Pornographic Messiah

Unlike most people, I have to state that Valor's Christian Death has always been my favorite. Yes, duds were laid now and again (I disliked All The Love // All The Hate, too...), and I still find Valor's need to express his extreme sexual appetites in his lyrics a bit obnoxious at times. Anyway, enough babble. If you liked ANYTHING Valor has done with Christian Death since "The Sin And Sacrifice..." you will enjoy something here. There's a little of everything. It's a ferocious cauldron of every good thing Valor did since about 1986. The beauty and hunger of "The Sin & Sacrifice...", "The Wind Kissed Pictures" and "Atrocities", the immediacy and the haunting qualities of "The Scriptures", the harshness of "Sex & Drugs...", and etc.... This has certain qualities of all of those aforementioned releases, while still forging forward (like Valor has always done). Did you ever notice that the last song on just about every one of Valor's LPs was a textural, symphonic instrumental? Well, this CD is full of that through and through. It's like a good book... get intrigued with the exposition, get hooked with the complications, rise with the climax, and see it all come together like the masterpiece it truly is with the resolution... Listen to this three part tale and appreciate a true work of musical, lyrical, & visual art (even though I prefer my boxed import version artistically, and the three seperate books are just too damn cool). Valor, from a person who has followed your musical ride since 1988, I must say this: you've finally done it. Congratulations.

Christian Death are long gone (dead) but occasionally Valor publishes a record with this name, sure to earn money from fund fans. He spent 10 years of his career climing the world should end in the month of july 1999, as declared by Nostradamus, but to promote this mediocre record (and to earn other money) he seemed to have forgotten it, touring long after this date. Anyway the music is not so bad, at least not bad as Prophecies or the following Born Again (a disaster...). The beginning song has its maximum in the fourth part (The Lie Behind the Truth) , where a dark hard rock starts after a church choir, creating a fascinating effect. The following tracks are more or less good, but FANTASTIC is the idea of covering Sex Dwarf by The Soft Cell! Then the album knows a moment of tiredness untill it falls in the swamps of the traditional slow-gothic Die with you. A little awakening with the following She Never Woke Up, the commercial hit of the album. So, with his highs and lows (the final The 9 Is a 6, sung by Yaal, a bad imitation of I Hate You justifying the survivance of the world to Nostradamus prophecy...bleah!) that's quite a good album, of honest hard and half-industrial gothic rock, to have only if you do not exige novelties and artistic inventions...

for years, i thought that valor's christian death couldn't hold a candle to rozz's. but after, "atrocities," i started to realize that valor's vision is a very profound one, and finally, with, "pornographic messiah," he has fully restored my faith in the future of goth music, something that no other band or performer could do. forget, "antichrist superstar," this album celebrates darkness and intelligence, and rocks harder than anything i've heard in all of '99

[...]Seriously, this is terrible stuff. Christian Death albums used to be works of art. This is hard rockin' crap extraordinaire, coupled with Valor's bad lyrics which are meant to be shocking, but which succeed only in revealing that Valor has bad taste (-- or to put it another way, he has no regard for good taste). Forget about art, go for the shock! Such is the way of Valor Kand in the new millineum.

Sorry to tell ya readers out there, but I have more Christian Death paraphernalia than you. Sorry, I win. That said, the ONLY thing selling these CDs these days is the name. The content went to crap long ago. But to keep up my collection I have continued to purchase anything with the Christian Death moniker, Rozz Williams, Shadow Project, Premature Ejaculation, Pompeii 99... List goes on. But alas, I will never purchase another piece of Valors attempt at what he calls music.