Delìrium Còrdia

I've read some other reviews that amuse me... just because this isn't "METAL" somehow earns it a weaker rating. Honestly, with the cast involved, consistency of sound is probably the last thing one should expect. This is closer to the works of Abruptum and company than Fantomas's own Suspended Animation album. It's an ambient piece with only sparse sections that approach anything resembling a "song."

In fact, the contrasts between this and Suspended Animation are quite important. The two albums were recorded in the same studio session, and were specifically written to act as foils to each other. Where SA crams ideas together in a nearly schizophrenic manner, burying the listener under a flurry of sound, DC takes a more conservative approach, making a strike only when the time is right. There is a childlike whimsy to SA, with the musicians bouncing around recklessly, almost (but not quite) working totally independently of each other. DC has them working to their utmost precision. SA focuses on happy-go-lucky themes, complete with sampled cartoons, but DC goes serious with surgical themes and hospital samples. Complete with agonized patient screams, of course.

This is indeed a dark album, no doubt. The atmosphere would be great for a sort of horror movie. No zombie-apocalypse or wild slasher here, but more of a "Silence of the Lambs" style. The danger is not readily apparent, but you don't dare let down your guard. The tension runs nearly constantly throughout the album, building up to some very disturbing bursts.

Musicianship? Do we really need to question this? Mike Patton's vocals are up to his usual bizarre standard, Dave Lombardo drums away with surgical precision (well, when he actually plays, anyways), and Trevor Dunn and Buzz Osbourne pull off the "suspense" style instrumentation as well as anyone could. But the real magic is how tight everyone is on the record, and how every element has as much power squeezed out as possible. Even the Victrola-style static of some samples helps to set the mood. The dichotomy between this "less is more" musicianship and SA's "more is more" style demonstrates just how flexible these players are.

Admittedly, this is not an album you can sit down and enjoy like a thrash album. It's an ambient piece, and meant to be enjoyed as thus. And to that extent, it does not disappoint. In fact, my only real problem here is the extent of the white noise at the end. Five minutes would have sufficed. Nineteen is excessive. On a more minor note, I would have also liked to see some subdivisions in the track... that part around 35 minutes, for instance, is particularly awesome, but it requires a large time commitment just to get there. Meshuggah did subdivisions with Catch 33, Boris did it with Feedbacker... it seems that Fantomas DIDN'T do it just to make a further emphasis between DC and SA (which features 30 tracks to this one). Oh well. Rip the album to computer and chop it up yourself, I guess. Any way you slice it, it's still another great album.

Being a big Fantomas fan, I must say I was really disappointed in "Delirium Cordia." The thought of hearing an epic track by one of avant-garde's finest was intriguing for me at first, but I was singing a different tune after listening to it. Everything that gave Fantomas their identity was removed from "Delirium Cordia," and the whole album sounds like a struggle to just stay above water. Instead of a hearty blend of metal and spastic sound, Fantomas digs a hole of noise and sound that ultimately leads this album six feet underground.

Standing at almost seventy-five minutes, "Surgical Sound Specimens From The Museum Of Skin" is nothing but a collection of strange, annoying sounds that repeat over and over until this abomination ends. The instrumental work is kept at a minimum and the whole album is seriously seventy minutes of sound. The occasional outburst of heavy riffing and Dave Lombardo's percussion sounds great, but this string of enjoyment ends after a few seconds and is heavily restricted. Everything else is repetitive samples of dripping water and other bland things.

Mike Patton's signature jabber was ejected from Fantomas' sound with this release, and that's the biggest mistake here. Patton's voice is so unique and deranged that it defines Fantomas' sound, but he hardly appears on this LP at all; you'll occasionally hear a squeal or some lame moan, but that's it. This disaster wasn't impending; Fantomas could have fixed the foundation before the storm hit, but they refused and the consequences are pretty obvious.

The band's decision to abandon their metallic influences and solely focus on noise was a huge mistake for Fantomas. There really isn't anything worth hearing here, so I just suggest you stay away and pick up the other Fantomas masterpieces. Don't buy this.

This album's fine. There's a strong narrative edge running right through it, if you listen intently enough. It's got a deep message about life and death, how every breath could be your last, but not in one of those cheesy radio pop kind of ways.

No, it's certainly not what you'd hear on the radio, just one long track and in this day of CDs it is certainly problematic. Try the vinyl if you can: typical Ipecac packaging, so good it deserves its own score, indicating the big names and big production values at work here. In the era of mega-downloading and slipping album sales, I think Ipecac have it right in providing an extra incentive to purchase the fantastic music available on their label. There's a lot of good music being released each year and Ipecac releases certainly stand out from the crowd.

It also sounds amazing. Turn it up loud, blow off the roof of your house on the loud bits. Hear the wind through the chimes at the half-hour point. Listen to it in the dark. Pitch black. It's better to space out to than any ambient record because it provides some kind of setting: the "Theatre of Operations".

There's a lot of variety, sections are paced very nicely. Still, as the patient falls into a deep, eternal sleep and the eternal lead out groove begins, some ideas are left undeveloped and lost in the overall mess that is a Fantômas record.

And since it is such a cerebal record, so demanding of total concentration, it can never be a staple listen. Put on in the background, the sheer dynamics become annoying, the sameness of a pure fifty minutes of Fantômas begins to grate. There's enjoyment to be had under the right circumstances

Most people would like to call this "anti-music", but whatever you'd like to call it, theres no doubt that Mike Patton and cre have turned heads again, with the epic Delerium Cordia.

This album is supposed to take you through a surgery, and contains noises that you could typically hear in a hospital, the album is full of ambient noises, and instruments being played without a structure. Being 74 minutes long, this one track swings in many different directions, without ever sticking to one thing. I would definately call this a concept album, as it is trying its hardest to tell you a story, yet with the first listen you might not understand what the hell is going on, so it will probably take a couple more after that.

As like all Patton projects this definately isn't a let down, the man could never make something that is generic, mediocore, or is bad. This album is for people who like wierd music, and if you are looking to check out some of Patton's work, or Fantomas in general, this isn't the place to start, but is great for long time fans of his genious.

*note* The last 15 minutes of the song, is the same noise over and over of a resporator.