You missed it.
Where the band's Melville release was heavily influenced, inspired and made for the writer, this release is obsessed with inner darkness and William Blake. You can say many bands embrace the former, but the latter? Not very likely.
From "Almost a God": I admire the devil/For he never finishes things/I admire God/For he finishes everything.
It's lyrics like those, mixed with sinister, yet often maudlin music that continues to impress me. It doesn't always happen on the first listen, but it does happen. Listening to the Movie Star Junkies is not a feel-good dance on a three-day weekend. It's a booze-soaked fuck with a bad girl that could end in the murder of either of you. And you like it. Summer heat. Sweat. Backwoods black magic jive by men in threadbare pants and faded hats. This is real. This goes right where your current crop of sound-a-like puppet bands go horribly wrong.
If this band were from America and not Italy, Jack White's label would have them. Instead, Reverend Beat-Man, who has the best ear for music in the entire fucking world, brings his pleasure to our stereos.
I don't know how this will sell. I'm sure Beat-Man, though concerned, is more concerned with getting it heard. Like almost all the releases on his label, it is important. It's some of the best music you've never heard. Don't believe me. Listen to "Layenda Negra" and close your eyes. Experience it as it was meant to be ... in a dark, sick state of mind. From that song: "In the cradle of the deep/In the prison of your ribs/There's a man that never speaks/There's a man that makes you weak."
Welcome, Junkies. It's been two long years since you've graced our minds. Thank you for visiting us again.
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