ALBUM REVIEW: Comus - First Utterance

    Context can be key to an album, not just for the circumstances around that album, but for what was happening around the rest of the world - it can provide explanation as to why certain themes are discussed, the sounds implemented, the stories told. With all this in mind, Comus was birthed out of the turmoil of the early 70s, and that's the only possible explanation for the resulting angry, dark, disturbed nature of this album. First Utterance is, to put it nicely, a fucked-up album, both musically and thematically. I don't think this makes the album bad, and I want to stress that, but I do think it makes it a disturbed, almost terrifying listen. Comus has created a blend of out-there, avant-garde folk that puts Exuma to shame, and it lays lyrically the realm of the macabre, depraved side of humanity. Unhinged instrumentation and vocals, and ideas that are off-the-wall insane, I don't think there's many other albums like First Utterance, be that for better or worse.

    Musically speaking, the album is nothing short of deranged sounding. Every song is awash with eclectic instrumentation, wild vocal lines, and often frantic beats. The thundering chaos of opening track "Diana" is an easy example of this, as the percussion builds and becomes more intense as the song goes through its motions. The many vocalists of the group also make for a pretty thick sound in some instances - Bobbie Watson's clean high register is a great asset it many of these songs, also contrasting against the male singers. Even in gentle sounding moments like "The Herald," there's a certain eerie feel to many of the productions that I just can't shake. The maximalist of this demented sound is the instrumental "Bitten," which is mostly dissonant noise. It pushes the boundaries of what folk is to the absolute extreme, like a more crazed Fairport Convention.

    The album's lyrical themes are where things go truly off the wall and into the realm of the sick, perverted, and repulsive side. Every song paints dark, fucked-up stories that typically involve the vulnerable being abused a powerful, malicious force; lyrics range from a woman being raped by the personification of lust in "Diana," to the execution of a man in "The Bite," and, perhaps the most twisted, the suicide of a woman that's followed by a man having sex with the dead body in "Drip Drip." Every theme in First Utterance presents the worst sides of humanity - the lustful, the chaotic, the destructive, and the straight-up evil. In many ways, this depiction of man's evil only meshes with the angry, chaotic zeitgeist of the early 1970s, especially in moments in the closing track "The Prisoner," an allegory for mental illness and enslavement. I don't think I've ever heard a more dark album in my entire life.

     In spite of the disturbing, often vulgar topics, First Utterance is an incredibly impressive body of work. It's so singular in it sound and disturbing style that I'm not entirely sure that I'll ever hear anything like it again - I'm not completely sure if I want to hear something like this again, but still. In a weird way, the horrible nature of Comus is almost the perfect summary of the anger and turmoil of the early 70s, on par with There's a Riot Goin' On. It might be a while before I ever relisten to this, but goddamn was it a wild ride, and one that I think is certainly worth a listen - just brace yourself, because this is a brutal one.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to First Utterance.