Dances of Death (And Other Walking Shadows)

High Roller Records, multi-splatter vinyl, ltd 250, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, insert, poster. Remastered by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in August 2024.At the end of the 1980s, Mekong Delta found themselves without guitarist Frank Fricke (who took an offer from U.D.O.) and singer Wolfgang Borgmann (who couldn’t relate to the new material), both of whom had helped shape the band’s identity on their first three albums. Yet with American singer Doug Lee and Uwe Baltrusch as the sole remaining six-stringer, founding members Ralf Hubert and Jörg Michael managed to create an album that many a fan considers to be their magnum opus. It’s even fair to rank “Dances Of Death (And Other Walking Shadows)” – originally released in 1990 – among the best progressive metal albums of all time on the strength of its eight-part, 20-minute title track alone. “I wanted to write a longer, complex piece and a rondo for rock group,” Ralf calls to mind. “It took about nine months to finish the main themes with vocals, and almost another nine until the connecting variation met my requirements.” And as if that weren’t extravagant enough, the quartet closed the album with a ten-minute rendition of another Modest Mussorgsky piece: ‘Night on the Bare Mountain’ was transcribed and adjusted for the group earlier by Hubert in the course of one year. Sandwiched between these two epics are ‘Transgressor’ and ‘True Believers’, two shorter bangers that might well encapsulate the essence of Mekong Delta – musical prowess paired with visceral aggression, cementing the timeless quality of their works. This 2024 edition of “Dances Of Death (And Other Walking Shadows)” was remastered by Patrick W. Engel.