Album Review: The Damned - Evil Spirits

If popular versions of their biography are to be believed, The Damned were the first to do everything from release the first punk single (New Rose; 1976), first punk band to split up then get back together and first to feature actual living vampires on record. Probably.

So as easy as it is to get lost in grandiose claims made of their history, their first new studio album in ten years is a wickedly inviting labyrinth of joyous pomp and campy gothica.

Dave Vanian's bloodthirsty voice frequently seances Jim Morrison's black magic, with Sonar Deceit most obviously riffing on The Doors' Touch Me, but guitarist Captain Sensible and keyboard maestro Monty Oxymoron are clearly having just as much fun, especially with legendary producer Tony Visconti cajoling the band in a whiffy Brooklyn studio in little over a week.

So while Standing On The Edge Of Tomorrow gives Rocky Horror flourishes to a sadly overfamiliar "the world is fucked" narrative, The Daily Liar straddles heaven and hell by inviting a rejoicing gospel choir into the mix while a stuffy TV news reporter declares, "The human race seems to have lost its mojo". That might be true, but The Damned clearly haven't.