The evolving revolving entity Beauty In Chaos present their latest sonic offering – ‘God’s Gonna Cut You Down / Get Down Moses’, released via 33.3 Music Collective and produced by Grammy-nominated producer Michael Rozon (Ministry, Jarboe, Wayne Hussey, The Melvins).
Beauty In Chaos has come a long way since launching in 2018 by Los Angeles-based guitarist Michael Ciravolo (formerly of Human Drama and Gene Loves Jezebel and current President of Schecter Guitars) but his musical road often finds him circling back to visit his roots, celebrating them with new renditions.
The new two-song digital EP single features an enveloping, smokey rendition of the traditional gospel hymn ‘God’s Gonna Cut You Down’, popularized by The Man in Black himself – Mr. Johnny Cash (who also happens to be a distant cousin to BIC’s own Tish Ciravolo), along with the B-side showcasing Beauty In Chaos’ own take on Joe Strummer’s ‘Get Down Moses’.
In addition to very familiar territory (guitars and textures), BIC curator Michael Ciravolo contributes vocals on both tracks, joined by Michael Rozon (lap steel guitar, snare drum, voices), as well as Tish Ciravolo, Whitney Tai, Set Miller, Anthony Love and Tim Perry (background vocals and foot stomps).
“While both of these songs have certainly been covered before, I think we have injected BIC into them … even if we have stretched, what some have come to expect from us sonically,” says Michael Ciravolo.
It doesn’t seem like five minutes since Beauty in Chaos emerged with their debut album, and here, in the blink of an eye, we are looking at a twenty-nine track ‘reimagined’ version of the fourth album from this ever-expanding collective, curated by Michael Ciravolo (formerly of Human Drama and Gene Loves Jezebel. I’m not even going to start on the roll-call of personnel who have featured on these releases: I’d still be going by the time I’d finished listening to all twenty-nine tracks.
It’s certainly quite an expansion on the original eight songs which made up Dancing with Angels, which notably featured Wayne Hussey and Ashton Nyte among its guest vocalists. There is, as one might anticipate, an abundance of remixes – no fewer than five versions of ‘Holy Ground’, for example, and four of ‘Hollow’. Some are better than others, some are pretty radical, others less so, with the standard examples of slapping a big beat and some effects tossed into the mix with variable results, but Combichrist and Bellwether Syndicate are noteworthy for their contributions.
The ’almost acoustic version’ of ‘Made of Rain’ stands out not only by virtue of not being a remix, but also being a really good take on the song. But the selling point here are the songs which didn’t appear on the original album, which appear right at the very end of the monumental track-listing.
Their take on T-Rex’s ‘Children of the Revolution’ harks back to the early 90s when Al Jurgensen was arguably at his peak and dropping leftfield covers of ‘Lay Lady Lay’ and ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?’, accompanied as it is by a video which finds the band performing behind a mesh fence, as Ministry did while touring Psalm 69 (as much for their safety as for effect). It also calls to mind the club scene in The Hunger where Bauhaus play ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’, and I don’t doubt that this is also intentional: Bauhaus – and Bowie – can both be heard waving influence through Beauty in Chaos’ songs. “The revolution will be televised”, Al announces through a loudhailer, and well, if you’ve seen any news in the last fortnight, you’ll know this to be a fact. However, the issue isn’t that anyone’s being fooled here, but that no-one seems willing or able to stop it: just as the world watched on as Israel perpetuated genocide on the Palestinians in Gaza, so it gawps, motionless, as Trump and Musk undertake a coup, and not just making a grab for absolute control over the United States, but world domination. It’s absolutely fucking terrifying – unlike this recording. It’s a solid enough cover, but perhaps lacks the bite and heft it deserves, being more straight-up than cranked-up.
‘Open Your Eyes’, originally by Lords of the New Church, also feels apposite – indeed, lyrically, it’s never been more relevant, and while this cover, again, is almost entirely faithful to the original and is accompanied by a video clearly shot during the same session as ‘Children of the Revolution’, it hits home to wrap up the album in fine style.
Aural Aggravation 