Saturday 29 September 2018

Album Review: BEAUTY IN CHAOS - Finding Beauty In Chaos

Beauty In Chaos - Finding Beauty In Chaos


01. Road To Rosario (Featuring Michael Aston)
02. Storm (Featuring Ashton Nyte)
03. Man Of Faith (Featuring Wayne Hussey)
04. 20th Century Boy (Featuring Al Jourgensen) (T-Rex cover)
05. Drifting Away (Featuring Robin Zander)
06. Memory Of Love (Featuring Johnny Indovina)
07. Look Up (Featuring Tish Ciravolo)
08. Un-Natural Disaster (Featuring dUg Pinnick and Ice T)
09. The Long Goodbye (Featuring Wayne Hussey)
10. Beauty Lies Within (Featuring Johnny Indovina)
11. Bloodless And Fragile (Featuring Ashton Nyte)
12. I Will Follow You (Featuring Evi Vine)
13. Helitrope (Featuring Betsy Martin)
14. Finding Beauty In Chaos (Featuring Ashton Nyte)


Beauty In Chaos is a project masterminded by guitarist Michael Ciravolo (Human Drama / Gene Loves Jezebel), and features a host of special guests.

Producer Michael Rozon has done an amazing job with this album as it sounds clear and huge, yet retains that 80's vibe associated with a number of the musicians who've contributed to it.

Although the bulk of this record is very 'Classic Goth', it's actually really diverse, pushing the parameters of that description, and bringing in plenty of other flavours in a tasteful, cohesive way. Anyone who, like me, loves The Mission, The Cure, early Cult, and Siouxsie and the Banshees will undoubtably love Beauty In Chaos, but it offers way more than that, albeit in a subtle way.

For example, Un-Natural Disaster has some dark, grooving riffage, and although it's quite heavy, it sits nicely amongst the other songs. A song like this with the soulful crooning of dUg Pinnick from King's X and a rap section from Body Count's Ice-T would in-theory stick out like a sore thumb, but it fits so naturally on Finding Beauty In Chaos. This is testimony to the clarity of Michael Ciravolo's vision, writing, and inspired choice of track running order.

There are some fantastic songs on here. The Long Goodbye is one of the best songs Wayne Hussey has ever performed on, and is easily as good as anything on the last Mission album. Man Of Faith is an impressive track too.

I'm a massive fan of Ashton Nyte, and the fact that he sings on three of these songs is what drew my attention to Beauty In Chaos in the first place. Ashton is clearly a busy guy, as by the end of this year, he'll have been on three records. This one, the second MGT album (read my review here), and he's also set to release a new album from his own band, The Awakening, in November. As expected, he fits into this project like a glove. Storm, which was the lead single, is a phenomenal Goth-Rock song, with some nice, heavy, dare I say 'Grunge', riffing in the chorus. Both Bloodless and Fragile and album closer Finding Beauty In Chaos are slow, atmospheric works of art, and Ashton's voice lends itself to these perfectly.

I really didn't think the world needed another cover of 20th Century Boy, but this Industrial-tinged heavy version with Ministry's Al Jourgensen on vocals is great fun. It's over-the-top, meticulously executed carnage.

Drifting Away, featuring Cheap Trick's Robin Zander, is another great song with its huge, uplifting chorus. I also love the trippy vibe on Look Up, which features Michael's wife Tish.

Beauty In Chaos is a truly brilliant album, forged by a strong creative vision, a collective of huge talents, and a truck-load of passion. To be honest, every song is great. The record also has a lot of depth, and I find myself hearing new aspects of it with each listen.


SHARE:

No comments

Post a Comment

Blog Layout Designed by pipdig