Cult of Youth
(Sacred Bones Records)
Remember when you were a kid and you’d fuck up and get grounded? Then you’d really show ’em who’s boss by sneaking out the window every night at midnight so you could wander around the neighboring cemetery smoking your mom’s cigarettes and cursing her for not understanding all of your pain and anguish? Cult of Youth channel that darkness. Some have called it goth-folk-punk, others pagan rock. Either way, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything quite like it. Frontman Sean Ragon, one-time bassist for Love as Laughter, growls and howls over violinist Christiana Key’s soaring strings and layered melodies that recall Ennio Morricone and more traditional country and folk structures. The juxtaposition makes for a pretty unsettling melodrama. Added cred points go to bassist Micki Pellerano, who is both a performance artist/painter/filmmaker and a real-deal occult scholar. 
I really like C.O.Y…the remind of that great period when bands like Current 93 and Death In June was mid-stream between their earlier proto-industrial stuff apocalyptic folk… there seeems to be a resurgence of this sound lately – the best I’ve heard is a band called Blessure Grave out of NYC, I think…I really don’t know too much about ’em except they scratch the same itch.