Search - Monochrome Set :: Dante's Casino

A Great Holloween Rocker from this Idiosyncratic Band

Randall E. Adams | Los Angeles, CA United States | 11/01/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Dante's Casino" celebrates the reunion of Monochrome's lunatic mouthpiece Bid and guitarist extraordinaire Lester Square. Long-running bassist Andy Warren carries over from the previous decade. This is the first album of the band's creatively successful but commercially invisible 1990s run, introducing the compatible and talented multi-instrumentalist Orson Presence. Presence' prowess on keyboards does not alter the basic nature of the Monochromes as a guitar band, however, so prepare for great guitar band music. "Dante's Casino" juxtaposes disarmingly pretty melodies and arrangements, of both the acoustic and electric varieties, with Bid's preposterous fascination with serial killers and sundry perverts. Take the hint from titles like "Bella Morte," "Walking with the Beast" and "Golden Waters." The lyrics are often so absurd as to benefit from being totally ignored, but the music is almost carelessly excellent. This is a very fine album by a band that just maybe did not care whether you liked them or not."