Mondo Bungle

Here's to a graceful return. Now, this isn't really much of a review, I'm just talking about this album. I still need to work on my reviewing. I can promise this won't be my only RP post, I plan on doing a Spotlight On!!!! Nick Blinko.

Rudimentary Peni – Cacaphony (1987)

This is as much an experimental album as it is punk, the Gothic, black and white musings of a troubled artist. RP have veered away slightly from their punk rock politics to a deranged testament to H.P. Lovecraft, the macabre, and the downright crazy, but all the while just as radical. This is a challenging album. It takes you through many different tunnels and chasms that frankly never end. It's riddled throughout with crazed ramblings and groaning, Lovecraft quotation, and otherwise peculiar commentary, yet an underlying theme or message proves to be a difficult thing to locate.

Their previous full length, Death Church, was a classic punk effort, one of my personal favorites. Political and spectacular punk rock, yet, it strayed from the punk formula constantly. Cacaphony leaves it almost entirely, sure you can tell this is a punk band/album at it's very core, but you can't overlook the experimentation and oddities scattered throughout it.

Lovecraft baby....
Lovecraftian themes and characters are a focal point, with Cthulu even taking form here. “Crazed Couplet” features the lyrics “That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die” delivered through distortion. “Imps of the Perverse” is a criticism to Lovecraft from the point of view of another. While these themes are incredibly prevalent, this a musical equivalent of madness. Looping conversational delusions layered over one another, to such a point where the listener can only observe gibberish (and much of it in fact is). Incredibly bizarre interludes of hissing and teeth chattering and the like. At it's simplest, I'd call this a conglomeration of punk/post-punk and experimental rock, with a hefty old English influence, even sing along pub song stylings. Their guitar tone is much lighter than previous efforts, and the bass is incredible as usual. Grant Matthews is one of punk's best bassists, and RP recordings always show it off.

3 highlights for me, "Dream City" "Gentlemen Prefer Blood" and "Musick in Diabola" among others of course.

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