Les Rallizes Dénudés - Heavier Than A Death In The Family

No Label 2002

01 Strung Out Deeper Than the Night
02 The Night Collectors
03 Night of the Assassins
04 Enter the Mirror
05 People Can Choose
06 Ice Fire

For those not familiar with Les Rallizes Dénudés, prepare yourselves.

Formed in the late 1960's by the mercurial Mizutani, Les Rallizes Dénudés were often thrown out of concert halls for being too loud. I mean LOUD.

Deciding that this is exactly how they want their music, they spent the 1970's and 1980's playing concerts that defied belief with volume, repetition and length.

Imagine the brain blistering solo from The Velvet Underground's 'I Heard Her Call My Name', playing forever. Imagine then that the songs are often simple chord progressions played over and over, punishing as it is exhilarating.

Les Rallizes Dénudés never had a record deal and to this day each and every release has been a bootleg recording. They only entered the studio once, with surprising results, but more of that in the coming months.

Stories abound about the band and Mizutani himself; he resides up a mountain in Japan, waiting for the world to catch up. The bass player lives in foreign exile for his part in the political hi-jacking of a plane, people have went mad listenng to the music at their gigs.

This is the real deal; once you have heard Les Rallizes Dénudés, pretty much every else pales in comparison. True punk rock, art and beauty.

'Heavier Than a Death in the Family' isn't the album I consider their best (that would probably be Live '77) but it was my first and is still an excellent entry point.

As I said at the start, prepare yourself.