Employing advanced vocal and instrumental techniques, Broken Gargoyles is arguably Galás’ most intellectually, sonically and viscerally formidable work to date.
A collection of live dates with her and a piano (and an occasional delay pedal), and she’s doing tunes by John Lee Hooker, Hank Williams, Screamin Jay Hawkins, and Ornette Coleman.
Staples like Bauhaus and Fields of the Nephilim and “dance Goth,” “Goth rock,” and “Goth metal.” Plus Nick Cave, Diamanda Galas, and Einstüzende Neubauten.
Suicide “Frankie Teardrop”: As bleak as a Hubert Selby novel and kilos more visceral, this nerve-knotting meisterwerk is one of the scariest songs of all time.
She wails and groans, her accompaniment a piano as Luciferian as her voice. Earthquake low rumbling with lightning flashes of sharp highs lifting its voice.