You can say what you want about forms of mainstream Rock & Roll from punk rock to hard rock to heavy metal, but the truth is that none of those genres work quite as well in the live arena as pretty much anything evolved from cabaret music. Traditional Rock & Roll is fundamentally born from self-expression, being the combination of old school blues and country music, but Cabaret music was created to entertain from the very beginning, with that in mind how could anything hope top it for sheer live excellence? It takes an incredibly dedicated performer with talent to burn to pull it off and in the Havana born, New Jersey raised form of Voltaire (his actual middle name, in full it’s Aurelio Voltaire Hernandez. Which is awesome) we have exactly that. Whether backed by a band or performing solo, the man’s music sounds utterly natural. His voice is packed with just the right amount of grit and camp to be simultaneously dark as all hell and tongue in cheek enough to pull off songs with such titles as Brains, Goodnight Demonslayer, When You’re Evil and the immortal Death, Death (Devil, Devil, Devil, Devil, Evil, Evil, Evil, Evil Song) while taking it seriously enough to make it worth paying attention but not seriously enough to make it completely ridiculous. The man is a natural born performer, and everyone with a fascination with the dark side of life would do well to check out his Tim Burton-ized Tom Waits style as soon as possible.
Geordie Greep
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