Death in Vegas - Satan's Circus

Following a split from their former label Concrete, Death In Vegas release their fourth full length album on their own imprint Drone. Doing away with the guest vocals that have dominated their previous releases, Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes strip back the Vegas sound incorporating just drums, bass and electronics. Includes the first single 'Ein Fur Die Damen'. This limited edition includes a bonus disc of 12 live tracks at Brixton. Drone. 2004. Album Description

Yikes! What happened?!

The first time I heard Death in Vegas I was hooked. I LOVED Dirt. I LOVED the whole entire Dead Elvis CD... with a passion!!! Many a guest in my car was forced to listen to it. Ahhh. 'Cause it's THAT good. But this one... I don't know what went wrong... but it's just the complete opposite if Dead Elvis. Not good. No flow, no rhythm. It might be good if you never fell in love with Dead Elvis, but if that CD is what got you into this band in the first place, you probably won't like this one. January 4, 2007

Finally

Death In Vegas has always been one of my favorite bands. They started out as this hiphop band with samples, then they were this cool electro group with angry vocals, and they would occasionally rock out. They were a live band too. They had recorded with Iggy Pop and Liam Gallagher and so many others. It was hard to keep up with the ever changing and morphing shape of the band. I spoke to them on the phone a while back and it seemed that a change was brewing. The members of Death In Vegas are Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes. After ten years they have created a mostly instrumental album that harkens back to German minimalist techno. Whereas many dance and techno pioneers like The Prodigy and Fatboy Slim have put out records that add nothing new and are now forgotten, Death In Vegas have really done a radical album. This is a shock to the system. They have created an underground masterpiece. Every song spits and sputters like a great DIV track. It's totally them. It's totally fearless and unsentimental. This collection also includes the Live at Brixton CD, which chronicles their live show in 2003. This shows how they sounded as a live act. It includes some cool songs like "Rekkit" and "Scorpio Rising" and "Hands Around My Throat." They were an actual band of musicians and not two dudes behind some gear. Death In Vegas are one of the most innovative artists of this time and they continue to be relevant.

April 19, 2005

The Vegas masterpiece....

It's not like Death in Vegas had any dismissable albums behind them. Not even close. All their previous efforts had attracted considerable attention from those that truly understand and recognise great music. Plus, their progress had been geometric from album to album.

Because of reasons such as these many had anticipated a seriously grand album coming from this band. And sure enough it came.
"Satans Circus" is an absolutely masterful album. It might be different than previous DIV lps but it's also so much more mature and multilayered. An element that's missing is the bombast which prevailent in the past, but that has been more than compensated for with some very intriguing melodies and a stunningly crafted atmosphere that keeps up on a high quality level throughout.

As many reviewers have correctly pointed out the influences of the album are to be found in 70s Krautrock for the most part. Exactly this fact might be responsible for the album having received some not so welcoming reviews. Krautrock was and is difficult music to appreciate. It's meant for the seasoned and intelligent listener. To have it as a main influence on your album only means you're aiming at such listeners. By definition then you're not aiming at the masses.

I'm greatful that DIV defied the commercial advantages they would have had having stayed on their so far laid path and instead went on ahead and boldly did what they're truly capable of: very intelligent timeless music.

This double limited edition CD comes with a live CD. Normally live cds dont exactly rock my world. But this is in another league again. It's one of those few and rare cases where it pays to rush and get the limited version because of something like a live CD. It's a great show that has been saved in this recording, a great selection of songs and an execution which will surprise even the knowledgeful Vegas fans.

One of the very best albums not only of the year but in recent time as well. February 20, 2005

It's a love/hate situation this album

There've been quite a number of bad reviews for this for some reason or another. There have been some praising this as a more interesting and intriguing entry from DIV so you'll either see this as genius or god-awful rubbish. I think it's rather good actually, perhaps this is due to liking/owning some Krautrock albums and on some of these they nail it perfectly without sounding like a bunch of imitators. Some of it does border on imitation, Zugaga being a rather almost perfect rendering of Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express and Heil Xanax and Sons of Rother being rather Neu/La Dusseldorf influenced. But that doesn't detract from the album in my opinion - it's only helpful to show that they're not stabbing around in the dark - they know what they're doing. The live album that comes with this though is rather pointless.....although if it were a DVD I would probably tell you otherwise but I can't. It is good but why need it is all I ask. Most electronica live albums are sheer lunacy and a prime example of bloodless music even if you do like them. Regardless of that, this album is well worth the effort although maybe you might want to question the price first....although I'd say you should get it right away February 3, 2005

A good news/ bad news story

I'm a diehard DIV fan so I was pretty stoke to see a new release.
The disc of the new material is pretty weak sauce, nowhere near the content of the previous three. Maybe I'll grow to like it's minimalist content after a few more spins but really I can't be bothered at the moment.

The second disc, a live recording of one of their shows totally kicks ass!!! It's amazing and I can only hope they decide to come to Canada @ some point becasue I'd love to see them. December 11, 2004

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