8.3/10! This really makes my day!
Mission Bizarre by Robin B. Czar
Robin B. Czar is a singer/songwriter and guitarist hailing from England. His signature
sound is a mix of classic rock like Black Sabbath and W.A.S.P. with more modern
rock/metal artists like Marilyn Manson and HIM, though he has very much developed
a style of his own. He released his first album Nachtgesange (German for ‘Nocturnal
chants’) in 2007 where he gained notoriety for his ‘bizarre positivity’ and followed up
with Kiss From The Abyss in 2014.
This album, Mission Bizarre, consists of ten tracks and has been 18 months in the
making. Musically, it is fairly conventional in terms of structure and chord
progression but it is Robin’s quirky vocal delivery and the songs’ subject matter that
provide the ‘bizarre’.
First track Your Descent To Hell opens with descending
harmonized lead guitar before Robin depicts a horrific Saw-type scenario of someone
being operated on without an anaesthetic!
This is followed by the dramatic Requiem which contains some powerful riffs and an
excellent guitar solo, with a suitably apocalyptic and Gothic tone to the music. The
lyrics even quote from the Dies Irae Latin poem used in religious requiems. Third
track Free is rather more conventional, about enjoying new found freedom after jilting
a lover, whilst She Loved Too Much is catchy but macabre tale of a girl who ends up
killing (and sometimes eating) the ones she loves.
Dr. Dog takes the surrealism to ever greater heights with an odd tale of a super
intelligent dog that turns on its owners and gives them a sex change using its
knowledge of surgery(!). It’s not a song I’d expect One Direction to be covering
anytime soon. Mad Scientist carries on the craziness with lyrics about Dr. Herbert
West from the Re-Animator films, though this track is most notable for some
extremely good guitar playing.
The six minute Grief is a nice change in tone, about the heartbreak of a relationship
ending while Kiss Of Death is another pet-themed song – this one is apparently about
a cat called Oscar that comforts people about to die. Things get even stranger with
Only That One Wish, which claims to have been inspired by then philosopher
Rousseau, yet contains rather less than highbrow lyrics, some of which are
unprintable here! Closing track Until We Meet Again ends the album on a more
serious note, a poignant theme of an old person waiting to be reunited with their
departed lover.
Overall, this is an entertaining and refreshing album that breathes new life into the
rock/metal genre by combining it with often darkly humorous lyrics and a unique
vocal style. Although the ‘bizarre’ theme is manifest throughout, there are a couple of
more emotional, sensitive tracks that act as a good contrast. I can see Robin B. Czar
building up a strong cult following amongst the rock and metal community.
Alex Faulkner (The Faulkner Review)
https://thefaulknerreview.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/album-review-mission-bizarre-by-robin-b-czar/