Lady Lynch – Self Titled

Nov3

Haunting to the point of being disturbing, sombrely magnetic to the edge of invasive seduction, the self-titled debut album from Austria quartet, Lady Lynch, is quite simply one of the year’s essential explorations especially if your appetite has a hunger for shadow fuelled, dangerously elegant post punk/no wave woven temptation.

Vienna hailing, Lady Lynch consists of Theresa Adamski, Philipp Forthuber, Lina Gaertner, and Christian Sundl. There is little more background wise we can tell you about the band but musically and especially with their new album, a flood of praise carrying words is unstoppable. Individual in character and imagination, their music is something akin to a fusion of The Passions, Au-Pairs, and Lydia Lunch trapped within the band’s own unique web of post punk/no wave taking in further new wave and punk hues. Across ten tracks it provides an inescapably hypnotic lure of brooding intimation and gloom cast atmospherics around riveting vocals as tendrils of sound unite their skilled monotony to seduce ears and imagination. With every listen it has become more impressive and irresistible, addiction rising by their side.

The album opens with Fundamental Friend Dependability. Rising from a sonic squall, the track swiftly drops into an espionage coated stroll, firm rhythms almost taunting ears as vocals and a cold melody entice. It took barely a rush of seconds before the song got under the skin, its sober hooks and participation inciting chorus welcome trespasses alongside the great vocals. A superb start, the track as many across the album suddenly comes to an end, almost as if the release has got bored waiting to uncage its next thrilling incitement but a conclusion which only adds to the drama and tension.

The following Cymbals initially chips away at the senses before sauntering through ears with a gnarly bordering on predatory bassline alongside steady but imposing beats. Tenebrific in many ways, darkly radiant in plenty more, the song matched its predecessor in rapacious persuasion before Schatten Island casts its black and white hued intimation. Drums again provide a bold and influential backdrop, the bass the dark drama while guitar and vocals spring cinematic adventure; it all uniting in a Gang Of Four meets Bauhaus like compulsion.

Through the metronomic swing of Ranciere, a hip manipulator with moments of corroded discord, and the chilling melodic twilight of Noon, captivation only tightened its hold though both songs are soon rivalled in magnificence by the Crispy Ambulance-esque City Falls and all are in turn eclipsed by the Athletico Spizz 80/Pylon flavoured Actors and Networks where rhythms again play the body like a puppeteer as voice and guitar toy with the imagination; it all manna for ears and appetite.

A whiff of Cauldronated accompanies the mechanised corruption that is Tiny Machine while Stairs carrying a similar scent is an escalator of passing shadows and dark contemplation. Both tracks just enthralled as too did closing track Hommage. It is the darkest moment on the album and it’s most beguiling, beauty soaking every unsettled silhouette and slim but richly evocative contour.

Within one listen we were fully ensnared by the album’s caliginous temptation and devious enterprise, its seductive disquiet just as irresistible as its invasion of the senses and thoughts. One word sums it all up, Stunning!

The Lady Lynch album is out now via Cut Surface digitally and on Ltd Ed vinyl @ https://cutsurface.bandcamp.com/album/lady-lynch-2

Pete RingMaster 01/11/2018

Punching Swans – Faces

Oct23

If you have allowed the boisterous noise and feral enterprise of Punching Swans to trespass ears before you will not be surprised to read that as maturity and a new bold touch embraces their latest release, their cacophony of sonic devilment is just as insatiable. Faces is a collection of tracks which stalk the imagination, manipulate the senses, and send the body into blissful spasms whilst courting a whole new level of adventure with the British trio.

Bred in the ever fertile round of the Medway region of Kent, Punching Swans is the creative union of vocalist/guitarist Greg Webster (Houdini), bassist/vocalist Joseph Wise(Frau Pouch), and drummer/vocalist Pablo Paganotto (The Explorer’s Collective). Formed in 2012, apparently “as a dare”, alongside their other projects, the band has simply grown in a sound, taking on inspirations from the likes of from The Fall, Sonic Youth, Bogshed and Mclusky as well as the dark realms of John Carpenter, The League of Gentlemen and The Evil Dead films, their imagination ensnaring releases perpetually earning bigger and keener acclaim. A self-titled debut that first year was a kind of warm up for the greater exploits inside Mollusc two years later. The album reinforced the band’s inimitable sound and creative mischief but flourished as the threesome in many ways ’took things more seriously’ with the project. Its qualities and success was only eclipsed by its successor Nesting in 2016 just as its seriously impressive character and adventure has been put in the shade by Faces.

The new album’s theme is a dark and compelling proposition; the release made up of eleven faces (tracks), each referring to the faces of serial killers. As Webster explains, “They each have a stupid feature for a face which is related to their story… so people who look kinda stupid and are unlikely killers. But then again, who is a likely killer? Can you really tell by appearance? As we wrote each new song they seemed to fit into a particular image of a face and from there we wrote what their particular background story was. We were picturing a kind of Dick Tracy rogues gallery of villains. “

The album opens up with Blood Face, gradually looming up on the senses in a sonic shimmer before a raw wash of voice and sound explodes on ears. The scything beats of Paganotto pounce and swing as a sonic swash of guitar colludes with the rapaciously dark mumblings of bass, a fiercely magnetic union completed by eager vocals. Slipping melodic teasing amongst its ravenous discord, the track is a magnificent and quickly addictive start to an album which only escalated every lure heard with imagination thereon in.

The following Areola Face instantly had hips swaying and appetite’s tongue licking lustful lips as Wise’s throaty bass strolls with dark but infectious intent, a catchiness only accentuated by the more ‘violent’ animation of guitar and beats. Ebbing and flowing in its volatility, vocals following suit, the track provides a caustic flirtation before Strobe Face licks at the senses with a rapid flicker of beats and a sonic sunspot which in turn sparks a slightly corrosive but fully captivating trespass; a captivation only boosted by the singular dance of vocals and beats which escapes before things become more psychotic yet tenderly seductive.

Through the calm but predacious post punk militance of Batter Face and the reserved siren-esque psychosis of Coral Face, animated temptation richly soaked ears; Paganotto’s kinetic swings as conniving and irresistible as the intimation shredding exploits of Webster and Wise’s skilful rhythmic dark saunters, traits fuelling the whole album from start to finish. The latter of the pair has a definite Houdini meets The Fall feel before making way for the simply glorious murderous drama and inharmonious beauty of Cliff Face. Featuring Dan Toms of Bear vs Manero and the biggest treat out of nothing but, the track is simply manna for ears and spirit, unscrupulous rascality at its best.

The following pair of Grater Face and Lady Cheese Face refers to each other, the songs “Romeo and Juliet-style lovers who simply could not be.” The first is a wild slice of post punk ‘n’ roll with a personality something akin to Mclusky meets The St Pierre Snake Invasion while its companion of sorts shows a devious side to its more tamed incursion on the senses. Discordant yet with a sonic elegance which is as threatening as it is alluring, the track is a true predator of a song, getting under the skin with subtlety and flirtation before gnawing away with bloodthirsty relish.

Raw and wolfish, Carpenter Face infiltrates ears next with an almost industrial like hue to its expanding tapestry of lawless noise. A low key serenade with a portentous breeze of sonic duplicity inserts itself in the breaths between it and Face Face straight after, the piece brief and never quite breaking the surface of its limbo before the penultimate track careers in on a rhythmic canter with a sonic mane spraying in its trenchant winds.

God Face completes the release, the song a lure of shadow bound celestial scheming simultaneously tenebrific and radiant round another simply rousing rhythmic incitement from Paganotto and Wise alongside the melodic dissonance of Webster.

It is an enthralling end to a quite superb and increasingly addictive release. Punching Swans has never been as so damn manipulative or devilishly rousing as they are within Faces. It is not only a band at its momentously best but noise rock/post punk too.

Faces is released October 26^th via Skingasm Records; available now for pre-order @ https://punchingswans.bandcamp.com/album/faces

Upcoming live shows:

OCT 26^th LEEDS, Chunk

OCT 27^th LIVERPOOL, Invisible Wind Factory

NOV 9^th LONDON, Aces & Eights

https://www.facebook.com/PunchingSwans https://twitter.com/punchingswans

Pete RingMaster 23/10/2018

Death & The Penguin – Anomie

Aug17

Four years ago contemplating and feasting on their introduction via the Accidents Happen EP, we readily declared it “one of the most exciting entrances in a long time”, further intimating that “Death and the Penguin is the next big and important thing within British rock music.” Even with the release of the Eine Kleine Granatenmusik EP two years later that emergence turning into national attention has seemingly stalled. You can sense though a busy band they are not ones to rush things or just release something unless it is exactly at its prime. That is why their highly anticipated debut album, Anomie has brought intrigue and fears. Extended time can diminish the potency of even the finest things but certainly not in the case of the imagination and sound of the UK outfit.

Described as “off-kilter alternative rock from London”, Death & The Penguin has a sound which teases but never accepts real tagging. At times it is avant-garde in its nature, in others experimental alternative/indie rock akin to a blend of Young Knives and Baddies. In other moments it blazes with an At The Drive In like dissonance yet as proven across the twelve compelling tracks of Anomie it is only unique to the quartet of Tobias Smith (vocals/guitar), Andy Acred (bass/vocals/keys/electronics), Chris Olsen (guitar/vocals/keys), and Phil Gadsden (drums).

The fascinating radiance of Hospital Song opens things up the song a wistful embrace of melancholy and haunting beauty shared by keys and voice within a more inharmonious breeze. It is a startling start to the release, bold and brave but undoubtedly magnetic as it leads to the waiting hands of The Calving Shuffle. Simply sensational, the track has ears and appetite on board immediately with its rhythmic shuffle, guitars weaving their suggestive threads in turn as the darker pulse of the bass groans while its political scything gives extra edge to vocals and its tone, as too more post punk hued sonic scrapes and the gang arousals.

A major highlight of the album, it is quickly rivalled by the angular twists of Kill Saatchi where warm melodies and enticing harmonies wrap its more untamed dynamics. Addressing the insidiousness of adverts and subservience to them, the track firmly nudges the imagination as it coaxes the body with its mercurial presence before Space 1998 has both rocking. One of two tracks taken from that first EP, and it has to be said both thoroughly welcomed and deserving of their place with the new offerings, the song is a spatial serenade with flirtation in its melodic web and tenacious energy in its spiral of craft and enterprise. Having a vocal hook-line which is just irresistible only adds to its majesty.

Colour In Me is next, its initial shimmer punctured by the rhythmic dexterity of Gadsden is coaxing of the richest order and soon backed by just as magnetic tendrils of guitar and Smith’s always gripping vocals. For all its virulent contagiousness volatility simmers in its depths, rising up with restraint from time to time to bring a great contrasting grittiness to the track while Misha Lives presents its magnetism through a slow but catchy stroll amidst electronic teasing and atmospheric drama. The song is a collage of flavours but all merged without clear definition into its post rock/electro/pop croon.

The folk gentleness of Driftwood (God Loves a Bird of Prey) has thoughts slipping away on its evocatively elegant breath, an acoustic flight brought back to earth by the ever addictive roar of Strange Times. The second from Accidents Happen, the song just grips from its first rapacious moment. With post hardcore hinting discord erupting across its melodic cacophony and those previously mentioned Young Knives essences colouring its character, the track continues to be manna to our ears.

Just as potent though is the truly manipulative Abyssinia. Rhythmically and harmonically it lured subservience to its suggestive heart and prowess within moments, tightening its persuasive hold by the second and each creative turn as at its core a wonderfully dark nagging bassline drives and stirs all of the adventure.

The final trio of tracks ensure the lofty heights of the album never the dip, the first of the trio, Leatherface, setting a peak of its own as sonic threat and rhythmic predation colludes with instinctive catchiness and lyrical trespass of emotive scars. Being suggested as a future single, the track is glorious epitomising the individual alchemy of the band’s songwriting, imagination, and adventurous sound.

Was It Kindness? takes on the challenge of following such a gem with its own untethered imagination where keys and voice tempt and taunt throughout as an inner crescendo bubbles up and eases, eventually bursting into a relatively calm pasture of enterprise and not the rousing romp expected; a deceit which works a treat leaving the evocative ballad of Bones to enjoyably conclude one thrilling release.

In some ways such the excellence of Accidents Happen, the quality and adventure within Anomie is not a surprise but everything about the album is bigger, bolder, and so much more irresistibly unpredictable…Another of the year’s truly essential explorations for us.

Anomie is out now and available @ https://datpmusic.bandcamp.com/

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

Pete RingMaster 15/08/2018

Lower Automation – Shoebox Companion

Aug14

Two years ago Chicago trio Lower Automation seared and pleasured ears with their debut EP Maps. Now the band returns with its successor in Shoebox Companion and six tracks which also scorch, disorientate, and simply excite the senses and imagination. In some ways it is more of the same invention found in that first release pushed and taken to a whole new plateau but in far more avenues it is a new rabid animal of sound and enterprise.

Creating a ravenous spiral of math punk and rabid noise which never takes a moment to relax its tempest, the threesome of guitarist/vocalist Derek Allen, bassist Brian Sutton, and drummer Matt Walen use bare seconds to infest ears and peace. As proven by both EPs, it is a welcome invasion which despite its individuality, an essence escalated within Shoebox Companion, breeds part resemblance to a feral mix of Dillinger Escape Plan, At The Drive In, and mclusky.

Shoebox Companion opens up with Coax, a track immediately luring attention though there is nothing gentle or gradual about its initial sonic trespass. The corkscrew of guitar which instantly erupts is seductively violent as too the rampant rhythms which join it. Sutton’s bass is a grumbling joy while Allen’s subsequent vocals are mellow and charming against the building meshuga of sound. It is all though just the trigger to greater disorientation in sound and imagination as the track creatively veers this way and that like a dervish; every one of its spiky wires adding to the pleasure.

It is a glorious start kept in full charge by next up Cattle Prod Hypochondriac. Allen’s voice and guitar ravages the senses from the song’s first breath yet it is an infectious violation driven by the rapier swings of Walen and the ever compelling guttural rumble of Sutton’s bass. Discord and dissonance flood every turn, the tangle of sound as unpredictable as it is virulent across two and a half minutes of inventive chaos.

Tethered has a touch more control to its maelstrom as harmonic strife and relative calm align within the song’s sonic chasm. The irritable incursion of rhythms equally makes for a tempering contrast to the intoxicated antics of the wailing guitar; it all uniting for increasing layers of magnetism before 30 Second Song provides just that but a half minute of carnal magnificence with more than a whiff of early Birthday Party to it.

The final pair of Phil and Phyllis Philler and Swing Flesh ensures the EP’s high never dipped. The first has the body bouncing as the senses cower before its citric assault, both eagerly taking a breath within the song’s post rock nurtured lulls which bring the imagination further into play whilst its successor is a visceral fingering of psyche and anatomy. Its skeletal dance is irresistible, the rhythmic animation addictive, and sonic mutation bewitching; the perfect end to a moment of creative voracity.

Lower Automation powerfully announced its arrival with the psychotic frenzy of the acclaimed Maps, now they have not only underlined their presence but declared themselves an essential proposition with one of the year’s musts in Shoebox Companion.

Shoebox Companion is available now @ https://lowerautomation.bandcamp.com/album/shoebox-companion

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

Pete RingMaster 13/08/2018

Artificially Yours – The Merger

Aug13

Ravenously invasive, teasingly seductive, and verging on the creatively psychotic, The Merger EP is the new three-track offering from British trio Artificially Yours. It is a release which has been eagerly anticipated, especially since the Essex outfit’s recent link up with 1-2-3-4 Records; one which rewards that intrigue with a ferociously compelling dissonance fuelled adventure.

Created by vocalist Chat soon after the demise of his previous project which hailed its departure supporting Killing Joke, Artificially Yours has grown from an initial solo project to the three pronged attack of its founder and the electronic prowess of Grumb and Ad. Their sound is a rabid eddy of noise and imagination; post and garage punk thickly lining its distortion fuelled space rock with the rabid tendencies of many more rich flavours involved. Aligned to a lyrical and vocal trespass invading and echoing the growing dystopian landscape and the controlling selfish hands shaping it, it all makes for a proposition which makes you pay attention and question the world, one’s own thoughts, and indeed the magnetic almost feral incitement the band offers.

The Merger opens with its title track, a senses suffocating smog of sound as corrosively apocalyptic as it is coarsely captivating. Sonic winds buffet ears and imagination as rhythms swing, Chat’s vocals with their invasive threat and echo equally as magnetic within the inventive maelstrom. Swiftly it is an infectious affair and as quickly a debilitating irruption but one with imaginative control to its visceral tempest and raw temptation. Though having its rabid claws in ears and appetite almost straight away, it grew its addictive persuasion by the listen; a transgression on the ‘coffee cup capitulation’ steering modern society , as declared by the band, which just gets under the skin and into the psyche.

The following Terror Town matches its predecessor’s stirring heights with its own fully individual character and prowess. Slowly stirring its body into action, the song slips into a magnetic stroll with a somnambulistic air where post punk seeds and electronic intimation collude. Akin to a fusion of the infectious prowess of Tones On Tails and the carnal dexterity of Big Black wrapped in the wiry strands of The Jesus And Mary Chain, the seductive track is swift and ever increasing intoxication; its own intemperance exposed in great woozy bursts of keys within the vocally dark, rhythmically moody exposé.

Final track, Tree, uncages its own uniquely carnal proposal, one as virulently catchy as it is unapologetically frictious. Its psych rock breeding is smothered in unruly noise and enterprise though neither can diffuse its infectious swing with a definite touch of T-Rex meets Joy Division to its nature and tenacity. Adding yet another distinct eclectic shade to the EP, it makes for a glorious end to one striking release.

Formed last year, Artificially Yours has already been stirring up keen attention and can now expect tides more through The Merger. If the world is going down, it could not wish for a better soundtrack with just a glimpse of a survival plan.

The Merger EP is released August 24^th via 1-2-3-4 Records.

Upcoming Live Dates:

WED 29th AUG – OLD BLUE LAST, Shoreditch

THURS 13th SEPT – THE VICTORIA, Dalston

https://www.facebook.com/artificiallyyours99/

Pete RingMaster 12/08/2018

The Chewers – Downhill Calendar

Jul28

Defying the claws of pigeonholes and predictability with even greater relish and mischief, US duo The Chewers release their new album in the devilish shape of Downhill Calendar. Off kilter rock is pretty much what the band calls its sound and more than anything echoes the captivating web of styles and flavours making up their new release and rock n’ roll.

The Chewers is the creation of Travis Caffrey and Michael Sadler, both West Virginia bred who by chance eventually met up having individually relocated to Nashville. 2010 saw the release of debut album Every Drop Disorganized and the raw seeds of the sound and humour which has grown over subsequent releases and now boldly flourishes within fourth full-length Downhill Calendar.

I’m Getting Thinner starts things off and within its seven plus minutes of captivation entangles a host of flavours from art/avant rock to post and raw punk through to noise and experimental rock. Immediately bass and drums lay down a repetitive lure smothered in sonic lacing and rising acidic grooves. The rhythmic core of the song echoes the prowess of Gang of Four, its sonic side also hinting but expelling a more feral touch and intent. There is an instinctive nagging at the heart of the song, rhythms its main fuel, which epitomises all album tracks; each song almost harassing attention but rewarding with contagion loaded enterprise matched by the lyrical agility and magnetic delivery of the vocals.

Never a labour only an addictive pleasure even at its extensive length, the excellent opener hands ears and imagination over to the following Skin Stay Thin. Its first breath brings an inescapable swing which again is as primal and raw as it is compelling and manipulative. Hooks and grooves spring like leeches at the imagination, a mischievous edge to them all recalling the creative antics of former PiL/Killing Joke/Pigface member Martin Atkins in his Brian Brain guise. Becoming more caustic by the moment it in turn makes way for the electro /noise punk courting of Where Is the Fun?, those wonderfully infernal rhythms again worming under the skin and into hips within seconds. Vocals, words, and guitar swiftly entwine and saunter across that rhythmic incitement, the latter embracing blues grazing to its melodic vines and funk nurtured swings.

Rat Belly crawls through ears next; squirts of brass radiating on its heavy infection loaded lumber. With the song’s step never accelerating, the guitar scorches its flesh as electronic resonance brings its own dark dissonance. Bordering on bedlam but just managing to restrain its mania, the track pretty much slips into the psyche trapping Frankie’s Downhill Calendar. Once more drums lead the incursion, their instinctive agility a puppeteer to physical involvement and a rock ‘n’ roll appetite as the creative toxicity of guitar and imagination sear song and senses alike. As vocals once more unearth their own regular magnetism eighties post punk hues please and intimate but only adding to the individual sound of The Chewers.

Without quite sparking the same ardour for its predecessors Yo Yellow Pig still got attention locked in with its mischief coated swing and blues nurtured causticity while the excellent Then There’s Me offers a corroded blues rock canter as seductively elegant as it is openly mordant.

Both tracks trapped attention with ease leaving I Let the Stooge Loose to bring things to a close with its untamed but masterfully mercurial rock ‘n’ roll. Not only to the closing track but The Chewers’ sound in general, there is a sense of bands like Pere Ubu, Powersolo, and The Residents to its character but as the song proves all essences in something unique to The Chewers.

So if you are looking for rock n’ roll in its most “off Kilter” adventure then Downhill Calendar is a must exploration, indeed one for all fans of the flavours The Chewers twist, corrupt, and use so enjoyably.

Downhill Calendar is available now @ https://thechewers.bandcamp.com/album/downhill-calendar

https://www.facebook.com/thechewers/

Pete RingMaster 24/07/2018

Black Space Riders – Amoretum Vol. 2

Jul26

Though Black Space Riders teased us with the news that the successor to the outstanding Amoretum Vol. 1, released this past January, would also be uncaged this year maybe few expected it to swing into view within six months of its acclaimed sibling. But indeed it has and we for one could not be any more pleased because it is one stunning slab of what the German outfit does best and which is individual to anything else.

As Vol. 1 took the listener into the dark depths and thickly shadowed corners of the modern world with intimations of hope and resolution its successor “explores the tension between darkness (fear, hate, rejection) and light (empathy, love, acceptance).” Their title is a fusion of the words Amor and Arboretum, the band’s symbolic reference to the sanctuary of nature and love. The creative and musical link between the two is strong and open; no surprise with the tracks from both albums written at the same time in 2017 and recorded together, yet Vol. 2 has a devilment in its imagination and body which makes it an even more unpredictable and at times bewildering experience. The second book in the concept flourishes whether standing alone or as a continuation of the first. Its press release asks, “Is Vol. 2 the rebellious older sister of Vol. 1, or the young, untamed brother?” Often it seems like an alter-ego, a kind of Riddler to the first’s Edward Nygma or indeed both making up a sonic Magneto where light and dark entangle for varied shades of captivating character.

The quintet of JE (lead vocals, guitars, keys, electronics), SEB (lead vocals, keys, percussion, electronics), C.RIP (drums, percussion, digeridoo), SLI (guitars), and MEI (bass) have also conjured the most eclectic flavours within their sound across the fourteen tracks of Vol. 2; at times it blazes with punk like ferocity, in other moments trespasses with metal bred inclinations before seducing with pop rock irresistibility and psych rock magnetism with plenty more in store along the way.

Set over six chapters, it opens up with Before my eyes, percussion luring ears into the snarling jaws of the track. Punk, metal, and rock all collude in its grizzled climate, grooves aligning to crisp rhythms as vocals growl. In no time it had the body bouncing and vocal chords gurning, contagion soaking every second of its forcefully magnetic enterprise. The clang of post punk guitars only adds to the irresistibility before LoveLoveLoveLoveLoveLoveLoveLove Love (Break the pattern of fear) slips in on a dark saunter. Initially it shares a Bauhaus like breath before breaking into a garage punk meets alternative rock stroll though, as becomes the norm in songs, it begins evolving by the minute if not the second. If the opener was bliss to the ears, its successor was pure rock ‘n’ roll manna and it proved just the beginning of one exhilarating ride with Black Space Riders.

Next up is Walls away, a far calmer affair with a melodic temperament which captivated from its initial lure. It has a raw undercurrent though which accentuates its elegance breeding, that aforementioned unpredictability lurking at every corner while Slaínte (Salud, dinero, amor) has a Celtic lining to its infectious festivities; an Irish Gaelic inspiration which again had the body bouncing across its primarily instrumental canter sharing “good health”.

Assimilating love leaps in straight after, its punk ‘n’ roll grumble a collision with grungier textures and space rock dynamics as it harasses ears with rousing irritability before In our garden serenades the senses with its melancholic caress. Something akin to the dark rock of Dommin in an embrace with the neo folk of Death in June within an indie sunset, the song is as enthralling as it is sombrely radiant as too the following track, Leaves of life (Falling down). For us the song is part of the pinnacle of Amoretum Vol. 2, though such its lofty heights we continue to debate that point as thoughts change by the listen. It has an energy which infests body and spirit but equally a dark glow which draws attention and the imagination like a moth to flame, and there is a definite heat to the track as its intensity and contagion rises.

Its glory is then more than matched by Body move, a quite magnificent and addictive slice of creative manipulation which has the body swinging to its funkiness and vocal chords clinging to its virulent delivery. Pop, funk, trip hop, and infection do not come any better and wonderfully invasive than this; the imagination as firmly locked into its growing web of drama.

The dub lit and outstanding Take me to the stars had hips swaying without thought within moments next, the song another weave of individual flavours in a wholly unique yet strangely familiar bold croon while Ch Ch Ch Ch pt. I (The ugly corruptor) emerges from a sonic mist to cast psychedelic hues and intimation before Ch Ch Ch Ch pt. II (Living in my dream) draws ears through the former’s growing raw volatility into its own tempestuous heavy rock envelopment, those already in place psych flames and sighs cascading off its feral storm.

The album’s final and sixth chapter is made up of firstly the melodically wired but still gnarly Chain reaction which is followed by the devilish rock pop bred No way. The first of the two did not grab us as its companions but still leaves most tracks heard this year chasing its wake while the rousing second has a whiff of pop, psych rock, and death metal to its inimitably catchy almost fearsome clamour.

Finally The wait is never over concludes the release, the track another kaleidoscope of flavours with echoes of Ruts DC in its dub shimmers and Helldorado in its swarthy atmospherics. It is an initially low key close, a kind of epilogue but one which just transfixes from its irradiant start to its ravenously tempestuous middle on to its apocalyptic climax.

Well Black Space Riders has done it again, had us drooling at their ever startling endeavours. Quite simply Amoretum Vol. 2 is immense in every aspect. It is a treat from first to last wave of imagination and creative devilment but we suggest listening to both Volumes of Amoretum as one for a complete rush of inspiration and pleasure.

Amoretum Vol. 2 is released July 27^th through Black Space Records / Cargo Records on double vinyl (w/ CD), digipack CD and digital formats; available @ https://blackspaceriders.bandcamp.com/album/amoretum-vol-2

http://www.blackspaceriders.com/ https://www.facebook.com/BlackSpaceRiders https://twitter.com/BlackSpaceRider

Pete RingMaster 26/07/2018