The Ugandan Giant : Wipe the Smile Off Your Face
1. Extraterrestrial Nastie (3:56)
2. Don't Come Back (4:11)
3. People Like Me (4:23)
4. Elysian Fields (4:22)
5. Appearance of Super Giant (3:55)*
6. Death Comes at the End... (4:44)
7. Post Apocalyptic Robot Dance Party (5:13)**
8. The Beast That Killed Women (7:10)
9. Wipe the Smile Off Your Face (4:56)***
10. Kabuki Syndrome (3:59)
11. A Horrible Way to Die (5:33)
TRT: 50:12Vocals: Hans Christian Frankenstein
Guitar: Akio Akano
Bass: Moth
Drums: Milosh Pope
Keys: Lindberg Adams Review:What started out as more of an Industrial project,
Hans Christian Frankenstein's
Ugandan Giant has now become a campy, New Wave-esque band. Longtime
fans of
Frankenstein's may be shocked at this
album full of perfectly crafted singles but it's not all that bad.
Some highlights include "
Extraterrestrial
Nastie which is pretty much just an insistent chant
over a bass line that's incredibly simplistic yet
somehow still over-the-top and "
Appearance of Super
Giant" which is basically one chorus repeated
endlessly with a few minimal verses thrown in here and
there. There's also the atmospheric "
Kabuki
Syndrome" filled with evocative female backing
vocals, distant sirens and pulsing layers of
synthesizers and
"Elysian Fields" brimming with
layers of percussion and again monotone, almost robotic
female backing vocals. Syncopated music that pulses
with a sense of urgency and a powerful vocal performance
from
Frankenstein magnify the intensity of the
album closer,
"A Horrible Way to Die". So while
there is some subpar material here, like the almost
too retro
"People Like Me" and
"Post
Apocalyptic Robot Dance Party", there are some
quality tracks as well, it's just not the dark, experimental
sound that we've come to expect from the Goth Rock
darling
Hans Christian Frankenstein. That said,
the title track is just as disturbing as anything the
man has released and almost doesn't fit with the rest of
the album.
*Sounds Like:
**Sounds Like:
***Sounds Like: