Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow

MAL 666CD, 1988, Running time: 71:36

Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow
  1. Dogun - 04:02
  2. Forever Changing - 09:36
  3. The Ballad of the Pale Christ - 05:48
  4. Christ and the Pale Queens - 19:58
  5. The Red Face of God - 04:02
  6. The Breath and Pain of God - 09:46
  7. Mighty in Sorrow - 18:25

Another very Biblical album, some of the lyrics are, in fact, references to their previous album Imperium. However, this album is rather less concerned with life and mortality, focusing instead on various Christian mythologies. It’s not one of their best albums, exactly, but for me, it does have quite a lot of charm; I really like the cohesiveness and continuity of it. Musically, however, it does get a little repetitive. Probably not a good album to start with, but it’s definitely worth owning. Lyrics are not included.

Harkening back to the earlier, noisier days, DOGUN is full of distortion, slowed voices, and a processed voice repeating “destruction.” David Tibet repeats something about taking fire from daddy’s house (a Prometheus reference, perhaps?). An interesting piece, despite the repetitive background drumming.

FOREVER CHANGING is a rather long and minimalistic piece, but despite the simple bass and piano music, it’s a song that manages to hold the attention. This is mostly due to Tibet’s expressive reading of the text of a vision by Hildegard von Bingen, about an encounter and conversation with god or God.

Moving into a more traditional musical sound, THE BALLAD OF THE PALE CHRIST is a upbeat and catchy folk-like song about Christ and the pale queens (whoever they might be). The music consists of simple but effective acoustic guitar, Tibet’s vocals, and female backing vocals. Very nice.

CHRIST AND THE PALE QUEENS is a powerful and eerie epic, beginning with a man reciting from Peter Weiss’ play “Marat/Sade,” and continuing with Tibet speaking (or whispering), partially from god’s point of view and partially from his own. The background music begins as simple, classical-sounding strings, which are later joined by bass, drums and electronics. As the song gains intensity, they mesh with female vocals and a violin loop (which will become all too familiar later on). This is probably my favorite piece on the album.

Choir music and distortion begin track five, THE RED FACE OF GOD. This song is basically a remix of the first track, DOGUN. Not really sure why needed two versions of it, but…

Musically, THE BREATH AND PAIN OF GOD is rather similar to CHRIST AND THE PALE QUEENS: eerie strings and electronics are the dominant sounds. Tibet and a female vocalist repeat “christ and the pale queens mighty in sorrow” for the second half of the piece.

Remember the violin loop from CHRIST AND THE PALE QUEENS? Well, here it is again, comprising all 18 minutes of the final track, MIGHTY IN SORROW. Though it’s a cool melody, the piece is simply way too long.

No epilogue.