Album review: 'Danse Macabre' - Duran Duran

The inspiration for Duran Duran’s enticing 16^th studio album Danse Macabre was a special Halloween 2022 concert the British band did in Las Vegas. With a setlist comprised of some darker-hued songs from its catalog as well as appropriate holiday covers, the musicians had more fun than they expected and decided to make an album with the same theme.

Recorded while on a break from tour and finished in six weeks – faster than any full-length release since the 1980 eponymous debut - the new album boasts the return of co-founding guitarist Andy Taylor after nearly 20 years. He performs on several tracks, while another long-serving former guitarist, Warren Cuccurullo, also appears on two tunes.

Regular collaborator Nile Rodgers supplies guitar on funky and infectious original “Black Moonlight” - which easily would have fit on 2021’s Future Past, and a suitable take on French disco producer Marc Cerrone’s 1978 hit “Supernature.” Victoria De Angelis of Maneskin adds bass to a danceable groove-based cover of Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer.”

Updated arrangements are given to classic Duran tracks: “Night Boat” is more ominous; “Lonely in Your Nightmare” is now a mashup with Rick James’ “Super Freak” that the group has been doing in concert; fan favorite single B-side “Secret Oktober” has a relaxed tempo as Rhodes adds orchestration and music box sounds; deep cut “Love Voodoo” (from 1993’s successful comeback Duran Duran AKA “Wedding Album”) is more sumptuous now.  

An Arabic double harmonic scale is used to intriguing effect during Billie Eilish’s “Bury a Friend.” Duran’s versions of The Specials’ “Ghost Town” and Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Spellbound” are straightforward but still contain the group’s signature sound. The Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” is quite different from the original, with a tweaked melody that singer Simon Le Bon has said was modelled after Patti Smith. Duran finishes the physical releases' track listing on a luxurious note with the gorgeous original ballad “Confessions in the Afterlife.”