The Litanies of Satan

NPR ranked the record as the #111 greatest album made by a female artist, saying:

The iconoclastic pianist-vocalist Diamanda Galás grew up in a sheltered household where she wasn’t allowed to listen to the radio. Her escape became music, in a way; Galás played piano from a young age and was talented enough that she started performing with the San Diego Symphonic Orchestra at age 14, but she was forbidden from singing. There is no voice like the terrifying, terrific one that Galás possesses, though, which has been said to span eight octaves. It was bound to unleash itself into the world at some point, and it did in 1982 when she released her debut album, The Litanies of Satan. The album is comprised of two long pieces: The eponymous ‘The Litanies of Satan,’ which holds its roots in Charles Baudelaire texts, and the piercing rattle of ‘Wild Women with Steak-Knives (The Homicidal Love Song for Solo Scream).’ The album, which clocks in at twenty-eight spine-jolting minutes of Galás’s wheezing, whispering and rhythmic wailing that can be heard into the next lifetime, is one of the most singularly influential avant-garde recordings to make its way out of hell and into our world. Artists including PJ Harvey and Zola Jesus have been shaken by The Litanies of Satan, thanks to Galás’s stupefying vocal acrobatics — which suggest anything is possible if you dare to pick up a microphone and start screaming.