DIAMANDA GALÁS / You Must Be Certain of the Devil (1988)

If you value your hearing, do yourself a favour and don't sit too close to your speakers when the album starts or Galás' version of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot may take it from you. It flows sharply into the second track, which begins the transformation into a more traditional album with actual music! She still howls like a banshee when necessary, to get the point across, but its gospel influenced weirdness is more accessible than the two accompanying albums that preceded YMBCotD. Although, she sounds like she’s dying on the closing track, which is somewhat unsettling.

Songs of Note: Double-Barrel Prayer; Let's Not Chat About Despair

4 winged fatalities out of 5

DIAMANDA GALÁS / Saint of the Pit (1986)

Part two of Galás' Masque of the Red Death Trilogy gives her an opportunity to let her voice soar to unconstrained levels. Not only does it make your ears wince, it somehow manages to fill the hollow spaces in your bones and make them shiver. I've said it before but it's equally true here: her music can induce nightmares. It's less overtly avant-garde and more traditionally structured than part one, but just as eerie. Someone needs to make a Kubrick-esque sci-fi film with Galás scoring it.

Songs of Note: Εξελόυμε; L'Héautontimorouménos

5 screaming blind men out of 5

DIAMANDA GALÁS / The Divine Punishment (1986)

Avant-garde Queen Galás can give grown men nightmares. Her vocal range is extraordinary. Her performance is unashamedly theatrical. Her subject matter often controversial. The Divine Punishment is the first part of her Masque of the Red Death Trilogy. It's only 2 songs, split into 9 parts. Listening to it in the dark gives the impression that the listener is being haunted by incensed spirits reading scripture, knowing full well that you'll never be able to forget their aural bouts of primal terror. They don't care. They want you to lose sleep. And you will.

Songs of Note: Deliver Me From Mine Enemies

4 sitteth where he sat out of 5