A few years back, I wouldn't have felt qualired to review this record. On the other hand, I've seen quite a few car commercials in the last few years, and have familiarized myself with the genre. A lot of people would like to throw 'BMW' music in with the rest of musak, but as this incredibly successful French outrt shows us on their debut it has far more selling power than the stuff you hear in elevators.

The hysterical combination of cheap 'world' music styles, and 'Phil Collins as Benedictine Choir' like chanting, have been fused together in an incredibly seemless assault on what low standards of taste, we've already come to accept as the lowest common denominator. The wandering heavy metal solos that parade around the insipid monks, only contribute to the sense of desperation the listener accepts, when out of nowhere a few seconds of almost listenable faux Dead Can Dance' style blather suggests salvation. I wonder if the folks responsible have ever heard Jimi Hendrix before, have they ever been off their yachts? The brutal fact that this is the best selling record in the country, reminding us just how many, tasteless folks are out there on our streets and freeways.

Gashaus's music review of ERA Era