On "THE SPORTING LIFE", the wild woman with a steak knife and Led Zeppelin's bassist team up to supply listeners with a DNA spiral of madness. Mute records swears "THE SPORTING LIFE" is the emotional equivalent of "the real Hellfire Club, not some chi-chi pierced nipple trend zone proffering amino acid spritzers." That description's easy to believe when Galas' three-and-a-half octave vocal range, coupled with John Paul Jones' eight-string bass, combine to create the sort of sound rock critics fear but which makes strange music lovers shiver with delight.

A real break from Galas' previous albums, which centered around the battle against AIDS, "THE SPORTING LIFE" mixes sarcasm with a splash of dark humor. Sans the "morbid funeral dirge of the last 10 years," Galas and Jones team up to show their side of love's sickest secrets.

The song "Do You Take This Man?" mocks wedding vows by comparing romance to imprisonment, where the only solution is submission. Galas' haunting cover of Percy Sledge's "Dark End Of The Street," reminds lovers that death is not far away. The title track, meanwhile, tells the tale of a group of whores who stalk and kill a man for fun, all the while sounding like the screeching Furies of Greek mythology. Death wailings melt into Cajun dance music on "You're Mine," while on "Ekoto Oeme," which is Greek for "kill me," Galas meshes her frantic, operatic voice with Jones' funky bass lines.

"THE SPORTING LIFE" contains enough dark humor and scourging sounds to mesmerize any demon. If Galas and Jones sold their souls to Satan for this release, their sacrifice is not in vain.