Longtime Kevin Max followers still scratching their proverbial heads about Fiefdom Of Angels (Max's sprawling, in-progress graphic novel/film/etc. project) will be pleased to know that its accompanying soundtrack album is amongst his most immediate, impressive and enjoyable solo work to date... despite (or perhaps due to) its bombastic sonic palette. Coming to us Deathly Hollows style, part one of Max's new opus (available to download now) feels like just the right amount of a good thing— Side A of an '80s new wave mixtape played at full volume through the Sistine Chapel's PA system.
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Opener "Send Me An Angel" (i.e. Real Life's synthpop staple, released in both 1983 and '89) ditches the keyboards and 808 snares in favor of somber, meditative orchestral flourishes that give the lovelorn lyrics ("Do you believe in heaven above? Do you believe in love?") deeper spiritual connotations. Lone Max composition "End Of The Beginning" feels like a distant cousin to Stereotype Be's "Dead End Moon" with its sweeping Middle Eastern strings and widescreen scope, segueing gracefully into a startling symphonic take on Joy Division's "Shadowplay"—its propulsive bassline and clashing post-punk guitars now replaced with funereal cellos and a dead of night piano arrangement. Max sings Ian Curtis' still-urgent stanzas with stoic fragility, tapping into the restless desperation of the lyrics over a patiently half-speed arrangement that'll rank amongst the song's best re-interpretations.
His version of Queen's "Dragon Attack" feels like a slight misstep— Freddie Mercury's loose, acrobatic vocal melody doesn't feel suited for shrieking violins, while Max's three-part monologue about angels and dragons (Side One's only clear tie-in to the graphic novel narrative) feels like an unnecessary, distracting addition. All is forgiven by the time "Take A Bow" boldly announces itself with that galloping, grandiloquent synthesizer riff. Max actually manages to out-overblow the Muse original with layer upon layer of trumpets, cathedral organs, violins and kettledrums. There are covers and then there are covers... but Kevin's "Take A Bow" is truly something to behold.
Taken in as its own little beast, Fiefdom Of Angels: Side One works extremely well on all fronts—soundtrack, covers record, and Kevin Max solo album. How Max plans to integrate it into the larger Fiefdom mythology remains to be seen, but non-comic nerds and lapsed church goers (I'm raising a guilty hand on both counts) will appreciate Side One for what it really is: the first half of a damned good album.
SumOlogy: An engrossing handful of (here comes the pun) angelic orchestral covers that'll leave you breathless, with or without the graphic novel handy.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
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