Mother Monster is back to wreak mayhem at long last

Fans will rejoice as Lady Gaga finally returns to all her shockhorror-bop glory for new album Mayhem’, says Helen Brown

-  Helen Brown

“Phantom of the dancefloor, come to me!” calls Lady Gaga on her single Abracadabra”. And lo! The defiant freakazoid electropop spirit of her 2008 debut, The Fame, fills the sagging inflatable doll of the last decade’s safer musical choices and slumping sales. Huge big lungfuls of synth and guitar hooks reanimate her limbs. Dark, gnarly lyrics knowingly contort pop cliches into kinky PVC shapes. Nonsense syllables breathe into the beats, which throb on and on until Gaga is standing upright again in all her bleach-browed, platform-heel stomping glory. Bow down, little monsters! For her sixth studio album, Mayhem hails the return of your Mama Monster to all her shock-horrorbop glory.