2 keepers
keeper avg .200
Following two concept albums of requiems for travel by sea and by land, this third album completes the trilogy with a meditation on the decline of air (and space) travel. Carla Kihlstedt uneasily ponders if the monkeys experimentally shot into space will survive over crunchy metallic chords in “Microgravity"****. Elsewhere, guest vocalists make notable appearances; Einstürzende Neubauten's Blixa Bargeld somberly narrates observations on an international journey by plane on "Drosophila Melanogaster"**** (the species name of the fruit fly), and then gradually descends into ecstatic lunacy by the end. Nervous Cabaret's Elyas Khan sings the middle eastern flavored title song, a strange cross between Tom Waits and Soundgarden. And set over a repetitively foreboding vamp, Mike Patton's increasingly desperate vocal is the best part of "Planemo."
Even though based on past performance a lot of weirdness and focus on atmosphere is to be expected, the rest of the album is surprisingly unsatisfying. While the jokey chorus evokes the sounds of broken toys, the verses of "Moondust Must" are too similar to “Microgravity," and "Obituary For the Future" also resembles a lesser version of the same. Though narrated by Mike Watt, "Yeager's Approach" fails to compel. Several spacey sound collages fill out the album, rendering a good chunk of the album as interesting but forgettable. With only a small handful of tracks on the entire album that can properly be called songs, Garden Of Fainting Stars unfortunately ends the album trilogy, and to date band's discography, with a crash landing.
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