| CHRISTIAN DEATH
LOVE AND HATE
Formed in 1979 and originally from Los Angeles, Christian Death were one of the first bands to use so called 'Gothic' imagery, and their first pioneering album in 1982 is often mentioned as inspiring the Gothic movement. After being made aware of their influence on many British and European bands, they moved to Europe and played their first British dates in mid-1984. Different album and single releases appear on French, Italian, Germany labels and Jungle from 1986, gaining them an immense cult following.
The band has a history of scandal with their lyrics, music imagery and artwork, as well as the bands name itself. When questioned about the latter, Valor replied "Death is what you're striving for if you are a Christian- or any other religion for that matter it's about meeting your maker." On their 'SEX, DRUGS, & JESUS CHRIST' album cover, which features a Jesus like figure with tourniquet and syringe; shooting up, Valor stated 'the concept is that Jesus is the symbol of western society and drugs is the image of ultimate degradation of our society'.
Christian Death have issued many albums over the years, and are probably best known for their indie-chart singles of the late 80’s, 'Sick Of Love' and 'Church Of No Return' which developed their mood music into an uptempo beat. Fans were further confused when venerated early singer Rozz Williams also released a number of albums under the Christian Death name, many years after he had left the band. In recent years they’ve been embraced by the death metal movement and toured with some of the many bands that they have influenced, Morbid Angel and recently Cradle Of Filth.
In 1989 they ambitiously issued two albums simultaneously – ‘ALL THE LOVE ALL THE HATE – PART ONE: LOVE’, and the corresponding ‘A.T.L.A.T.H. – PART TWO: HATE’. Now Valor has combined the best of these two deleted epics into a cohesive single album, adding a previously unheard version of ‘Temples Of Desire’, plus the video-enhancement of ‘We Fall Like Love’ and titled it simply: ‘LOVE AND HATE’.
They’ve recently released new studio albums on Candlelight and elsewhere, and the release of ‘LOVE AND HATE’ coincides with the band embarking on their first own headline UK & European tour since the Cradle Of Filth tour in November /December. |
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