Diamanda Galás’ fifth studio album, Saint Of The Pit, is being reissued.
Due out in September, the album has been fully remastered for its updated release, which arrives off the back of a series of reissues of Galás’ older works in recent years, as well as the release in June of live album Diamanda Galás – In Concert.
Originally released in November 1986, rapidly off the back of previous album The Divine Punishment (which came out five months earlier), Saint Of The Pit formed the second record in Galás’ The Masque Of The Red Death trilogy, which focused on the HIV-AIDS epidemic, and wider society’s response to it.
Speaking now about Saint Of The Pit, Galás said in a statement: “I remember a conversation with [Mute label owner] Daniel Miller in 1986. He thought that releasing Saint Of The Pit was too soon after The Divine Punishment. I replied, ‘I have to do it. I have to put it out right now.’ It was a kind of a spiritual mandate for me.”
You can listen to the remastered version of album track ‘Cris ‘D’aveugle (1873) (Blind Man’s Cry)’ below.
Intravenal Sound Operations will release Saint Of The Pit on September 13, 2024.