A few weeks ago, a group of my friends and I rented the two-video "Deluxe Edition" of Clive Barker's "Hellraiser." We all expected the second video to be a somewhat-insipid collection of outtakes, interviews, reviews, and trailers. We were wrong-- it was actually all trailers. 40 minutes of trailers. 40 minutes of what seemed like the same fucking trailer over and over again. Sure, there were a few minor variations, but it was pretty much the same thing repeated. A few seconds of gore, a heavily abridged review, and the catch phrase, "Satan's done waitin'!"

Listening to With Loving and Open Arms is kind of like watching that bonus video. At times it's genuinely creepy and intriguing. But by the time you approach the fourth or fifth track, you've heard just about all the Causey Way has to offer: punky riffs, vocals snatched directly from the throat of Jello Biafra, shrieking synthesizers, and quasi-religious lyrics. When this combination is used well, like on "The Electronic Church (You Sell God)," the results are quite effective. But weaker tracks, like the barely listenable "Carousel of Progress," are not pleasing, to say the least.

With Loving and Open Arms was supposedly recorded by the ACE (Aural Communications and Entertainment) division of the "Causey Compound," a cryptic collective consisting of "Category C individuals who Believe, who are current on their monthly tithes, and who have accepted CAUSEY's Way as their personal Way." The album's insert serves as an introduction to the "Causey Way," complete with pictures of various "Category C individuals," and a "judgment form."

Unfortunately, while the album's packaging is thematically whole, the album itself isn't. The theme of a pseudo-cult of Causey is hinted at numerous times on the album's better tracks ("Message from the Pulpit," "Fact Finding Mission"). But when the mysterious lead singer, who I'm assuming is Causey himself, screeches "My brother's girlfriend!" at the end of "Word Problems," you find yourself wondering what exactly that has to do with the "Causey Way."

The record has its shtick, though. With a bit more thematic consistency and sonic variety, it could have been a thoroughly nifty album. For now, I'll visit the Causey compound, but I ain't handing over the deed to my house just yet...

-Matt LeMay