I'm not really sure why this particular album gets the bad reputation it seems to have. I rather like it, and though it's not perfect and definitely not the band's best work, it's definitely a favorite of mine.
Musically, this album carries that traditional Pungent Stench sound. It has this guttural density to it, but for this one it's been cleaned up a bit since the Been Caught Buttering days so you can tell what the riffs are most of the time instead of losing them in a sludge of distortion. The one thing that's a bit different on this album is they've lost a bit of their groove. 'True Life' and 'I'm a Family Man', for example, have these rather long openings to them that sound closer to hard rock than typical Stench. The latter, for example, is really dreadful. But the majority of the tracks have their own sound to them. One thing I've always liked about these guys are the drums. They don't rely too heavily on blast beats or double bass rumbles, but instead throw out some really cool, grooving patterns that fit the overall style and theme a lot more than most bands can pull off. This album really showcases that kind of drumming. Some of the riff work on this isn't as hot as previous albums, but it still has that classic sound to it and some of the songs, like 'Hyrocephalus' and 'In Search of the Perfect Torture' have some awesome segments that really get your blood moving.
The presentation takes on a more sado-masochist approach, something they seemed to be slowly developing since the early days. This album, in fact, is one I look to to really try to describe what these guys were about long ago. It has a different feel to it than most death metal at this time, and the insert fits the bill. Lots of creepy, porno ridden art here that definitely looks like it probably was pretty disgusting to photograph. The only problem I have is you can tell from the main band photo that they were starting to go through problems at this time, with one guy going all out for the costumes and the other two saying this is lame, whatever, I'll wear a mask. Still, cool presentation.
One thing I've read some complaints about are the lyrics and the song themes. Now, yeah, I'm aware that they've done something different here, and I can definitely agree that stuff like 'I'm a Family Man' doesn't really seem to fit with what they are. For the most part, though, the songs fit this bizarre sexuality they were going for, with 'Fuck Bizarre', for example, coming at you with some pretty puke-worthy concepts. This then fits the overall layout of the art and the feeling of the songs to me, so other than one or two tracks that don't really seem to fit the theme, I thought the lyrics and themes overall were fitting. Sometimes stupid, yeah, but in general they fit the strange concept of the album. The only thing I never got about this CD were the stupid karaoke versions of four of the songs at the end. I guess you were supposed to record your version and send it in, but who in the hell would do that? Whatever, doesn't really ruin the album, just kind of stupid.
Club Mondo Bizarre isn't as bad an album as people tend to think. It's definitely not perfect, some of the music is a little questionable for what these guys were known for, but overall I think it's a successful addition to their various releases. I still listen to it since it was first released, and it's one of my favorites, probably their third best album in my opinion. Has some problems, but it doesn't deserve the bashing it usually gets.
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