Nitro Records
2001
Grave Disorder
About This Album
The first LP by The Damned with key member Captain Sensible in 19 years is as if two decades never passed. Time-traveling back to where Sensible and singer Dave Vanian left off, with 1980's sinewy, dark The Black Album and 1982's knockdown brilliant Strawberries, Grave Disorder recalls those composites of uniquely sophisticated post-punk psychedelic pop with gothic overtones and divine keyboards. Mind, Grave Disorder is not as stupendous as the amazing Strawberries, or the four LPs that preceded it. Rat Scabies' replacement, Pinch, is capable, but Scabies is totally irreplaceable as a dynamic element. Similarly, Patricia Morrison (aka Pat Bag) can't match the nimble, speed-finger runs of long departed, vastly underrated bassist Paul Grey, who, like Scabies, also penned some of Strawberries most immortal songs. Lastly, the new songwriting isn't quite as astonishing, if of a high grade, and producer Matt Bianco has discernibly mismixed this comeback -- the drums are just a little too loud compared to the guitars and bass. So in truth, Grave Disorder was a grave disappointment over the first several plays. But given time, and loosening the vice-grip of Herculean memory, Grave Disorder unfolds as one of the year's sleepers.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3 and 4)

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