“It's a semi-automatic, get in the car/Corrosive heart and frozen heat/We're worlds apart where we could meet/Where the street fold round and the motors start/And the idiot wields the power.” - The Sisters of Mercy
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| Horns up |
New Horizons
17 albums in from Blag Dahlia’s madmen and they’re still as ferocious as ever. This new album sees them dial back the aggressive pop punk and go back to a more hardcore punk sound. As per usual, most songs are under 90 seconds and will make you want to start a fight on public transport but with a smile on your face. Progress, not perfection.
The album can be purchased here.
Darryl Jenifer – The Weather Channel
Now this came out of the blue: Bad Brains bassist returns to his jazz roots for his second solo album. And what a delight it is to report how great it is. Reinterpreting two Bad Brains classics in this style is a genius move to grab the interest of longtime fans, but the later fusions of dub reggae and metal make this album of the month.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
BIG|BRAVE - in grief or in hope
Like their contemporaries (and past collaborators) The Body, Big|Brave continue exploring terrain others won’t touch. This release sits somewhere between drone, dark electronic music, doom metal and post rock. It’s a haunting listen that conjures up so much potent imagery in the mind of the listener but what else would you expect from Big|Brave?
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Earth Motherfucker/Pound Land – Split LP
Reclusive noise punks Earth Mother Fucker have teamed up with prolific noise punks Pound Land to produce an album that is filthier than a junkie’s arsecrack. Melding each band’s interpretation of garage, dub, noise and free jazz, the album is utterly exhilarating as well as being caked in dirt. The perfect record for modern Britain.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Golden Oldies
Although they’ll forever be known as the band Metallica “borrowed heavily from” to create ‘Enter Sandman’, it’s unfair to relegate Excel to this footnote in music history as this LP (containing the aforementioned number) is just as potent and ferocious as anything recorded by their Venice contemporaries Suicidal Tendencies.
The Varukers – Still Bollox But Still Here
Fresh off a reunion tour supporting death metal legends Bolt Thrower, Rat and co. went back into the studio to rerecord some of their eighties oeuvre and what emerged was an astonishingly ferocious record of d-beat punk rock updated for the 1990’s. While the cover isn’t their finest moment, the rest of the LP is. They never topped this release.
Smashing Pumpkins – Gish
Although overshadowed these days by other releases in their discography as well as Billy Corgan’s propensity for cringy behaviour and statements, there is no denying that their debut LP is a gorgeous, dreamlike mix of shoegaze, psychedelia and classic rock. With a fat sounding production from Butch Vig, this album is a joy to dive into.
⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.
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