Albatross

When not playing in humour metal band Workshop, bassist Riju Dasgupta obsesses rabidly about King Diamond. Dinner is You is the fruition of that obsession, a 4-song concept EP that tells a tale of cannibalism and its less-than-pleasant fallouts. It’s pure camp that follows in the best traditions of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond but not with the same skill. ”˜The Great Plague of the Twentieth Century’ uses the nursery rhyme ”˜Ring a Ring O’ Roses’ (which conspiracy theorists believe was written about the plague) to set the tone for ‘The Dining Table,’ a story about a guest who comes to dinner and ends up being dinner himself. ‘The Dining Table’ mixes power metal-style riffs with vocal theatrics but the choppy feel of the song – it feel like a hodgepodge of parts rather than a composite whole – detracts from it considerably. ‘In the Court of Kuru’ fares a bit better in the flow department, keeping the changes interesting without jarring the listener. The album closes with the nine-minute epic ‘Among the Cannibals’ which likewise has its moments but in parts the vocals and guitars seem go in entirely different directions. The problem here, as with the other songs, is that there are way too many vocal styles and not all of them make for pleasant listening. On ‘Among the Cannibals’ vocalist Biproshree Das’s voice seems stretched to breaking point and the thin, quavering wail it gets drawn out into does nothing for the song. The album’s an interesting enough listen for the concept but Albatross need to master the art of storytelling through music better.

Key Track: ‘In the Court of Kuru’