The lights go out and the band is ghoulishly lit onstage with carnival light-bulb strings and dry ice against a circus striped background. Mikelangelo and his band of extremely talented musicians are all well defined and disturbing characters in their own right. Their blend of Balkan medleys presented in vignette storytelling form allowing each band member to take centre-stage is jet black in humour and dry as the proverbial bones that they often sing about.
The themes are death, flesh, decay and love, all presented in unsettling song and heralded over by the Master of Ceremonies: Mikelangelo, who roams the audience with total command over the proceedings. Reminiscent of a Tim Burton movie or Carnivále in the appearance of the set and clothing, it lends itself beautifully to the dark atmosphere they create whilst seamlessly moving around onstage, interchanging places, shifting microphones and playing instruments to each scene they set.
Their songs are darkly evocative and often their wielding of language to paint pictures and landscapes of horrible vision are laced with humour and presented with a wink and an arched eyebrow. They share with us mundane stories of day to day happenings in between songs that suddenly become twisted tales of an unsettling nature. The mix is infectious and their fans are many.
Whilst their dark world may not appeal to everyone there is the distinct possibility they are allowing us to live in theirs rather than the other way around…
5/5 
Catriona Ruth Paterson
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