Search - Severed Heads :: Come Visit the Big Bigot with Dead Eyes Opened

Tom Ellard is a genius

Einzige | Phoenix Arizona | 02/23/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like a significant number of my other favorite albums, I hated "Come Visit The Big Bigot" when I first heard it (way back in 1986!). I put it away and didn't think about it for around 2 or 3 months. Then one day, on a whim, I put it back on my turntable and listened again. What I heard seemed nothing like what I remembered hearing the first time. I literally could not believe they were the same thing. CVtBB was, and is, quite simply, brilliant (as is most of Severed Heads). Unlike most other mid- to late-80s industrial music, which is entirely forgettable (and does, indeed, seem to have been mostly forgotten), Severed Heads has withstood the test of time and remains, for me, as enjoyable to listen to today as then.



To characterize Severed Heads' sound: it's vaguely like how you might imagine New Order would sound if both they and you were on acid and watching The Exorcist. But in a very good way. Let me caution you not to interpret the music as "dark" or "evil" as a result of this description. Many of the songs are downright happy-go-lucky!



Tom Ellard appears to build his songs piece by piece, with a special care to make sure that each and every individual part is intricate and interesting in its own right. Then he throws his own special brand of controlled randomness over the top of it, like icing on a delicious cake. A perfect example of this is the song "Harold and Cindy Hospital." I have spent countless listens just enjoying that song's hi hat pattern alone! Throw in the remaining percussion, strangely appropriate brass hits, and Tom's heavily effected and nearly unintelligible lyrics and you've got a recipe for a song that never loses its novelty, even after 20 years of enjoyment.



The rest of the CD is filled with similarly compelling stuff. I recommend that you give it a second and third listen if you don't like it the first time around. Start with "Dead Eyes Opened" and go from there."

A Must Have

Einzige | 06/03/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This record is required listening, in my humble opinion. Truly a seminal and critical work in popular/Industrial/Gothic electronic music. Brilliant. simply Brilliant."

Catchy Pop Melodies meet Dark Industrial Beats

bubba v8.0 | dimension X | 08/21/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"BIG BIGOT is a curious beast. Sev Heads have often been tagged as an "industrial" band, which is partly true considering the band's earliest releases were little more than abrasive noise fests, but here they have embraced dance and pop elements for a unique style of music. The result is catchy-as-hell, hummable pop tunes back by some of the most crazy/intense dance music released. Vocalist Tom Ellard actually sings(!) his lines instead of the old tried and true method of snarling, which was the fashionable thing for industrial music at the time (i.e, Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Nitzer Ebb). The eerie sound samples and twisted loops probably kept this album far away from mainstream radio play (not to mention the morbid name of the band might have been a major turn-off). This record can sometimes be downright evil in spots ("Sam Loves You", "Legion", title track). It is the juxtaposition of light pop with a wicked sense of industrial that has kept this record an engaging listen throughout these years.
It's hard to believe this record was originally released in the mid-80's. It completely blew away anything else being done by any electronic artists at the time and it still sounds contemporary today. This is forward thinking music."