Chiselled Slits (Mask - Bauhaus)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Mask - Bauhaus
Date:	13/02/08 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Kick-started the gothic rock movement (if you consider that a good thing).

Disadvantages: Repetitive and less original than the previous album.

Although its influence on the gothic rock movement is fairly obvious, 'Mask' strikes me as a slight disappointment after the quality of its more experimental predecessor, falling back on its contemporary David Bowie influence even to the extent of including minimal synthesisers, but unfortunately lacking the brooding atmosphere. This is a more downbeat and gothic affair on the whole, which should make it appeal to fans of the Cure and the Sisters of Mercy, bands that are both quoted/anticipated in 'The Man With X-Ray Eyes' (similar to 'A Forest') and 'The Passion of Lovers' (which follows a rhythm very similar to 'No Time to Cry') respectively. That was one long-winded sentence alright.

One weird feature of this album that I'm almost insulted by is singer Peter Murphy's pretence of being a cockney, "masking" his Midlands dialect even in the spoken word of 'Of Lillies and Remains' before that song too morphs into the same sound as all the others. Further disappointment lies in just how easily the album can be divided into two generic styles with little internal variation, tracks two, four, six and nine following a bass-led gothic style with light electric guitars and subtle keyboards bulking out the ambience, and the rest being generally more downbeat and minimalist without necessarily boasting greater atmosphere or depth. It's only really songs like the closing title track that hint towards anything greater, with its greater focus on the instruments relegating Murphy's vocals to secondary status for a change, but the repetitive and more commercial style of the rest of the album should serve to make it more popular to the casual listener, though essentially it's still just David Bowie's 'Low' without being as catchy or experimental.

1. Hair of the Dog
2. The Passion of Lovers
3. Of Lillies and Remains
4. Dancing
5. Hollow Hills
6. Kick in the Eye
7. In Fear of Fear
8. Muscle in Plastic
9. The Man With X-Ray Eyes
10. Mask

Summary: Bauhaus' second album (1981).