Duran Duran celebrates Halloween with an album mixing new tracks, re-recordings and covers, bathing the whole in a delicious kitsch atmosphere.
Halloween is approaching and Duran Duran has decided to take the plunge by inviting you to its new Dance of Death. If it only presents three new pieces: the future hit “Black Moonlight”, in which the legend Nile Rodgers participates, the gothic-kitsch “Danse Macabre” and the final ballad Confession in the Afterlife, with a ghostly appearance.
Three spooky new tracks, which blend wonderfully with the ten other tracks. Among the latter Duran Duran draws as it pleases from its catalog. He thus modernizes “Nightboat” and “Love Voudou”, even if it means giving them a darker color, without forgetting to include a small rarity: “Secret Oktober 31st”. Nevertheless, the main surprise remains the new version of “Lonely In Your Nightmare”, enhanced with a partial cover of “Super Freak”, a Rick James standard. A curiosity that will delight purists, while amusing fans of dangerous exercises.
The purists are not at the end of their troubles, with the ethereal cover of “Paint It, Black”, a monument of the stones here reimagined. In more faithful rereadings, we find “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads, with Victoria De Angelis of Maneskin who has just taken the role of Tina Weymouth. Youth is also in place with a cover of Billie Eilish to the greatest effect.
With a lugubrious and amusing concept, Duran Duran presents here an exercise in unusual style, but nevertheless relevant. Enough to celebrate the dead joyfully.
Find this column in our Weekly n°135, available via our online store.
Dance of Death is available
Here is the tracklist:
- Nightboat
- Black Moonlight
- Love Voodoo
- Bury a Friend
- Supernature
- Dance of Death
- Secret Oktober 31st
- Ghost Town
- Paint It, Black
- Super Lonely Freak
- Spellbound
- Psycho Killer
- Confession in the Afterlife
