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2LP
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ITR 381LP
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Double LP version. "The renaissance of Divine Horsemen -- which began in 2021 with In The Red's release of Hot Rise Of An Ice Cream Phoenix, the legendary Los Angeles punk band's first release in 33 years -- continues with a thrilling and unexpected new album, Bitter End Of A Sweet Night. The new sixteen-track collection again features the band's co-founding members, singers-songwriters Chris Desjardins (better known as Chris D.) and Julie Christensen, and the core members of the ferocious Hot Rise band -- guitarist / co-writer Peter Andrus (a member of the group's late '80s lineup), bassist Bobby Permanent and X's nonpareil drummer DJ Bonebrake. The sound is filled out by Green On Red and Dream Syndicate keyboardist Chris Cacavas (who appeared on the 1984 Chris D./Divine Horsemen album Time Stands Still) and classically trained violinist Elizabeth Wilson. Desjardins produced the album. Divine Horsemen's dramatic In The Red bow and a 2020 archival set of club performances from 1985 and 1987, issued by Feeding Tube Records, reacquainted listeners with their stormy power and eclectic roots-punk musicianship, which diversified the searing approach taken by Desjardins' previous band, foundational L.A. punk unit the Flesh Eaters. (Christiansen had previously regrouped with her former husband and musical partner Desjardins on I Used to Be Pretty, the 2018 album that reunited the 1980 'all-star' Flesh Eaters lineup.) Reaction to the group's rebirth was rapturous. Jaime Pina of Punk Globe called Hot Rise Of An Ice Cream Phoenix 'brilliant,' adding, 'The music is lush with both acoustic and electric guitars and the songs pull influences from all over, including country, rock, traditional ethnic folk music and blues.' Michael Toland wrote in The Big Takeover, 'Reclaiming its classic sound of sweat- and grime-stained Americana, Divine Horsemen is reborn like the mythical creature in the title.' John Apice of Americana Highways raved, 'Like the Rolling Stones, [Divine Horsemen] continue to thrill. They have grit, muscle and potency?. Divine indeed.'"
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CD
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ITR 381CD
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"The renaissance of Divine Horsemen -- which began in 2021 with In The Red's release of Hot Rise Of An Ice Cream Phoenix, the legendary Los Angeles punk band's first release in 33 years -- continues with a thrilling and unexpected new album, Bitter End Of A Sweet Night. The new sixteen-track collection again features the band's co-founding members, singers-songwriters Chris Desjardins (better known as Chris D.) and Julie Christensen, and the core members of the ferocious Hot Rise band -- guitarist / co-writer Peter Andrus (a member of the group's late '80s lineup), bassist Bobby Permanent and X's nonpareil drummer DJ Bonebrake. The sound is filled out by Green On Red and Dream Syndicate keyboardist Chris Cacavas (who appeared on the 1984 Chris D./Divine Horsemen album Time Stands Still) and classically trained violinist Elizabeth Wilson. Desjardins produced the album. Divine Horsemen's dramatic In The Red bow and a 2020 archival set of club performances from 1985 and 1987, issued by Feeding Tube Records, reacquainted listeners with their stormy power and eclectic roots-punk musicianship, which diversified the searing approach taken by Desjardins' previous band, foundational L.A. punk unit the Flesh Eaters. (Christiansen had previously regrouped with her former husband and musical partner Desjardins on I Used to Be Pretty, the 2018 album that reunited the 1980 'all-star' Flesh Eaters lineup.) Reaction to the group's rebirth was rapturous. Jaime Pina of Punk Globe called Hot Rise Of An Ice Cream Phoenix 'brilliant,' adding, 'The music is lush with both acoustic and electric guitars and the songs pull influences from all over, including country, rock, traditional ethnic folk music and blues.' Michael Toland wrote in The Big Takeover, 'Reclaiming its classic sound of sweat- and grime-stained Americana, Divine Horsemen is reborn like the mythical creature in the title.' John Apice of Americana Highways raved, 'Like the Rolling Stones, [Divine Horsemen] continue to thrill. They have grit, muscle and potency?. Divine indeed.'"
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CD
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ITR 362CD
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"Los Angeles, California -- Divine Horsemen, the fiery, eclectic '80s group that rode the unique vocal chemistry of Chris Desjardins (a.k.a. Chris D.) and Julie Christensen, return to the musical stage with Hot Rise Of An Ice Cream Phoenix, a collection of all-new recordings. Co-produced by Desjardins and Craig Parker Adams (who engineered I Used To Be Pretty, the 2019 release by Chris D.'s groundbreaking '70s punk band the Flesh Eaters), this new 13-track album comprises the first new music by the Horsemen in thirty-three years. Founded after the dissolution of the Flesh Eaters and launched with the 1984 Enigma Records album Time Stands Still, billed as Chris D./Divine Horseman, the band released three albums and an EP on SST Records, all of which featured the searing harmonies of Desjardins and Christensen, who were married at the time. The couple split professionally and personally just prior to the release of their January 1988 EP A Handful of Sand. However, the two musicians remained in touch over the years, and Christensen contributed vocals to five tracks on I Used To Be Pretty, which reunited the 1980 'all-star' edition of the Flesh Eaters heard on the Ruby/Slash classic A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die. By then, the idea of reviving Divine Horsemen was already percolating. Featuring onetime Divine Horsemen guitarist Peter Andrus, who had appeared on A Handful Of Sand and the 1987 album Snake Handler, and Bobby Permanent, the 2021 Divine Horsemen lineup is completed by drummer DJ Bonebrake of the incomparable L.A. band X. Hot Rise Of An Ice Cream Phoenix stands as a bracing new achievement by a distinctive musical partnership that has always marched to the beat of its own drum. Like the Flesh Eaters' recent reunion, it's a welcome return that plays to the group's historic strengths."
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LP
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ITR 362LP
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CD
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FTR 579CD
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"Divine Horsemen were a band formed & led by Chris D between the years 1983 and 1988, while he was on hiatus from the Flesh Eaters. Divine Horsemen (taking their name from one of the Flesh Eaters' most powerful stompers) emerged as a byproduct of Chris' gorgeous solo album, Time Stands Still. He met singer Julie Christensen a few months before the recording, and the mix of their voices was such a perfect pairing of honey and gravel, they knew they had to keep working together. Taking a more measured rock tone (as compared to the raging word-zonk of the Flesh Eaters), Divine Horsemen recorded three great LPs and one EP for SST. They were also an amazingly solid live band, combining Chris' gonzo pulp imagery with those incredible twinned vocals, massive guitar riffs and a truly locked-in rhythm section. The two shows from which this album is harvested were recorded just before the Devil's River album came out in '85, and close on the heels of '87's Middle of the Night. It seems wild to me, listening to this disk for the umpteenth time, how together these songs are as rock-qua-rock monsters. I realize I'm biased and all, but I'd say half of the tunes are nothing less than goddamn classics. I somewhat prefer the later version of the band with Peter Andrus on guitar (he replaced Wayne James, Cam King and Marshall Rohner), but that's just picking nits. The core of the line-up was stable -- Julie and Chris singing, the late Robyn Jameson (the sole holdover from the Flesh Eaters) on bass, Rex Roberts on drums -- and they always sounded real damn good. Sadly, the band didn't last as long as hoped. Chris and Julie got married, but that was a collaboration that burned too hot to last. The band split when the couple did, which ended a truly ecstatic vocal pair-up. Julie went on to work for almost a decade as Leonard Cohen's angelic foil, but I was more excited to hear she was guesting on 2019's boss Flesh Eaters' album, I Used to be Pretty. And her vocal spots at a few of their live shows were spine-tingling. But there's nothing quite like the sound of Divine Horsemen. From the hot rod thuggery of 'Mother's Worry' to the sweet massage of 'Middle of the Night,' their music will take you where you want to go. So, lay back and dig this disk, while you wait for their new studio LP, Hot Rise of an Ice Cream Phoenix, on In the Red. There is also talk of a live tour, which would be fan-fucking-tastic. More than that I cannot say. Selah." --Byron Coley, 2020
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