Damien Youth - Festival Of Death

Re-up - Originally posted 3/14/08


This gem was originally posted over at Mutant Sounds If you aren't familiar with Mutant Sounds, go ahead and kick yourself in the ass, because you've been missing out on one of the best music blogs around.

A mysterious cassette-only artist who began putting out material on tape in the late 1980s, although some of it started to appear on CD in the late 1990s. His music is haunting, acoustic rock with a sense of British whimsy akin to Robyn Hitchcock or Donovan (although, as his tapes were distributed from Louisiana, it's uncertain whether the singer is British). It's solid, melodic stuff that would most likely appeal to Hitchcock fans, despite the sparse production. His Bride of the Asylum CD of 1998 put some of his work into slightly larger circulation, in better fidelity. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

His music is haunting, acoustic rock with a sense of British whimsy akin to Robyn Hitchcock or Donovan.Damien Youth is an independent singer/songwriter/musician who works in a number of rock sub-genres. He has been a part of various musical projects including The Cosmic Cult Of Adam Strange, Featherbox, Kyte, Magic Island, Surprise Symphony and Walter Ghoul's Lavender Brigade. He has also recorded with Peter Daltrey of the classic '60s band Kaleidoscope. The common quality in all of Damien Youth's music is his uncanny understanding of the melodic heart of the song. Damien Youth's songs are like yellowed pictures from another time. But as it's true with old pictures they come alive - contradictingly so - out of the yellowness, colours seep through - clear and imagination invoking, like a Dali painting.
Sometimes reminding early Julian Cope, Paul Roland, of course Syd Barret, while on the tape "Festival of Death" some dark metal hints can be found (but so beautifully composed that you will not even be a bit bothered) - Mutant Sounds

Year of Release: 1995
Label: Westgate Group
Genre: Folk/Psychedelic/Rock
Bitrate: 128kbps

Track List:
1. Strange
2. Distant Star
3. I'm Afraid
4. Carolyn Grey
5. Dead Flowers
6. Ares Child
7. God Of Violence
8. Sex Cult
9. The Priest
10. Ghost of Semarias
11. Holy Circle
12. Final Orisen To His People
13. I Plant The Seed
14. The Serpent and the Fool
15. Lover's Mask

Download: Damien Youth - Festival Of Death (54MB)