The Black Income Interview

Hello and thanks for taking time out to talk with us.

Can you first introduce the band and give us some background to how it all started and what brought you all together?

Hi, thank you for having us….. yes sure…we’re the Black Income a Stoner Grunge band from Denmark…

We started out late 2011, got the idea to change the world with groovy stoned fuzz-metal with melodic a melodic twist… so we got together starting writing song, and experiment with the music before we recorded our first album Noise Pollution…

Had you been involved in other bands before? If so has that had any impact on what you are doing now, in maybe inspiring a change of style or direction?

Yes, we have played in a long line of bands, and sure the musically inspiration we have gotten from other bands, is sure with us to this day… but it wasn’t really what we wanted with Black Income… we wanted a more honest sounding more punky kind of band… we wanted to create something that took start and focused on the music, and not the industry.. meaning we create the music we love, and are not trying to create some certain kind of music, we go with the flow and that’s what music is all about if you ask us, and we think it’s much more fun for the fans to follow a real band, rather than following some studio project trying to fit in at a certain genre of music.

What inspired the band name?

Ohhh we get this a lot… haha

Well it started out as fun thing…it’s always been a part of the music business since the money is not that big for upcoming music… but as time went by our name got more a more relevant, as now a more expression of freedom.. meaning as the systems locks down on all of us, and deciding what you should do…. Black Income is really your only weapon against the system, so thinking off it…if all people stood together and stopped paying their taxes, we would have the power back… and that’s what our name Black Income is to us..

Was there any specific idea behind the forming of the band and also in what you wanted it and your sound to offer?

As we said before, we just wanted to play some honest music, and sure we got some inspiration from the Stoner and Fuzz scene, and sure we have elements of the Grunge era, but we try to do our own thing, and develop our own sound, that’s really what it’s all about for us.

Do the same things still drive the band when it was fresh-faced or have they evolved over time?

We think we still have the same goals really, but sure we developed as a band and go to new places with the music…. and listening to our 2 albums, we think unSOUND is a more mature sounding record than the first one.

Between those releases, how would you say your sound has evolved?

Well it’s hard to say really… we talked about the sound of modern Rock and Metal music today, and we came to the conclusion that we think the sound is too pumped these days, it ruins the experience for the listener, so on unSOUND we aimed to go with a more open and realistic sound, and we did create separate mixes to the Streaming and the Vinyl we released.

Has it been more of an organic movement of sound or more the band deliberately wanting to try new things?

We changed a bit in the line-up, we started out as a 3 piece band, and we’re back at that line-up again… we found that the trio setup is more tight, and the music lock’s in at another level… it’s easier for us to get the riffs packed and tight when we’re only a trio, and as this came to our attention the sound evolved with it… and that’s really where we stand today, with the new release.

Presumably across you all there is a wide range of inspirations; are there any in particular which have impacted not only on the band’s music but your personal approach and ideas to creating and playing music?

Sure we had a lot of influences along the line, but the honesty of the bands from the 90’s sure had a huge impact, not only in the music but also in the lyrics… but also bands like Queens Of The Stone Age with their more desert kind of sound and feel we listened a lot to but also we looked at elements from bands like Fu Manchu and mastodon ….that have a more Fuzz and Metal edge to it..

Is there a regular process to the band’s songwriting?

Usually it’s Henrik our vocalist that writes the basic ideas to the songs, and we normally take the ideas and jam on them, letting ideas flow until we have like a whole track. We tend to keep the basic idea, musicians tend to get bored with their own songs and keep developing them to the worse… we try to keep what got you hooked when you first did write the song, and keep that in mind all the way thru the process of writing.

Where do you, more often than not, draw the inspirations to the lyrical side of your songs?

Well we write about realism, and we get inspired by everyday people and feelings, we aim to write lyrics you can set yourself in center of as a listener, and not pointing thing out like other bands… it creates a more open lyrics universe for the listener, just like reading a book and creating your own pictures.

Please give us some background to your latest release.

unSOUND we started recording in 2017 in Medley Studio with Soren Andersen, and after that we recorded 5 Tracks in Tube IT Studio Denmark, and finished up the album there as well; we did mix and mastering ourselves, we wanted to have total control of things and not just lean back and let some producer take our music somewhere else… so this way we found our way of working in the future.

Give us some insight to the themes and premise behind it and its songs.

Well it’s kinda like we described, but on unSOUND you will find a wide range of different songs, stretching from modern love songs like ‘The Sun’ to the more real songs like our single ‘Loaded Gun’ that tells a personal story to songs like ‘Somethings wrong’ that takes off at the world and the problems we’re facing today.

Are you a band which goes into the studio with songs pretty much in their final state or prefer to develop them as you record?

For us to be able to find the right elements of the songs, we work with the songs before entering the studio, but we leave space to develop things in the recording face as well….

Tell us about the live side to the band, presumably a majorly favourite aspect of the band?

We love playing live, that’s where our music comes to life… we are an energetic kind of live band, meaning we don’t give a F.ck, we are here to have a great time with the people who showed up.. so let’s F…ing Rock out…

It is not easy for any new band to make an impact regionally let alone nationally and further afield. How have you found it?

Well call us old fashion, but we believe that in the end good music will survive, it might take some time, but don’t give up…. We started out in our own country Denmark, and as time went by we found that with streaming and the internet, we gained a lot of love from other countries than Denmark… so with that in mind we decided to go where our fans are and not focus so much on our own country, so for us we get a lot of love from USA and the UK, but also Germany and Sweden. So with this new world, it’s more like don’t spend a lot of time pressing your music onto a certain land or community, go where people like your music instead.

How has the internet and social media impacted on the band to date?

Well social media has changed so much since it started out, when it first started out it was a great tool…today we’re not really sure what to expect from it, it seems like even though fans like your page, they don’t see the news your postings unless you pay for it… and what is it good for then? We think social media will fall back the next years, and streaming services like Spotify will take over that part, and gives more meaning to gather the information with your music.

So you see it as something destined to become a negative from a positive as the band grows and hopefully gets increasing success or is it more that bands struggling with it are lacking the knowledge and desire to keep it working to their advantage?

It’s really hard to say really… but it seems every bands are doing the same, so with all the music and videos coming out all the time, what would we expect from that, and how people react to it…what impacts the upcoming scene the most at the moment, is in our opinion that bigger established bands, don’t earn any money at record sales anymore, and with the streaming fee so low, they are not taking up place at all the venues because that’s where the money is, leaving the upcoming scene not being able to get anything from the gigs they play, it they can get any gigs… so that’s one of the more negative sides to the music business today.. so that leaves upcoming music to struggle with the internet and streaming, breaking thru the noise of bad music being published from every bedroom studio around the world.

Once again a big thanks for sharing time with us; anything you would like to add or reveal for the readers?

Thank you so much… yes just wanted to let you know that you can check out our brand new album on the links below, and we will see you in 2020.

Thank you…

Our brand new Video “Loaded Gun”

YouTube: https://youtu.be/KKNJd9Kg_aY

Shop: Http://shop.tubeit.eu

Social Sites:

Website: http://www.blckincm.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackincome

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackincome/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/blckincm

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5XzUUfJH9hTfcvjInSUytt

Video: https://www.youtube.com/user/BlackIncome

Pete RingMaster 18/10/2019

Watch Clark – Couch

Oct18

photo by Christy Wiseman

The sound of Watch Clark is suggested as being akin to the Seattle indie goth/industrial scene of the early 2000’s but definitely there is also an eighties synth pop inspiration which richly flavours its imagination. It is a fusion which goes to make new album, Couch, one ear grabbing and imagination slab of contagion and very easy to recommend to all electronica embracing ears.

Watch Clark is the solo project of Seattle based musician Paul Furio, a former member of Static Engine and SMP. Founded in 2012, Watch Clark released debut album Perfect Imitation the following year with its well-received successor, First Week of Winter unveiled in 2017. Produced, mixed and mastered by Kasson Crooker (Freezepop, Symbion Project, ELYXR), Couch is the striking successor very easy to see pushing Watch Clark into a far bigger spotlight.

A collection of songs themed by a reflection on relationship, political, and life turmoil, Couch immediately had ears and appetite hooked with opener Misery. The blooming of keys and heavy pulse of rhythmic enticement openly wears a Depeche Mode influence but as swiftly the track reveals its own individual character around the magnetic tones of Furio. Industrial dissonance breaks upon the melodic landscape throughout to escalate the potency of drama within the unapologetically catchy and rousing affair.

The outstanding start to the release is matched by the infectious body and swing of the following Class Actress. Like a blend of B Movie romanticism with Kudzu post punk shadows within a Visage-esque croon, the track like its predecessor is pure contagiousness, its instinctive bounce manna to appetite and body before The Sound of Robots Pooping parades its industrial nurtured dance. As dystopian in breath as it is warmly infectious, the predominately instrumental track proved as much a spark for the imagination as an incitement for hips.

Diversity is a potent trait within Couch and potently shows its creative worth with next up Tansfläch, the track an electro industrial incitement bearing the Neue Deutsche Welle tempting of a D.A.F. alongside the cold wave theatre of a Kraftwerk, while The Darkest Place adds its own individual new wave lined proposal in the varied mix with contagious appetite and dexterity. In voice and sound, Furio lights up ears and speaker with a virulent touch which is hard to ignore in movement let alone pleasure.

The following Cross the Chasm has compelling darkness in its heart and touch which only accentuates its bold almost invasive yet haunting quality while The Act of Wanting offers a flirtatious slice of electro rock which again has energies and limbs hooked like a puppeteer across its purposeful stroll. Each again only adds further sides to the varied electronic prism of the album which Math Grenade emulates with its teutonic breath upon industrial dissonance. Again dystopian hues explore thoughts from within the dark infection and once more Watch Clark had attention glued before the equally arousing Get to Win added its particular electro punk grip on ears.

Featuring a vocal duet with Lark Remy in its haunting sigh, Weakness made for easy captivation. Though the sounds around them only hugged satisfaction it was the vocal prowess of Furio and Remy which most seduced and the way the production alternated between moments when each voice has slight dominance in their union.

Completed by the dark infested instrumental of The Cup of Bitter Fate and the melancholy soaked balladry of Choose, two tracks which lingered to haunt the imagination once sharing their final breaths, Couch is an album which provides a rousing fusion of nostalgia and new imagination which as mentioned earlier can only be suggested as a definite exploration for all with a taste for electronic pleasure.

Couch is out now; available @ https://watchclark.bandcamp.com/album/couch

https://www.facebook.com/WatchClarkMusic https://twitter.com/WatchClarkBand

Pete RingMaster 15/10/2019

Caresses Amidst Punches with a handful of songs

Oct18

With thanks to Shauna at Shameless PR our attention was pointed to a clutch of singles which may have been of interest. What they all proved to be was the source of increasing pleasure and each a teaser to bigger and bolder things.

Firstly as their debut album looms ever near, Los Angeles hailing psych rockers Tombstones in Their Eyes have released a rich temptation for it in the shape of new two track single Open Skies.

The band’s sound is a thick blend of psychedelic and shoegaze bred textures soaked in atmospheric density but offers a further array of flavours in its creative breath. The quartet has already unveiled its attention luring potency through earlier releases and only breeds greater anticipation for that first album, Maybe Someday, with their latest proposition.

Released through Somewherecold Records, Open Skies takes shape from within dark shadows, its fuzzy breath soon enveloping ears with an inviting trespass of sound and intimation. The lead vocals of guitarist/keyboardist John Treanor swiftly bring their magnetic resonance to the melodically cacophonous encounter as the rhythmic stroll of drummer Stephen Striegel and bassist Mike Mason provide a controlled yet tenacious incitement. It is a dense cloud of captivating enterprise, crawling over the senses with sonorous dexterity within a haze flooded soundscape skilfully shaped by the craft of guitarist Josh Drew side by side with Treanor.

The song comes with an alternative version of Dreams, the closing track on that forthcoming full-length. It too embroils ears in suggestive smog, one fuelled by caliginous light and seductive radiance. A siren of temptation the song prowls as it glides across the senses, wrapping the imagination in a post rock/psych rock ambience as physical as it is somnambulistic.

Together both tracks make anticipation of Tombstones in Their Eyes new album a touch on the keen side.

Another band with an eagerly awaited release ahead is Italian rock band Elizabeth The Second and they too have provided a rather tasty appetiser for it in the shape of a new single, the reason for that keen intrigue.

No One Cares is the Padova based trio’s debut single and comes from the Two Margaritas at The Fifty Five EP released this November. Formed in 2018, the band’s sound has already drawn references to the likes of Blur, The Libertines, The Strokes, The Clash, and Franz Ferdinand but as their first release reveals there is plenty of individuality involved in its contagious character.

From the first strum of Ben Moro’s guitar No One Cares has a rousing breath to its catchiness, its swing driven by the lively beats of Luca Gallato and the great moan of Michele Venturini’s bass. Moro’s vocals are soon adding to the infectious proposal on offer, the track’s garage rock toning across a punk ‘n’ roll bounce instinctively anthemic. Every subsequent riff, hook, and roar only accentuates its contagion, the song a striking and easy to devour introduction to Elizabeth The Second and spark for an already impatient wait for their first EP.

Another artist with an album poised to be unveiled is Sebastian Straw, an Italian based musician/songwriter creating a sound with a certain nineties Brit pop edge to its alternative rock breeding. My Friend is the latest single taken from Welcome Yesterday, a track which provides an infectious lure to artist and album.

Keys and guitar caress ears from the start, rhythms soon adding their moody touch before Straw’s distinctive tones spark the heart and more volatile instincts of the track. Already the song is a manipulative incitement with something akin to Richard Ashcroft meets Gaz Coombes to its songwriting and character while strings and keys only add to its contagion and fiery drama, emotion lining every moment.

Straw has been making music since a young age and if My Friend is a potent clue to the endeavours within his first album will be finding some sure attention coming his way.

Finally we have the song Dancing With Death to recommend. It comes from British outfit Noctorum, a duo comprised of guitarist/singer-songwriter Marty Willson-Piper (The Church, All About Eve, The Saints, Anekdoten) and producer Dare Mason. The pair was one of many who severely suffered through the bankruptcy of PledgeMusic with an estimated $15,000 through pledges owed to them. They still honoured all those pledges for the album, The Afterlife released earlier this year, out of their own pocket. Now the band, in order to recoup those funds, are releasing The Afterdeath EP through a GoFundMe campaign, a four track digital encounter with two new tracks and two covers exclusive to pledgers.

Dancing With Death is the teaser for the release, a treat of rock magnetism wrapped in gothic shadows. There is something of The Mission to the song, its quick ear grabbing dexterity fuelled by melodic enterprise and rich imagination. Guitars alone offer a drama which just got under the skin, their twists and turns fluid within that shadowed melodic rock landscape.

The track is superb and reason alone to treat yourself to The Afterdeath EP but potently backed by the other new track in The Mermaid and Noctorum’s covers of The Sound’s I Can’t Escape Myself and Buffalo Springfield’s Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing.

Open Skies from Tombstones in Their Eyes is available now @ https://tombstonesswc.bandcamp.com/album/open-skies with Maybe Someday released through Somewherecold Records on November 15.

https://www.facebook.com/TombstonesInTheirEyes https://twitter.com/tombsinthreyes

The Elizabeth The Second single No One Cares is out 15^th October with the Two Margaritas at The Fifty Five EP released November 9^th; available @ https://elizabeththesecond.bandcamp.com/album/two-margaritas-at-the-fifty-five

https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.the.second.band https://twitter.com/Elizabethe2nd

Sebastian Straw’s My Friend is out now with Welcome Yesterday released 18^th October via Seahorse Recordings.

https://www.facebook.com/sebastianstrawofficial https://twitter.com/SebastianStraw

The Afterdeath EP from Noctorum is available until October 31^st @

https://www.gofundme.com/f/noctorum

https://noctorum.band/ https://www.facebook.com/Noctorum https://twitter.com/noctorumband

Pete RingMaster 17/10/2019

Dead Hippies – Resister

Oct16

®Mathieu_EZAN

Though music constantly sparks the passions whether through new proposals or simply going back to past adventures of pure joy there are some moments which ignite and excite the spirit and imagination like few others. For us one is the new album from Dead Hippies, a collection of tracks which voraciously burrowed under the skin as they inflamed an instinctive hunger for sound.

Dead Hippies is the creative project of Arnaud Fournier, the lead guitarist in The Hint and La Phaze. 2013 saw debut album, Kill Me Sweety, unveiled to a strong critical welcome. Whereas, it had a mainly instrumental landscape emerging from a fusion of rock and electronic enterprise its successor is a thickly bolder affair as noise, post rock, electro and dance-floor sounds collude in a rousing emprise of aural incitement. As with the first release, there is much more to each album’s body than the descriptions given, Resister a tempest of flavour and textures bound in a thrilling contagion soaked trespass further aroused by the diverse tones of Dylan Bendall (Lab°, Schoolbusdriver).

Live, Dead Hippies is unleashed through a quintet of guitars and it is that sonic abundance which fuels the intensity and exploits of Resister. The album opens with Drip Drip Drip, a track which admittedly took longer than the rest to get us hooked once exposed to all yet from its first melodic poking the song proved an itch which had to be scratched and often. Its rhythmic shuffle soon aligned to that initial electronic lure, vocals close behind again picking their shots before it all ignites in sonic dissonance as feral as it is caustic. Bendall switches between hip hop and noise punk dexterity within the repeating cycles of constantly fresh imagination, Fournier’s sounds equally esurient in their challenge and temptation as they evolve through a kaleidoscope of climates.

Get off the Boat follows, the track teasing ears with its opening electronic coaxing around a thick rhythmic pulsing. Melodic wires soon entangle those early seeds, Bendall’s tones moving from composed confrontation to a fiery insurgency as the surrounding enterprise follows suit. Like a mix of Girls In Synthesis and As A New Revolt, the track moves in a jarred shuffle throughout, its eruptions further manipulation of the senses and passions.

Featuring American rapper Mr J. Medeiros (The Procussions, Alltta, The Knives), the album’s title track is next up. It steps from an industrial lined electronic welcome into a prowling slice of Senser-esque rap rock where every second brings stringent observation amidst a consuming galvanic stride of sound. Though unleashed with a certain hand of control it is a ravenous encounter, electronic and punk ‘n’ roll dexterity amassing on a dance-floor bred rapacity.

That Senser like breath continues into the addictively rousing Feel so Freaky, a track which had the body feverishly bouncing like a puppeteer as its mania infested every note and syllable through to each magnetic twist and turn. Its dervish styled antics proved pure virulence from the first breath, a post punk hue only adding to its devilish magnificence before Laugh in Sadness flowered with crystalline elegance in ears. Guitars and keys blossom their intimation hand in hand, tears shared in its imposing shadows as the instrumental spreads and broadens its haunting tension and invasive drama. Compelling from first lure to last, the track eventually drifts back into the darkness for The Little Ones to unveil its corrosive radiance. A PiL tinted toning equips voice and sound as the song strides boldly and menacingly through ears, unrelenting rhythms on invasive manoeuvres as again Dead Hippies burrow deep into the psyche.

Across the swarthy climate of Anna Logue the Alien and the Morricone hued landscape of Tearing Us Apart with a Poisoned Dart addiction to Register only escalated. Once more ravenous electro-dubstep beats pummel as they incite across both tracks, the first of the two entangling that core bait with a web of guitar and electronic intimation as unscrupulous as it is dynamically persuasive, the vocals of Bendall equally as stirring. Its successor takes its time to build to that same rhythmic infestation, but once triggered brings a voracity of sonic turbulence and emotion before expanding both aspects in greater drama and tension.

The album finishes off with firstly the sonically rich ever evolving exploits of Flanger, a dance-floor bred instrumental at times as fearsome as it is incendiary to feet and body grooves and lastly the dystopian realm of Dramatic Control, a piece of music again which invades and provokes as potently as it draws the imagination into aligning its own darkest to that of the track.

Together they provide a compelling end to an album which simply consumed ears and attention not forgetting the passions from the first second and continues to do so which increasing success. There have been numerous striking releases across the year to date but Fournier with Register simply leaves so many of those in the shade.

Register is out now via Atypeek Music / Bruillance.

https://www.facebook.com/deadhippiesdead

Pete RingMaster 11/10/2019

Fathom Farewell – Consume the Earth

Oct16

Fathom Farewell is a band with a growing wind of praise behind them, one sure to be more vociferous with the release of new EP, Consume the Earth. The Boston quartet have emerged from within the melodic metalcore scene but as the six tracks within their latest offering shows, their sound is a far more adventurous and varied blend of metal and melodic rock enterprise.

Since emerging in 2014, Fathom Farewell has forged a potent reputation and fan base with their Decomposition EP in 2017 especially luring strong praise and attention. Live the band has equally impressed as they have shared stages with the likes of Issues, The Devil Wears Prada, Volumes, I Prevail, Currents and many more, supported Sevendust on their 20th anniversary tour, playing upon the Vans Warped Tour four times as well as making numerous appearances at other prestigious festivals. In the midst of their Raid Area 51 US Tour, the band is hungrily nudging far broader attention with Consume the Earth, a hinting which is hard to see not finding some real recognition such its impressive character of sound and craft.

EP opener, Six Feet Beneath, immediately drew keen ears with its initial rally of rhythms and stabbing riffs, melodic enticement swiftly joining that initial potent lure as the song quickly slips into its magnetic stride. Individual dexterity is just as openly and rapidly in evidence, the guitar of Gage Killion and bass of Steve Almona unveiling respectively sharply incisive and contagiously brooding imagination around the equally compelling rhythms of drummer Casey Albiero. Just as striking come the vocals of Alex Cohen, his variety and agility another major captivation to song and sound as the EP gets off to a stirring start.

Its title track follows and is soon showing the same strength of invention and contagious enterprise, its breath and flavouring arguably even more rapacious than within its predecessor as the song surges boisterously through ears. Again metal and rock textures align to be woven into a song thick in melodic prowess and unpredictable ideation whilst embracing more familiar hues to equally enjoyable success. A momentary calm only brings further and richer drama to the track, the same kind of emotively aflame quiet lining Cohen’s vocals ably backed by the harmonic tones of Almona.

As eagerly devoured as they were, Wide Awake took a far bigger swipe at our favourite track choice, its opening voracious tempting as feral as it is melodically seductive and urgently catchy. It is an infectious adroitness which continues to infest the magnetic landscape of the fiery encounter before Mutiny adds its claim to that personal choice honour and ultimately seizes it. A twirling thread of guitar introduces the immediately tempestuous climate and body of the song, its ferocious metalcore nurtured assault inspiring a similarly fierce and untamed eruption in the vocals. There is an instant infectiousness to the rabidity of the song, rhythms again as barbarous as they are a virulent incitement while Killion’s guitar spins another enticing web before melody and harmony momentarily flood the creative and emotive antipathy; subsequently breaking the turbulence again with similar magnetism in a storm of nothing but.

A far calmer but no less heated Cold Beginnings is next, its evocative and melodically lit body exposed to sonic flames and intense drama throughout before the release is concluded by Soul Within The Shadow. The final track is another with drama soaking every note and syllable, its tapestry of sound and imagination ablaze with melodic intensity and technical insurgency. Equally it has an underlying volatility which erupts with ferocious, masterful, and accomplished adventure.

It is a rousing end to a release which only impressed from start to finish with certain and numerous moments that just lit our fires. Welcome world to Fathom Farewell.

Consume the Earth is out now; available through http://www.fathomfarewell.com/store

http://www.fathomfarewell.com/ https://www.facebook.com/fathomfarewell https://twitter.com/fathomfarewell

Pete RingMaster 27/09/2019

Acid Reign – The Age of Entitlement

Oct16

Formed in 1985, British thrashers Acid Reign went on to shares stages and tour with the likes of Nuclear Assault, Dark Angel, Exodus, Flotsam & Jetsam, Death Angel, and Candlemass as well as release mini album Moshkinstein in 1988 and subsequently full-length The Fear and Obnoxious. A final show at the London Marquee saw the band come to an end; that was until 24 years later when Acid Reign returned with a rebooted line-up. Now they have a new album ready to ignite the UK thrash scene, an incendiary device leaving most other offerings this year exposed to its rousing wake.

Like a great many we never had the pleasure of experiencing the band first time around but look set to devour its exploits this time around if The Age of Entitlement is just the beginning of things to come. Led by original vocalist Howard H Smith, Acid Reign thrust a fresh voracious breath upon the metal landscape through their new encounter. Instinctively, thrash metal and its protagonists share a core flavouring as seed to their individual exploits and Acid Reign are no different but they have embroiled it in a host of other rapacious flavours and imagination bred adventures which makes it easy to be greedy for more.

With a line-up completed by bassist Pete Dee, guitarists Paul Chanter and Cooky, and drummer Marc Jackson, Acid Reign quickly gripped attention with the drama of album opener T.A.O.E., a track pushing the senses with its war tempered wall of riffs bound in barbed acidic guitar wiring. With drums banging their own confrontational trespass and melodic flames further igniting its pure temptation, the inspiring instrumental leads to the ravenous jaws of The New Low. Immediately, the second track surges through ears, rhythms a punishing incitement as guitars and bass uncage their own ferocious catchiness. Wired hooks vein the tempest as Smith’s equally manipulative tones further inspire participation in a feral roar which had us quickly and fully locked in.

NewAgeNarcissist equally made brief work of recruiting neck muscles and fiercely flung limbs, Smith’s fierce tones and lyrics riding the insistence with similar dexterity. The swarm of grooves across the song devoured as they sparked the appetite, rhythms just as uncompromisingly fertile before the track unleashes a chorus only the deaf could ignore. Every moment within the ravening song though is pure virulence and creative prowess, qualities just as rampant within next up My Peace Of Hell, a track galloping through ears with nostrils flared and breath aflame. A punk ferocity adds to the theatre of persuasion as too the web of enterprise cast by the ever agile guitars with another galvanic chorus a viral topping to it all.

As mentioned there is plenty that is familiar to the thrash instincts of the band and its songs yet each merges them into a slab of individual confrontation and endeavour as shown yet again by both Blood Makes Noise and Sense Of Independence. The first springs a persistently infectious trespass of groove metal infused, punk dusted, rock ‘n’ roll; essences of bands like Suicidal Tendencies and Infectious Grooves adding to the song’s gloriously insatiable holler while its successor growls with a barbarous grin as more extreme textures infest thrash rapacity. Even so melodic intimation and felicity bare the evocative heart of the song within one tempestuous climate of sound.

The hungrily swung antagonism and contagious face-off of Hardship and the demonic consumption of Within The Woods as ravenous as the Evil Dead themselves simply escalated the grip and impressive presence of the album, the latter eight minutes plus of creative adventure and pleasure nagging sonic acumen while Ripped Apart with carnal intent ravaged and devoured senses defenceless to its almost arrogant catchiness.

The album departs with United Hates, a predacious thrash scourge erupting from a scene of melodic beauty to remorselessly consume and ignite the senses. A deviously crafted yet primal assault of viral thrash brutality, it brings The Age of Entitlement to a close as exhilarating as its beginnings and indeed whole body.

It feels like British thrash is sowing the seeds to another heyday with the strength of releases this year alone, something surely even more certain if others can aspire to the bullish magnificence of Acid Reign and The Age of Entitlement.

The Age of Entitlement is out now via Dissonance Productions; available @ https://acidreign1.bandcamp.com/

http://acidreign.co.uk/ https://facebook.com/acid.reign.thrash https://twitter.com/AcidReignUKAC https://instagram.com/acidreignukac/

Pete RingMaster 11/10/2019

The Cathode Ray – Heightened Senses

Oct12

Four years and a few months on from being wholly captivated by our introduction to The Cathode Ray through the release of their second album, Infinite Variety, the Scottish outfit has done it all over again with its successor, Heightened Senses. It offers a collection of songs which revel in the band’s evolving sound and imagination, a proposition more unique by the release and as proven by their new release, more compelling.

The history of the members of The Cathode Ray, a project emerging from an initial writing collaboration between songwriter/vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Jeremy Thoms and former Josef K frontman Paul Haig, reveals a landscape of enterprise and influential bands. Numerous essences of those earlier exploits could be heard as a rich spicing across the last album which only added to its temptation but its successor has truly found its own unique presence and character, building on the majesty of the last album whilst exploring new individual adventure. Heightened Senses is a sublime set of indie pop songs, though that barely covers the wealth of flavouring they embrace, which so many bands new and existing could learn much from and be inspired by.

Released on ever exciting Scottish label, Stereogram Recordings, Heightened Senses sets out its tone and inescapable persuasion with Memories Of The Future. The first track swiftly gripped attention as an opening thoughtful sonic sigh welcomes the skilled swipe of steel strings amidst the melodic intrigue of guitars. As quickly the darker throb of Neil Baldwin’s bass joins the already magnetic affair, riffs and melodic enticement closely following to fully grip ears and appetite. Thoms’ tones soon stroll the song’s tempting wiring, infectiousness coating every note and syllable as a T-Rex meets Television hue spreads further goodness. The track is superb and if there is such a thing as the perfect pop rock song it has to be a contender.

The following Love and Death soon shows it is just as able to ignite body and imagination, its opening Orange Juice-esque jangle and Bluebells like swing across pungent dance-floor natured rhythms just the beginning of a contagiousness which advances through ears effortlessly as guitarists Phil Biggs and Steve Fraser match Thoms’ creative dexterity and join the synth prowess of guest Alex Thoms. With the beats of David Mack a perpetually welcome hounding of movement, the song simply had us bouncing before Another World seduced with its swaying croon of melodic temptation. With a chorus which almost mischievously had vocal chords in participation in between times of haunting radiance with its own instinctive catchiness, the song beguiled with ease.

A Difference Of Opinion brings funk scented boisterousness to its melodic shuffle next, a whiff of Talking Heads spicing its flirtatious body. There are so many aspects to The Cathode Ray’s sound which draws you in, here guitars and harmonies leading the way with their tender touches amidst contagious enterprise. As those before it, there is only a compulsion on body and instinct to join the fun while Days Away with a similar effect on hips seduces with a gentler but no less virulent slice of pop imagination. Both tracks had us keenly involved and greedy for more yet are still slightly eclipsed by the album’s Arctic Monkeys/ Scritti Politti tinted title track. The band’s new single teases as it tempts, arouses as it dances in ears with Thom’s vocals as ever across the release a coaxing very easy to line up with.

Though it is hard to pick a favourite track within Heightened Senses, the Pixies meets Weezer antics of Make Believe and the ska ‘n’ pop of Before The Rot Sets In each set a firm grip on such choice. The first featuring the backing vocals of Robin Thoms is cast within post punk shadows but is as bountiful in melodic light and dextrous contagion as anything heard this year whilst its successor with a Police like shimmer courts and enslaves pleasure and imagination from start to finish as guitars spread their new wave/ rock ‘n’ roll hooked webbing around a chorus, graced by the additional tones of Laura Oliver-Thoms , refusing to take no to its consuming catchiness.

The Past Is A Foreign Land completes the line-up of temptation with its heartfelt balladry nurtured on melancholy and hope. It is a song with sixties breeding to its breath and melodic seduction in its voice. A song maybe without the invasive agility of many of its companions but seduced to similar heights nonetheless.

To be honest there was a thought at the time that The Cathode Ray would struggle to match let alone outdo previous Infinite Variety ahead but a thought very quickly thrown aside by the exceptional Heightened Senses.

Heightened Senses is out now Stereogram Recordings; available at https://stereogramrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/heightened-senses