Title:Plague Mass
Artiste: Diamanda Galas
Genre: Avant-Garde
Evil Bastard: The Batlord
I've heard of this wan. Batty says her voice is terrifying, and this is a live album so chances are it'll be even more scary. Better make sure I'm close to the toilet! Okay, let's do this thing! Well thanks a lot! Not available anywhere so I have to turn to YouTube. Great. Well now that we have it running, mostly talk for the first few minutes, then she lets out a blood-curdling scream which takes me by surprise, and back to talking. More screams. Very operatic. Kind of an ululating lament I guess, very high-pitched, like listening to a banshee. Meh, so far I'm more bored than scared. This thing goes on for twelve frigging minutes! Oh, it's almost over thank god. Crap! The next one is twelve minutes too! At least we're getting some doomy drums now and a bit of sort-of music. The whole high priestess of darkness thing has worn thin very quickly. Yawn. The drums do make it a little more tolerable, though not much. Sounds like she's speaking in tongues now. So bored with this. Drumbeats getting faster. Where are we now? Crap! Only five minutes in. If she says “Unclean” one more time, I swear...
At least there's a bit of a rhythm coming in to the piece now. Getting a bit more into it now. Yeah, just as it ends.
Next one is only (!) six minutes long and there seems to be some sort of synth or some backing anyway. Is she vocalising with herself here? That's pretty impressive if so. Some sort of radio feedback or something. God knows what's going on here, but I bet Ned Flanders would not like it! Think we're into the fourth track now. There's another agonised scream. Neighbours will think I'm murdering someone in here! Sounds like someone revving a motorbike now. It's probably mad percussion though. Another rant. Kind of hard to separate the tracks here, as they're mostly just her going on about something or other I don't care about and the odd bit of music or drumming, but I think we're about halfway now, with the sixth track? Maybe. Getting very intense and almost messianic there. There are no more tickets to the funeral, apparently. Guess it sold out early. Bloody block-bookers, huh?
In fairness, the beat and rhythm behind this is pretty good. I don't like her talking on her own, but with some sort of musical backing she's not bad at all. Now she's singing (well, talking) about AIDS. Pretty impressive really. And I think I only have about twenty-odd minutes to go now. Some synth coming in now with that heavy drumming and I think she's speaking in tongues again, or some foreign tongue anyway. Is she vocalising with herself again? Look, she can't be, can she? This is live after all. Must be another singer, or maybe she's using a backing track of her own voice? Either way it's pretty good.
Much slower and almost funereal now; think I heard piano there for the first time. Nearing the end. Ten minutes left. Sounds like she's dying there; slow gasping breaths, music (or whatever is backing her) slowing down and now pealing bells. There's that piano again, very bassy this time. Gospel chant, kind of. She certainly has a powerful, compelling voice. That wasn't nearly as bad as I had been expecting.
Oh, and please stop asking her. There are no more tickets to the funeral. She is getting pretty pissed about it at the end!