Purgatory Dance Party

This time last year, the world quietly lost one of its most underrated acts. After a decade peddling their unique brand of 'schitzo-experimental', inspiring waves of metal bands in the interim, famously featuring Serj Tankian in a guest slot on their fourth album, and spending much of 2006 as they had done every year - on the live circuit plugging their finest work to date, Adultery, Dog Fashion Disco called it a day.

Not that the majority noticed... for Dog Fashion Disco were too obscure, too risque, too 'out there' for the mainstream to ever comprehend. One moment they'd be thrashing out frenetic riffs and guttural screams that'd make Cradle Of Filth have nightmares, the next they'd be crooning like the love child of Matt Bellamy and Elvis Presley, or getting all funky with sprinklings of electronica, or even going all jazz prog on yo' ass then chucking in a down and dirty country number for good measure - the word versatile could almost have been invented for them.

And then, after six studio albums, a live cd and a jam packed dvd - it all stopped, and the metal community mourned one of its unsung heroes. Now, however, there's a chance to hear what may have come next - founding member and frontman Todd Smith, guitarist Jasan Stepp and drummer John Ensminger are back under a new name, Polkadot Cadaver - and they're more versatile than ever before. Stripped of the shackles that had begun to develop around Dog Fashion Disco's sound, retaining much of their fanbase and with the possibility of enticing a whole new set of devotees, the trio have been quietly hinting at their new album since February via their myspace profile - several songs presented first in early demo form, then the fully fledged final product, all radically different to one another, boded well for the release, and now the long wait for UK delivery is finally over, I can safely say it doesn't disappoint in the slightest.

Any album, in fact, that starts with jingling bells across a folk-tinged ballad will either make you reach for the eject button or kick off your shoes and lie back expecting a relaxing time... but again, this is no ordinary album. Smith's usual tongue in cheek lyrics are in full macabre swing, and before you're given a chance to comprehend what you're hearing, the band ramp up the tempo with the track this is perhaps most like DFD of old - A Wolf In Jesus Skin. But then, it all goes VERY weird.

The title track sounds, for want of a better term, like Dog Fashion Disco fornicating with Muse in the nightclub from the movie Blade. Long Strange Trip To Paradise, on the other hand, is an insight into the minds of The Beach Boys if they'd hung around with Charles Manson later on in his life when he took to murdering people. The album highlight is undoubtedly Bring Me The Head Of Andy Warhol - on which Todd Smith uses his ever impressive vocal abilities to sound like The Artist Formerly Known As And Now Currently Known Once Again As Prince... if Todd was gnawing on Prince's legs at the time - all spread over an electro dance track turned full scale sonic assault whenever you least expect it. Chloroform Girl is an alarmingly beautiful pop rocker complete with xylophone parts and lyrics about keeping someone chained up in your basement... and Brainwash will do anything but keep your mind from exploding and making a big dirty mess all over yer sofa. And thats only a handful of the twelve tracks on offer!

Let me make one thing clear - this isn't an album for everyone. If you like your metal pure and vicious, you're going to be put off by the pop and dance elements. If you like your albums to stick to one genre and give you ten tracks of roughly similar music with sprinklings of originality throughout - this isn't for you either. If you don't like your music all Izzy Wizzy Let's Get Busy, then you really shouldn't be listening to what is essentially Sooty's nightmare, in which he butchers Sweep, Sue and Little Cousin Scampi then plays with their corpses in a variety of ways too adult to discuss here. If, however, you like your albums totally uncompromising, jam packed with originality and with tongue firmly in cheek - you'd do a lot worse than check out whats shaping up to be my album of the year. All together now...

Buy the ticket! Buy the ticket, take the ride!
A long strange trip to paradise...

Purgatory Dance Party is available now via www.rottenrecords.com