Managing to expand their sound on Mask, the members of Bauhaus stretched themselves into new areas of music and performance, resulting in an album that was arguably even better than the band’s nearly flawless debut. More sides of the
band were apparent from the get-go; opening number “Hair of
the Dog,” one of the band’s best songs, starts with a doubletracked squalling guitar solo before turning into a stomping, surging flow, carefully paced by sudden silences and
equally sudden returns, Murphy details cases of mental addictions in pithy phrases. The energy wasn’t all just explosive
angst and despair, though; the one-two punches of “Kick in
the Eye” and “In Fear of Fear” have as much hip-shaking groove
and upbeat swing to them as portentous gloom (Ash’s sax skronk on the latter, as well as on the similarly sharp “Dancing,”
is a particularly nice touch). Elsewhere, numerous flashes of
the band’s quirky sense of humor make an appearance; perhaps
most amusing is the dry spoken-word lyric beginning “Of Lillies and Remains,” as David J details a goofily grotesque situation as much Edward Gorey as Edgar Allen Poe. Add to that
three of the most dramatic things the band ever recorded --
the charging, keyboard-accompanied “The Passion of Lovers,”
the slow, dark fairytale-gone-wrong “Hollow Hills,” and the
wracked, trudging title track, where the sudden appearance
of an acoustic guitar turns a great song into a near-perfect
blend of ugliness and sheer beauty -- the end result is a perfect trouncing of the sophomore-slump myth.
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