In many ways the sister release to
Ashes
, down to the similar cover art and the parallel sources of inspiration (the Paula thanked in
' liner notes for "caring inspiration" here gets credit for "destroying my faith"),
Chaos
ratchets up the lyrical intensity even more strongly than before. Given how intense
Rosenthal
generally is anyway with his words, this may seem a hard task to accomplish, but one listen to the lengthy, majestic album centerpiece,
"The Hypocrite Is Me,"
will confirm it --
Herrera
delivers a lyric of deep self-loathing with command, while the music backing him is an intense series of rumbling electronic tones matched at the end by a great, gently reverbed violin solo from guest performer
Vicki Richards
. Another number of note is
"Tear Love from My Mind,"
a piano-driven piece that provides a gentle showcase for
Julianna Towns
, the main female vocalist on the album, who has a slightly wider range than
Kenny-Smith
but generally provides the same haunting singing approach to
Black Tape
's material.
gets another excellent moment for himself with
"Pandora's Box,"
a slightly rockier number for the album, but not by much. As is par for the course with
records, many guest performers appear throughout the record, including
Black Watch
violinist/singer
J'anna Jacoby
, providing only strings here, and longtime
collaborator
Pat Ogl
singing and playing guitar on
"How Can You Forget Love?,"
a quietly stately, simpler number that is also one of the more memorable. ~ Ned Raggett