Duran Duran wave in their new era with the release of “Danse Macabre,” a fresh cut with shades of darkness.
Teased earlier this month, “Danse Macabre” (which translates to the Dance of Death) is the title track from the Rock And Roll Hall of Famers’ forthcoming 16th studio album, due out Oct. 27 via Tape Modern/BMG.
The legendary ‘80s band welcome on board some familiar guests for the forthcoming LP, including former guitarists Andy Taylor and Warren Cuccurullo, Paper Gods collaborator Mr. Hudson, longtime producer Nile Rodgers, and Måneskin’s Victoria De Angelis.
Announced in March as a “special new music project,” Danse Macabre is a Halloween concept album, “catalyzed by one special live performance” in Las Vegas on Oct. 31, 2022, reads a statement from the band’s reps.
It’s “the soundtrack to their ultimate Halloween party,” and contains three new compositions, including the first release, plus reworked songs, and covers of songs by Billie Eilish, Talking Heads, The Rolling Stones, Siouxsie And The Banshees and more.
Spanning 13 songs, Duran Duran “unearth bright melodies from the darkness, threading together new songs, themed covers, and newly reimagined versions of their own ‘spooky’ classics,” reads the official statement.
Opening with a fog horn and a synth riff reminiscent of “All She Wants Is,” “Danse Macabre” is like no Duran Duran song that came before it. Cuccurullo and Hudson assist on “Danse Macabre”, over which Simon Le Bon raps out the opening verse. Joshua Blair produces.
The song “celebrates the joy and madness of Halloween,” says founding band member and keyboardist Nick Rhodes. The idea for the album, he continues, was born out of that Sin City show. “We had decided to seize the moment to create a unique, special event…the temptation of using glorious gothic visuals set to a dark soundtrack of horror and humor was simply irresistible.”
After all these years, says founding member and bass player John Taylor, “Danse Macabre offers an interesting insight into the personality of the band. The music packs a real punch.”
Danse Macabre follows a dizzying spell of activity for the band, which included their 2022 induction into the Rock Hall at a ceremony in Los Angeles, where the band members revealed for the first time Andy Taylor’s cancer diagnosis. Also, DD headlined London’s Hyde Park, performed at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, closed the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on their home soil of Birmingham, and worked their way across North America for a headline tour which included sold out shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden, three nights at the Hollywood Bowl, and a special Cancer Awareness Trust fundraiser Aug. 19 at The Guild Theatre in Menlo Park, CA.
North America dates continue Thursday, Aug. 31 at Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul, MN.
The English act’s last album, 2021’s Future Past, debuted at No. 3 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, their highest-charting effort since the classic lineup reunited in 2004 for Astronaut, which also peaked at No. 3.
“Danse Macabre” tracklist
Nightboat
Black Moonlight
Love Voudou
Bury A Friend
Supernature
Danse Macabre
Secret Oktober 31st
Ghost Town
Paint It Black
Super Lonely Freak
Spellbound
Psycho Killer (feat. Victoria De Angelis)
Confession in the Afterlife
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