up and later celebrate drunkenly through the next few tracks of unbridled debauchery. In a mid-CD highlight, Voltaire winks at his colleagues The Dresden Dolls with a hilarious parody of Coin Operated Boy titled Coin Operated Goi (sung in a Yiddish accent, no less!) But alas, like in any good debauched anarchy, the power void leads to the inevitable war. This ushers in a coupling of somber tracks where Voltaire\'s voice, in a more intimate setting, takes on a low, smokey growl reminiscent of Leonard Cohen or Nick Cave. Our protagonist tells his wife (sung by polish chanteuse, Julia Marcell) that he must seek his fortune at sea. This lush and lyrical duet gives way to the second half of the CD in which our anti-hero sets out to sea and bring us all along for the voyage. Along the way are sea shanties, a rousing belly-dancing track and some Tom Waits-inspired dirges and romps. The closing track is a classic Voltaire skewering of society in which our narrator, back in the present day, explains why all of his tales must end so morbidly. Voltaire\'s myspace page has long described him as a \"Renaissance man with Gypsy pirate band\". That characterization has never been as true as it is on \"To The Bottom of the Sea\". His 6th release really delivers the goods. This is an amazing CD. It feels almost like the soundtrack to a musical--I felt as though I was watching the tale unfold before me. It is