Now seventeen albums in to one of the most storied goth rock careers of them all, black-clad ghoul Lords Christian Death no longer really possess the power to shock, which, rather inconveniently, leaves their music having to do the talking. But on new offering Evil Becomes Rule it does just that, with band mainsprings Valor Kand and Maitri Nicolai delivering eleven hymns to the night and it’s denizens that drag the listener in from the get go and don’t let go til the very end…

In real terms this means a lot of tracks that dance around themes and sounds you’ve heard before of course, but standout cut Blood Moon is as good a synthesis of Bauhaus and Siouxsie as you’re going to get in these days of reduced expectation, so what, really, have you got to complain about?

The answer to that is nothing, and the course of action I recommend is simple – crack open a bottle of something suitably refreshing – absinthe would be the obvious choice, naturally – and then simply wallow. Wallow in the mix of tattered glamour and genuine dishevelment generated by our two heroes; wallow in the dissonant glory of the guitars on esoteric hymn Abraxas We Are, a track as deliciously chaotic as it’s name would suggest, or wallow in the more straightforward Batcave stomp of The Warning. But do wallow. Please…

Alternatively, clear a space in your living room and cavort like an extra from a Hammer Horror Movie pre-orgiastic crowd scene #9 to the pure pop nirvana of Beautiful, wherein Maitri informs us that she wants us ‘to look beautiful at her funeral’; This is goth pop in excelsis, the absolute schlock toytown horror of the lyrics tempered by chiming, earworm guitars and an irresistible red-lipstick-on-deathwhite-skin vocal that is impossible to refuse. Seriously, this is all-in stuff, and if you’ve even an iota of goth in your blood it’s going to form the soundtrack of the next few months of your existence.

Absolutely great stuff then, and required listening for all the Slimelight boys and girls out there lurking in the unlight…

Evil Becomes Rule releases on May 6th.