Voice Of The Mysterons - They Have Pulled Down Deep Heaven On Their Heads

Published Friday 14th March 2008
Voice Of The Mysterons - They Have Pulled Down Deep Heaven On Their Heads
Voice Of The Mysterons - They Have Pulled Down Deep Heaven On Their Heads

STYLE: Hard Music
RATING 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 42745-13446
LABEL: Independent
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Paul Loader

The first thing I would say about this album is that Daniel Petersen, the founder member of Scotland's VOFM, must eat an awful lot of cheese before he goes to bed of an evening. There is definitely something of a nightmare quality to this piece of work, which has been described as "post apocalyptic sci fi punk" inspired by the works of writers such as C S Lewis. However, don't expect to see Aslan here. 'They Have Pulled Down Deep Heaven On Their Heads' lends itself more to Out Of The Silent Planet and This Hideous Strength than it does to The Chronicles Of Narnia. The Voice Of The Mysterons' are the brainchild (or is that feverish nightmare?) of American Daniel who, as the founder of Blaster The Rocket Boy, is said to have fallen down in 1995, banging his head on a toilet, and on coming round was inspired to write a rock opera called The Monster That Ate Jesus. There is something very much of the operatic with 'They Have Pulled Down Deep Heaven. . .' and tracks that caught my attention were "The Ants Of God Are Queer Fish (And Now Walk Gently Through The Fire)", "You Don't Understand My 25-Year Transmogrification Plan (An American Werewolf In Glasgow)" and "The Horns Of The Lamb Do Not Grow Even In These Badlands". Although to be honest, the songs tend to blend into a whole piece of work very much as an opera should. Somebody wrote that if you took The Dead Kennedys' Jeff Suffering, C S Lewis and early Blenderhead, shoved them in a blender until nice and frothy, you would get 'They Have Pulled Down Deep Heaven. . .'. I would add that perhaps if you garnished it with just a sprinkle of John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) you would then I think have an inkling of what the VOFM sound might be like. This CD will not be to everybody's taste that's for sure. It will, however, be loved by those that prefer their music to be inaccessible to the mass market. It very much has a "knowing wink" towards those that "get it" rather than to those that don't.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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