Clank, clank-clank “Brothers and sisters, I’m gonna need you to take my hand, brothers and sisters.” And off we go on another journey into the strange and brilliant world of Eddie Entropy. The Royal Order bangs open with ‘New Tomorrow’; Eddie’s in preacher mode, he’s razzling and dazzling us with his zeal. Put Billy Graham in Blade Runner. That’s Eddie’s New Tomorrow. To follow up a promise of a new tomorrow with ‘Absolute Zero’ is one mean step but this is the evil world of thermodynamics. The song has echoing synths, clanging and banging and a bastard who says: “Have you ever experienced absolute loss?” If you thought that was mean then comes the ultimate in mean: ‘Not Me’. This song is a masterpiece of misery, dejection and hopelessness. The brooding synths are perfect and we are told of failure to be that person because it’s just “not me.” Eddie has lost but he’s lurching back with this beast. Stick it up your arse. The fun doesn’t stop here, ‘Missing Teen’ is pure sexy romance. Is this what cops listen to as they prowl sidewalks at night with flashlights looking for the prom queen who’s most likely dismembered? I sure hope so. We now take a seat for seven minutes as the Egyptians take over. Let them marry their siblings to each other; their long faces look impressive on sculptures. But get up again because we slide back into beats. Groovy, unexpected, and threatening. ‘The Royal Order’ further skewers hope with more timely and finely executed sounds. The preacher is back with ‘The Smiling Handshake’. He’s a failure by design… designed for deletion… Emptiness, emptiness, hollow-hearted emptiness. Eddie for Pesident [sic]. ‘The Finish Line’ comes just in time as I want to drink straight from the teapot, just for shits.
The Royal Order is a 40 minute warp. If at first you don’t like the ride and it makes you nauseous, just throw up and get back on. Their’s none of the occasional flourishes of beauty that appeared on Blot Out The Sun Wih Sex and despite that’s album’s drowning in the unknown, The Royal Order is still more disturbing. Blot hits you in the head like a hammer, Royal stabs you with a knife and occasionally twists it.
I fucking love Eddie.
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