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Does he ever. Someone's grown up, and I mean that in every sense of the word. The maturity of this album puts a smile on my face, it's as though Bryan Erickson truly let everything go and did the album he's been hinting at his entire career. Picking up where the decimatingly wonderous "Twisted Thought Generator" left off back in 2000, Colorado's very own are in control of the situation, picking off targets with a vengeance. Ignore the short-comings of "Hex Angel" and it's ADD fixation on the proposed "underground". "Lust for Blood" is VAC 2006, fully updated, forward looking and perhaps most interestingly, diverse in ways never expected. The lead single "Wound" hinted at the electronic mania contained on the album but it is songs like "Parasite", "Disconnected Nightmare", "Kashmir Crack Krishna" and "Psychoactive Landscapes" which deliver the goods. "Parasite" especially works well, with its linear basslines and driving rhythmic sound design demanding nothing less than total submission. Fans of "Twisted Thought Generator" will especially appreciate "Disconnected Nightmare" as it sounds as though it was almost directly lifted from that era. Did I forget to mention "Crushed", the band's self-described take on The Cure? If it is intended to sound like Bobby Smith, it sounds better than anything he's done in the last 15 years. Erickson could go off and do an entirely different project focusing on this style alone and become bigger than god if he chose to. For the record, I think it is closer in nature to Lycia's early records, namely "Wake" and "Ionia". This is a minor point. "Ghost in the Circuit" effortlessly cruises along on massive amounts of atmosphere which remove the listener from their everyday life into the realms of introspection, remembrance and dare it be said, redemption, which is what this album could be construed as being for Velvet Acid Christ. A singular achievement in the world of electronic music, it is alchemy and anarchy, far-reaching and futuristic. They can do no wrong. PETER MARKS Ad:
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