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While it's obvious that the second coming of Christ didn't happen at the approach of the new millenium, the second coming of a legendary evil ska band did. The teneberous side of ska was once again injected into the veins of Moon Ska NYC when the Mephiskapheles released their sophmore LP, Maximum Perversion in 1997 . Mixed feelings followed this album after it was released. Their first LP God Bless Satan stole the hearts of many little girls and reigned high in most ska lovers cd collections. God Bless Satan was dark, macbre and fun for little kids to hide from their parents and definately one of my upmost favorite ska cds, let alone favorite ska band.... and when Maximum Perversion hit stores it pissed me off to see that all that black magic was fading... little girls didn't post pictures of the Nubian Nightmare on their walls anymore. They now wanted Gwen Stefani. All the little kids that used to have fun hiding a cd titled God Bless Satan from their parents were soon surprised to see that their parents had Maximum Perversion before they did. And to be blunt...all my friends that heard it first said it sucked and sounded like a video game.

My argument is that while it isn't as good as their first, I find that they put more effort into it than the first. Every song is so different, it's hard to classify it all in one genre. Who needs genres anyway?

This album is heavy on the keyboards but not as dark as it's predecessor. This album sure as hell doesn't lack anything else more than the darkness you'd expect from them, but instead adds more spunk and experimentality to the sound, which maybe just wasn't the thing the Mephiskapheles should have done.

Don't get me wrong kiddies! I love this album. It's jazzy, it's mellow, it's the Mephiskapheles at their finest instrumentally...and it sure is a relief to know that it is a shitload better than their next release. Since a lot of you have different tastes do the right thing and download it before you buy it.