FantA´mas - Delirium Cordia

Dark, demented journey under the knife

3 1/2

Certainly not the easiest of listens, avant-garde metal collective Fantomas delivered their weirdest album to the date with an ambient annihilation of an experience titled Delirium Cordia. Lacking a percussive and largely melodic backbone, this one-track, hour plus oddity might not add up to the profound comatose audio experience it sets out to achieve, but still holds plenty of punch chronicling the lingering schematics of one life-supported listener. Fans of the bands more metal influenced work may be off-put, but open minded listeners and fans of dark, experimental ambiance will be in for a unique and singular treat amongst the lavish minimalistic excess. November 27, 2007

REAL PATTON FANS WILL LOVE

ITS FUNNY TO ME THAT ALL THESE "REAL PATTON FANS" HATE THIS RELEASE. I'M SURE THESE PEOPLE MUST BE "EPIC-MIKE PATTON-FANS". HOW CLOSED-MINDED DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO NOT SEE THE ART HERE. THIS FANTOMAS RELEASE IS A 1-TRACK-SOUNDSCAPE OF NIGHTMARES,NOISE,TRIBAL BEATS,MIXED WITH VOICE. ITS AMAZING, I LISTEN TO THIS RELEASE ALL THE TIME-THE WHOLE THING MINUS THE RECORD-SKIPPING-LAST 15 MINUTES(I ONLY NEEDED TO HEAR THIS THE 1ST TIME). ANY PATTON FAN SHOULD BUY THIS(OR I GUESS YOU SHOULD OF GOT THIS YEARS AGO). AND FOR THE EPIC PATTON FANS CHECK OUT PEEPING TOM OR LOVAGE, IF DELIRIUM CORDIA SCARES YOU. DON'T GET ME WRONG, I LOVE TO HEAR PATTON SING, BUT ITS HARDER TO DELIVER ODD MUSIC THATS NOTHING LIKE YOU'VE HEARD BEFORE. August 3, 2007

A Staple Of Avant Garde Excess

Those who have already been exposed to Fantomas through their self-titled 1999 debut and/or 2001's collection of theme song covers (entitled "The Director's Cut") will pretty much give up trying to predict the band's direction on "Delirium Cordia". For the most part, this would be a very sound choice. It has always seemed (to me, at least) that this project is simply an excuse for Mike Patton to piss on every musical convention ever created just for the sake of doing so. While he has certainly come up with some interesting (if not brilliant) displays of aural extremity, Patton often succeeds in annoying the listener to the point that his more exhilarating moments are regrettably compromised.

"Delirium Cordia" consists of one painfully long track of the same title. Sure, it's quirky, dark, and unconventional, but these three attributes do little to lift this disc from its overtly pretentious air of avant-garde excess. I have little inclination to address the various questions surrounding this album's conception, other than to point out that it seems to be (at least partly) inspired by the short stories Richard Salzer. For those who aren't familiar with his name, Salzer is a practicing physician who writes weird fiction stories that merge various aspects of human interaction with grotesque medical imagery. If this sort of thing piques you interest, a simple web search should turn up enough samples and synopses of his work to get you started. Otherwise, proceed with caution...

(Note: For the sake of clarity, I have decided to split this review into multiple sections. Each Roman numeral corresponds to an apparent "movement" in the composition, although the thematic "lines" that separate each section are subtle, at best). The division of this album into sections does not reflect the composer's vision or intent.

I. Introduction

Fantomas' latest journey opens in a grandiose manner, with organ, church choir, and the clashing of distorted guitars. Everything gradually segues into a quiet lull of keyboards and strings, which eventually gives way to an odd Asian melody. It is here that Patton first steps up to the mic with a series of odd vocalizations, which are apparently sung in a dead language (Latin, perhaps?).

II. Ambience and Intrigue

As the first section fades out, the listener is confronted with the distant sound of ethnic percussion. An ambient segment follows, with some familiar audio samples that seem to have been lifted from the film Flatliners. Church bells gradually fill in the background, until Patton enters again with a few bars of eloquent singing. This is (almost naturally) interrupted by a twisted smattering of guitar and cymbal abuse, after which we witness a disturbing, off-key duet of vocals and piano. A series of low organ tones commences, crawling behind a backdrop of white noise as the listener's nerves are gradually shattered by the sound of a metal pick being scraped across teeth or bone. We next witness a plethora of sound effects which seem to have been recorded in a hospital emergency room. The frightful procession of heart monitors and various other medical instruments is accompanied by the unintelligible murmuring of a physician, who (we can only assume) is commenting on his patient's rather dire condition. Some electronic noise/feedback enters the mix, which gives way to a "cool" jazz break, featuring Patton's smooth crooning over a dense piano and string-bass accompaniment.

III. Noise And Dysphoria

A whining synth drone creeps into the mix, with frantic screams, inhuman shrills, and sub-sonic bass tones accentuating its monotonous tones. After a quick episode of frenzied cymbal and cowbell hits, Patton comes in once again with some strong (yet conventional) singing which is reminiscent of his performance on the "Director's Cut" CD. Eerie keyboard tones move in to provide a backing track for more of his delicious shrieks and growls, until everything halts for a few seconds of unsettling (near-) silence. We eventually hear something akin to a swelling insect swarm, whose cyclic oscillations rapidly accelerate into a distorted piano melody. A simple, yet sinister guitar riff enters for a single measure, until Patton pipes in with some odd, yet rhythmic vocal noises that harken back to the band's infamous debut album. Dave Lombardo provides some assistance with a matching percussion phrase, and then.....nothingness.

IV. Melodious Pathology

The distant sound of a beating heart (complete with the requisite "bleeps" from an EKG monitor) comes in over the ominous strains of yet another piano line. Soon after, everything is cut off by a ticking clock. A few seconds elapse before its alarm goes off, only to be upstaged by a brief drum solo. It is here that Patton executes one of his stranger tricks, which involves modifying his voice by singing through some sort of amplifying device. After going over this segment a few times, I've concluded that the microphone he's using must be similar to those which are used to aid the speech of laryngectomy patients. Regardless of its source, Patton succeeds in creating yet another unnerving atmosphere. Insomnia sets in...

V. Mindwarp

The band finally launches into something that is simultaneously musical and heavy from approximately 32:08 to 32:16 (yep, a WHOLE 8 seconds!) , but all is shot to hell soon after. Another "soundtrack" section comes into play (complete with a few bars of material that would be right at home on one of John Zorn's Naked City records), which lasts almost a full minute. All is eventually sucked into a void of dark ambiance and backwards chanting, followed by the sound of a heavy airstream (not unlike the aforementioned Zorn's wind machine experiments on the album "Songs For Children"). Fadeout...

VI. Sound And Space

The final movement begins with a spacey, keyboard-driven atmosphere, which moves into an Asian woodwind melody. Low bass frequencies and Tibetan chanting are then heard (for a mere five seconds) before the attention-deprived Patton throws in another crazed display of screams and percussion blasts. Another brief silence ensues, followed by some electronic meddling which steadily rises into a burst of cacophony. Buzz Osbourne proceeds to play a truncated guitar riff, only to be silenced by more heart monitor beeps and the sound of a harp being dragged down a flight of stairs. Ambiance, sound samples (particularly of bells and birds), and female vocals set in, until everything is shattered by the onset of a repetitive thrash riff and echoed breathing. This carries on for quite some time (comparatively, at least), until it fades into the sound of a scratchy vinyl record that has been played to the end of its duration. After the better part of fifteen minutes, we hear someone (Lombardo, perhaps?) counting off as he claps his drumsticks together, only to be answered by a quick barrage of feedback.

Perhaps I've said more about this disc than anyone cares to read, but such treatment was a necessary task. The bottom line is that "good" and "unique" are disparate terms, and Patton is sometimes guilty of confusing the two. Having recently witnessed Fantomas in a live setting, I feel compelled to mention that a lot of the material on this disc works nicely when a visual component is added. This leads me to wonder if "Delirium Cordia" would have benefitted from additional media (e.g. DVD or CD-ROM features) to accompany the audio. But as is, I can only recommend it to the small faction of diehards who openly tout the merits of Halo's "Body of Light" or Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music" in the face of heavy opposition. August 3, 2007

Even if im Probably the Biggest Fan of Mike....

Even if im Probably the Biggest Fan of Mike....that cd is just for your Collection! U cant listen to it. And if u do, theres no chance u re gonna put it on u r cd player again or at least for more than 2-3 times (in ur whole life:) LOL

Anyway if u re a fan of Fantomas and MIkE Go for it! July 27, 2007

Come on- let's get real for a second....

As cool as the cd case/cover and artwork is and as cool as the concept is... this cd is useless. There's some cool parts and it sets atmoshpere well- but just admit you've shelfed this and are not going to listen to it much ever again. For those of you that will ACTUALLY listen to this MANY more times like a regular cd... god bless yah. I'm down for getting more enjoyment out of stuff in life. They better get back to "Director's Cut" form. May 11, 2007

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