Iron Mask

Christian Death | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 29, 1992)
• Label: Cleopatra
• ASIN: B000001JOD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #969,914 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Spiritual Cramp

2. Sleepwalk

3. Skeleton Kiss

4. Figurative Theatre

5. Desperate Hell

6. Death Wish

7. Luxury Of Tears

8. Cervix Couch

9. Skeleton Kiss (Death Mix)

10. Down In The Park (Live)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction to Christian Death, April 14, 2003

By 

Crypt "thecrypt777" (Arkham) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iron Mask (Audio CD)

Yes it's true that this is an extremely raw recording, and it's also true that Rozz himself was very critical of it. (he was clear that it was the production, not the musicianship that he thought as sub-par) I can understand how fans of the slickly produced Catastrophy Ballet and Ashes would have a problem with the stripped down, minimalistic versions of Luxury Of Tears and Cervix Couch, but the version of Sleepwalk on this album blows away the original version recorded by the original Christian Death lineup. I even like it more than the version on Catastrophe Ballet. (which is still good) More crunch. Darker sounding, rather than the bright sound of C.B. This album is really not that bad. In fact it's really good as far as I'm concerned. You have to remember that early Goth was SUPPOSED to be raw sounding. It was punk rock, not arena rock. Just listen to the abrasive and a-tonal Only Theater Of Pain if you don't believe me. This isn't a polished and produced Goth album, this is a raw and dirty Death Rock recording. It's all about the gloom, and this album has pleanty of it. Its murky and muddy sound only improves the blackness of the music itself. And the song Skeleton Kiss (the only new song on the disc) simply rocks. A GREAT deathrock tune that is part Munsters and part Black Sabbath. The only real problem for me is the shortened and less impactful version of Spiritual Cramp. The rest of the album rules. In many cases, minimalism and rawness works well and adds to the atmosphere of a recording. It works VERY well here. I enjoy hearing different versions of my favorite songs. That's one reason I like live albums. This album is definitely worth getting and is worth every penny, if you can find it anywhere. Infinitely more worthy than anything Valor has put out with his greedy self in Rozz's place.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Half 'n' half., November 15, 2003

By 

Visigoth "stuck in the 80s" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iron Mask (Audio CD)

So here's the real story about what happened: Rozz & Eva went into the studio to record "The Iron Mask". They then went on tour as Shadow Project intending to finish production when they returned. Cleopatra had different ideas...they decided to mix the album to sound like a live studio jam session while Rozz & Eva were gone. Rozz & Eva were not amused.

Even so, there are some gems here. These versions of Spiritual Cramp, Figurative Theatre, Desperate Hell and Deathwish are (in my opinion) even better than the original versions from Only Theatre of Pain. On the other hand...The tracks from Catastrophe Ballet (Sleepwalk, Cervix Couch) and Ashes (The Luxury of Tears) sound sloppy and rushed, as if they were demo versions (which was the sound Cleopatra wanted for some odd reason). I have always wondered how these would have turned out if Rozz had been able to have a say in the production. Skeleton Kiss is a fun, grave stompin', somewhat campy track that for some reason reminds me of the Munsters theme. Not a bad thing, although the "Death Mix" is almost identical with a slightly "rawer" production and some out of place sounding samples scattered here and there. And finally Down In The Park. What is there to say? Rozz Williams covering a Gary Numan track live. Even with the somewhat poor production quality it's great!

I think the most disappointing thing about this CD is that it had SUCH potential...and while half of it is rather enjoyable, the other half is barely listenable.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars bad remakes of great songs, January 23, 2003

By 

Josh (Boston, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iron Mask (Audio CD)

After a successful reunion tour featuring the original members of Christian Death, Cleopatra Records decided to cash in by having Rozz Williams and Eva O go into the studio to re-record a collection of early Christian Death material as well as a new single. After recording, Rozz and Eva left to tour under Shadow Project, their current band at the time, leaving mixing and production in the hands of Cleopatra. After returning from the tour, they found the final CD to be eerily similar to the very rough mixes they had before they left, prompting even Rozz to call this album a mistake.

In essence, this CD is Shadow Project performing Christian Death songs from Only Theatre of Pain, Catastrophe Ballet, and Ashes. These are pale reflections of the originals. The performances are very amateurish, with roughly played bass, sloppy guitar that often seems to wander aimlessly through the songs, often-off-rhythm keyboards, and poor drum timing... This could work for it in a grunge sort of way, but instead the roughly-mixed and performed song versions here are just flat and lifeless carcasses of their former selves, almost sounding more like rough working demos than final songs. All of the atmosphere and edge of the originals has been sucked out. In fact, being a huge fan of those early albums, I find it rather difficult to stomach most of this CD.

Rozz's doubled vocals, which were quite effective on his work with Shadow Project and, to a lesser extent, the Christian Death albums that would come after this also just seem out of place here. Rather than accentuating the lyrical content and mood of the songs, they often just seem grating and only serve to add to the flawed sound of this collection.

The album also contains 2 versions of a new single, "Skeleton Kiss", which is decent but not exactly noteworthy (other than being the first new Rozz track officially released under Christian Death in many years).. The disc is finally topped off with an okay recording of a decent live cover of Gary Numan's "Down In The Park". Again, it's nice but not exactly noteworthy.

The bottom line is that this is, in my opinion (being a huge fan of both early Christian Death and Shadow Project), possibly the worst thing Rozz has ever released. If you're a hardcore Rozz fan, well, you probably already own this or compulsively ordered it before reading my review. If you're a newcomer to the band, do yourself a favor and pick up the brilliant original albums (Only Theatre of Pain, Catastrophe Ballet, and Ashes) and steer clear of this collection of mediocre recordings..