My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult : 'In the House of Strange Affairs"

I am very happy to hear the first song on their 14th album is a return to darkness rather than the disco they dipped into with "Sex on Wheels". "Forbidden Saints" keeps things along the left hand path with a little more bumping groove but no less sinister than the first song. Groovie Mann's vocals sound great and I think he does work best when slathered in effects. There is more of an 80s New wave take on New York funk with "Treat Street" that sounds like it could have come from the soundtrack of a cop sitcom. It's not a bad song it just has an odd quirky quality that breaks the established mood. "the Chains of Fame" works off of the best of both worlds it's got groove and a sleazy darkness. Which is all you could want from these guys .

The title track carries a thick atmosphere that obscures the groove. It is dark, though kinds drones in it's own shadows. "It's Me Holly" has a similar mood , but more movement, so it keeps me paying more attention rather than becoming a haze of opaque pulsations. "Studio 21" has more disco to it, but it's still dark enough that it works . The funky bass lines of a song like "Year of the Klown" are another staple to their sound as it has more of a slither to it. There are some accents of distorted guitar that crop up on this one. "Royal Skull" is a marginally more uptempo take on a similar formula. Rock riffs don't make it overly industrial as they have a rubbery slink to them. They do help things build in intensity.

They get a great deal darker on " Hanging Hearts". The vocals are a little more of a narration. Where the chorus would sit things take a weird turn. "Under a Crown" starts off like a surreal b section to the previous song. The guitar emerges to give things a little more structure. When he says he is flying higher than the clouds it's believable after the journey you have been on up to this point. The more experimental outro that is "Am I Dead" I'm sure sounds great on the right drugs or even the wrong ones, but it never really turns into song and feels like a crazy avant garde spoken word trip. I'll give this one a 9.5 and see how it grows on me, the drugs have taken their toll on these guys and they might be better for it.This album is being released on Valentines.