Diamanda Galás
The Divine Punishment
FormatCDLabelIntravenal Sound OperationsGenreExperimental
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On June 30, 1986, the same day that Diamanda Galás's The Divine Punishment was released, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Georgia's so-called sodomy law in Bowers v. Hardwick, criminalizing consensual sex between men. At the time, about 15,000 people were known to have died of AIDS in the U.S. alone, with little government acknowledgement besides suggestions to quarantine homosexuals on island colonies. By the end of 2021, the number of AIDS deaths globally would exceed 36 million.
The first album in her Masque of the Red Death trilogy, The Divine Punishment is one of the most jarring works of art produced in response to the AIDS epidemic, and a milestone in Diamanda Galás's artistry and activism. Galás uses her famous voice both as an orational instrument and as well as a physical representation of AIDS and those it afflicts.
The album features the panphonic dirge work of Galás, accompanied by analogue synthesizers and piano played by Diamanda Galás with additional synthesizer work by Dave Hunt. The texts are primarily taken from the Old Testament, contrasting the hectoring lawmakers of Leviticus with the desperate appeals of the Lamentations and Book of Psalms (Psalm 22, 59, and 88). In doing so, she indicts those who use religion to instigate the witch hunts that inevitably accompany real and perceived plagues.
Format
Back cover presents the track listing as "Deliver Me From Mine Enemies" and "Free Among The Dead", though the songs are separated into 9 individual tracks similar to the digital release.
Release notes
Back cover presents the track listing as "Deliver Me From Mine Enemies" and "Free Among The Dead", though the songs are separated into 9 individual tracks similar to the digital release.
| 1 | Deliver Me From Mine Enemies: I. This Is The Law Of The Plague | 03:57 | |
| 2 | Deliver Me From Mine Enemies: II. Deliver Me From Mine Enemies | 02:53 | |
| 3 | Deliver Me From Mine Enemies: III.We Shall Not Accept Your Quarantine | 02:42 | |
| 4 | Deliver Me From Mine Enemies: IV. Ε Ξελόυ Mε [Deliver Me] | 02:36 | |
| 5 | Deliver Me From Mine Enemies: V. Yιατί, Ó Θεός ? [Why, O God?] | 03:05 | |
| 6 | Deliver Me From Mine Enemies: VI. Psalm 22 | 03:58 | |
| 7 | Free Among The Dead: I. Psalm 88 | 07:34 | |
| 8 | Free Among The Dead: II. Lamentations Chapter 3 (exc.) | 02:45 | |
| 9 | Free Among The Dead: III. Sono L'Antichristo | 03:15 |
- Diamanda Galás
- Composed By, Performer, Co-producer, Lyrics By (BIII)
- Naut Humon
- Consultant [Consultation] (BI to BIII)
- P.D. White
- Design [Sleeve Design And Treatment]
- Frank Harris
- Engineer (BI to BIII)
- Richard Zvonar
- Engineer [Additional Signal Processing] (BI to BIII)
- Dave Hunt
- Engineer, Producer (A. to AVI), Producer, Mixed By (BI to BIII)
- T.J. Eng
- Photography By [Original Cover Photo]
- Traditional
- Text By [All Texts Taken From The Old Testament] (AI to BII)
