release date: Jun. 2, 2014
format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,86]
producer: Youth (aka Martin Glover)
label: Nettwerk - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Hang Up" - 3. "I'm on Your Side" - 5. "Compression" - 9. "Eliza"
9th studio album by Peter Murphy following three years after Ninth (Jun. 2011) and his second album on US label Nettwerk. To the typical procedure, Murphy has made the album with a new producer - this time by British producer and musician Youth, who is also perhaps best known for his part as bassist of post-punk and industrrial rock act Killing Joke, although, he relatively early on initiated a career as producer and basically of all genres and styles. All lyrics are as usual by Murphy, and all music is credited Murphy and Glover with the latter also filling the part as multi-instrumentalist. Some issues (CD and vinyl) include the ten track extra live material "Selections From the Mr. Moonl·)ght Tour (35 Years of Bauhaus)".
Apparently, many of the compositions are studio improvs, and as a whole the album distances itself from Ninth by being stronger influenced by industrial rock. Also, Murphy generally sings in a more restrained and higher register on a majority of the songs. The soundscape is dominated by bass, drums, and synths, and basically doesn't fall far from a style, which has strong bonds to Glover's famous band Killing Joke and their music in the late 80s and early 90s.
Lion was possibly seen as a return to form, or at least some kind of test to his legacy within certain circles, and it also made it to the Billboard 200 as his only second album after Holy Smoke. I just don't find it a particular fascinating album. Murphy's singing style here is too extravagant and as if he tries hard to convince himself about his 'god-given' qualities while going through the motions, doing what he knows the best. Where Ninth actually showed us what he's capable of, Lion appears more like a sequel to Go Away White (2008), although, it's nevertheless a quite coherent release.
Not recommended.
