Season Of Mist is back with two new entries in their ongoing Christian Death reissue campaign, bringing us new vinyl editions of both their 1986 album Atrocities and 1987's The Scriptures. Now, I've tended to be a bit biased against the Christian Death material that came out after founding member/terminal weirdo Rozz Williams left the band and guitarist Valor Kand took over the reins; the piss-poor industrial metal that was being produced under the Christian Death name later in the band's career is pretty unforgivable, and Kand's contentious relationship with Williams alienated lots of fans of the band. Nothing compares to the wonderfully bizarre deathpunk that Williams and company created on those first three albums, and that weird spark left with him. But for a period of time, Kand's incarnation of Christian Death did manage to release some pretty great stuff, starting with the morbid bliss of Atrocities.

And I'll admit, this album's mix of morbid romanticism, driving post-punk, anti-religious blasphemy, genocidal themes and sinister experimentation sure feels like a direct successor to the previous album Ashes. If you were a fan of that album's baroque gothic weirdness, this follow-up definitely delivers more in that vein. Kand stepped into the role of frontman here and his own debauched croon, while not as unique, manages to be a satisfactory substitute for Williams' fey howl. You also get more of the glammy undertones that we heard on Ashes, but some of these songs also rock as hard as anything in the mid-80's Christian Death oeuvre, songs like "Chimère De-Ci De-Là", "Silent Thunder" and "Strapping Me Down" driven by propulsive tempos and biting, hard-edged guitars, and steeped in a dank, gloomy atmosphere, at times moving into an almost Sisters Of Mercy-like direction. And there's a song on here called "Thunder" that might be one of the catchiest songs in the band's catalog. Others like "The Danzig Waltz" are more theatrical, almost gospel-like, and when Kand and crew aren't ripping through one of their driving death rock numbers, things can get pretty creepy, with moody piano arrangements and haunting strings drifting over the sound of clanking percussion and tribal rhythms, and screaming blues-tinged guitar solos and flights of psychedelic shred appearing from washes of ethereal ambience. Gitane Demone's spectral singing figures prominently throughout the album, but her turn on the cover of "Gloomy Sunday" towards the end of Atrocities is particularly striking, transforming the classic funereal tune into a shadowy cabaret number.

As heretical as it might sound to those of us who consider Rozz Williams to be the one true embodiment of Christian Death, Atrocities may well be one of the best death rock albums of the decade. It's definitely worth another look from fans of morbid post-punk. As with the other Season Of Mist reissues, this is beautifully presented, housed in a printed inner sleeve with a huge full color poster.