This Italian duo has recorded a good debut album but have cursed it with a terrible name. Judah are industrial journeymen, they aren’t setting the world on fire but at least they’re getting the job of writing enjoyable music done.Small Voices
The incredibly creepy cover (featuring a naked boy crawling in a bizarre fashion) and song titles like “Hitler Fucks Jesus” and “Strychnine” had me prepared for noisy beats and lots of screaming and confrontational lyrics. Instead the mood was more subdued with most songs consisting of only a slightly fuzzy synth bass, organ, and softly uttered but still menacing vocals. Imagine Michael Gira on lots of diazepam. There’s not much aggression, even on the colorfully titled tracks mentioned above.
Judah touch on a lot of landmark electronic artists There’s a track called “Ode to Suicide” that is more an ode to the band than the act itself. They are also heavily indebted to the softer sounds of Throbbing Gristle, Swans and Cabaret Voltaire. There is not much that is unique about them; they are a product of their own record collections. That being said, Cool Crap is an entertaining piece of work. There are a couple of lackluster songs like “Naked Candy” and “The King in Las Vegas,” but equally there are some top drawer songs like “Strychnine” and “Holy.” I think “The King in Las Vegas” was meant to be the climax of the album but it stumbles along for far too long, taking ten minutes when three would have been sufficient.
Judah haven’t proved themselves to be a remarkable band. I do think they have the potential to make a name for themselves, especially if they were more mercenary when it comes to assembling an album.
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