fleeing Somnabulist" backwards)
2. "Between Youth" (B-side track from Believers of the Unpure)
3. "After the Rain" (B-side track from Believers of the Unpure)

In 1999 it was released with live recordings of "Awake at the Wall" and "The Drowning" and a CD-Rom track with pictures.

In 2009, the album was re-released once more with an unreleased studio track entitled "Beneath his Widow" featuring Rozz Williams.

Personnel

• Rozz Williams: Vocals
• Valor: Guitars, Backing Vocals
• Gitane Demone: Keyboards, Backing Vocals
• Constance Smith: Bass
• David Glass: Drums

External links

• "Catastrophe Ballet" at discogs