Addendum Copius:

Had a few more listens and some tracks are really standing out for me now - Hooded & Benign and Vive Le Suicide being two faves, though Ravin on the Moor is classic Cope.

Just to add to what I was gibberng on about- it really strikes me that, amidst all the revolutionary rhetoric, it seems that there's a real contemplation of mortality running through this album, ranging from a 'going out with a bang' style last hurrah to the inevitable mutability of the self. Some of this album reads like a defiant love letter to life and some of it comes over like a suicide note!

I can't help but wonder, what with the selling off of the record collection and a 4 album releaseathon promised this year, if Julian isn't having something of an 'end of days' of moment, whether it's fueled by the Mayan thing or just a general apocalyptic reaction to how things are in 2012. The 2012 thing has manifested itself in the artworks of other albums too.

Perhaps another phase is coming to an end?