The Top Twenty Noise/alternative releases which had The RingMaster Review lustful in 2014

Since co-founding and being the raging roar of punk band Crass in 1977, Steve Ignorant has challenged and examined life and society with voracious intent. It is a constant part of his art whether music or in other mediums, a skilled confrontation which never loses its potency it seems, certainly taking his new band and release, Love And A Lamp-Post ,as the freshest example. Slice Of Life is an acoustic project employing poetry and spoken pieces within a maybe best described as folk street punk embrace. It is a fascinating window upon life, a snarl at prejudices and wrongs with gentle personal contemplation. The album ebbs and flows in potency at times but at no point are ears and thoughts less than thoroughly involved and wanting more.

Slice of Life sees Ignorant linking up with pianist/vocalist Carol Hodge who also worked with Ignorant on the Last Supper project, guitarist Pete Wilson who again was part of Last Supper, and upright bassist Lucas Martin. The result is a release which swiftly sparks the imagination as it makes its reflections and incisive commentary on a life we are all part of in some form or other.

The album’s title track starts things off, a caress of acoustic guitar soon lying with a pungent expression of keys and dark bass shadows as vocals provide the crooning narrative. It is a tantalising proposition, melodies a tangy hue to the plainer but no less magnetic and eventful tones of Ignorant. There is a drama to the lyrical and musical character of the song which is more black and white TV play like than cinematic but certainly a visually sparking essence soaking the whole album and is reinforced as the opening of next up Killing Time lures with a smiling street bred skit. It reminds of the Johnny Wore Black album Walking Underwater from earlier this year which employs samples taken from a documentary based on the streets and real everyday life. As the opening to the second song leads into its captivating heart, the track also reminds and confirms something Ignorant said about Love And A Lamp-Post recently; “Years ago I read a book called Brighton Rock, for days the atmosphere of that story stayed with me and I’ve always wanted to create an album that would have the same effect on people.” Blessed with siren-esque harmonies from Hodge which seduce as this time Ignorant’s expression of piano keys colour his potent words, the song makes it easy for thoughts to slip into the small and imposing creative theatre and inescapable honesty of its incitement. The track mesmerises the imagination much as its successor Happy Hour with its initial sixties like melodic temptation leading to a more sultrily exotic 86701 stroll of radiant keys and smouldering chords. The piano of Hodge is a lingering tempting providing rosy colour to the rawer reality of vocals and seductive bass.

Next up is You, a short spoken prose piece pointing an uncompromising finger at portions of society and those who govern it. Thoughts bring forth references to the recently released Waging War album from UK punks The Duel, which used a similar ingenuity to matching success between and to open songs. It is a potent piece benefitting from its brief presence, a short sharp poke before Here I Stand steps forward with its guitar and vocal questioning. It is richly effective bait for thoughts but spreads further into the passions with the delicious flames of trumpet provided by Dave Land.

Eleven Chimneys is like its predecessor a song which opens with strong appeal but finds greater compelling persuasion as other elements join the spine of provocative vocals, this time it being the temptress like harmonic breeze of Hodge, her voice as virulent a lure for ears as her rigorous piano charm and Ignorant’s lyrical prowess. The song serenades as it opens its personal angst, bass and guitar adding varied shades to the elegant yet unfussy nature of the excellent encounter.

From the wonderfully anthemic The Way Things Are where everything resourcefully colludes to raise an emotional call to arms, the album moves into the riveting spoken tale of The Home Coming. It is a sublimely descriptive portrait of a lonely soul, memories and bleak hues of life the persistent scenery for the heart of the track’s protagonist. With slim but complimentary hints of piano, the piece is a powerful moment on the album, though not one personally to explore with every listen of Love And A Lamp-Post, more a moment to use sparingly to keep its potency at full strength.

Final track Slice of Life leaves imagination and ears basking in another masterfully crafted embrace of low key but vivacious melodies with passion fuelled and uncompromising words. The song is an irresistible finale to an enthralling and thoroughly enjoyable release. There has been no diminishing of Steve Ignorant’s discontent and ability to challenge society’s ills over the past three decades and more, it just comes with broader invention and absorbing adventure as proven by the excellent Love And A Lamp-Post, which as the band name says is just a warts and all Slice Of Life.

Love And A Lamp-Post is available now via Overground Records @ https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/love-and-a-lamp-post/id925320410

https://www.facebook.com/SteveIgnorantSliceoflife

RingMaster 02/2/2014

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Rubella Ballet – Planet Punk

Posted by RingMaster on May 26, 2014

It is probably fair to say that most punks know the history of, impact, and importance to the genre UK’s Rubella Ballet has made since forming at a Crass gig in 1979. Built around the nucleus of Sid Truelove and Zillah Minx the band brought intensive colour musically and visually to an anarcho/gothic punk scene. Their subsequent course saw the band perform two John Peel sessions and release from the first dramatic Ballet Bag cassette only unleashing of 1981, a trio of albums, and a mass of singles and 12” encounters as well as numerous collections. Live the band toured and supported the likes of Crass, Death Cult, and the Poison Girls amongst a great many whilst helping upcoming bands such as Ritual, Sex Gang Children, Ausgang, and Skeletal Family. As said most know the background to Rubella Ballet and their presence, the band summed up recently as, “They were the band who bridged the gaps between The Sex Pistols, X Ray Spex, and Crass.”

That is history though, important but belongs to the past. What is relevant to the now is the release of their new album Planet Punk, the first release of new material since 1986’s album If, an album declared by the majority as their finest moment. That was until the uncaging of Planet Punk, a quite extraordinary and fascinating provocation which sits boldly on the frontline of the pinnacle of punk releases in recent years. A release which provokes thought, passions, and feet like an ingenious puppeteer; a sonic devil which sits on the shoulder inciting and teasing until it has wormed under the skin and is riding the psyche in an irrepressibly diverse punk rodeo. Sid Truelove and Zillah Minx have conjured one of the most riveting and invigorating rebellions to sit alongside the likes of the recent Steve Ignorant with Paranoid Visions album When…? and the new Waging War full-length from The Duel as important propositions within punk rock.

From the opening title track the London band and release strikes at the heart of world and social wrongs, the like of banks, the illuminate, RB cover and the Hillsborough Stadium disaster amongst many things under a spotlight in the fifteen track creative tempest. The songs never preach and shove opinions down the throat though, just inform, inspire, and give their own premise. The first song instantly takes the listener and imagination back to the band’s early days, its old school stomp and breath a pervading suasion entwined with middle finger bred grooves and combative vocals which have a modern day eyeballing maturity. With sharp hooks and fiery dynamics, the song is a glorious spark to set Planet Punk off, its title track an instant trigger to the agonist dormant in us all.

The excellent start is swiftly matched and pushed to a new plateau by both All Potential Terrorists and Run Run. The first, spawned by 9/11, thrusts angry riffs and rapacious rhythms at the ear as the magnetic tones of Minx ripple with intensity and antagonism. Clad in contagious resourceful sounds, the track rampages irresistibly but then twists the scenery into a delicious darker incitement as Truelove adds his vocal suasion into a mix now coursing with warnings and sirens as well as startling enterprise. It is hard uncompromising rock ‘n’ roll at its best, guitars flaming with a reserved yet bright flame within the imposing scenario. Its successor stalks and prowls around its victims, the banks. Again samples as in the previous pair colour the landscape, their information courted by throaty basslines and predatory riffs which Minx manipulates further with her vocal confrontations. There is a raw air to the song; every aspect ablaze with a caustic glaze which only adds to the narrative whilst within the unrelenting menace the essences of bands like Fatal Microbes and The Molesters only enhances the pleasure.

The album continues to get stronger and more dramatically thrilling as each track infests senses and imagination, the next up Killuminati climbing another step with its voracious heavily weighted riffs which ooze ravenous hunger. The rhythms are just as full of rabidity but as ears succumb to their pressure the band suddenly explodes with a kaleidoscope of invention and ingenuity, the imposing Truelove vocal lead joined by soaring flumes of Minx’s symphonic seduction. At its core the track is an antagonistic brawl but with all the riveting twists of invention now at play equally soaked in the predation which drives the song from the start, the encounter is one of those moments you can only use the word classic for.

The bewitching Pandora’s Box has its designs on that mantel too, and achieves it with a sirenesque portentous hymn. It is a song which seduces and slowly swarms all over senses and passions, a mix of Siouxsie and The Banshees and The Duel, but as in all cases any references are just a hint to the startling originality. The album’s greatest offering, the track is as sinister and compelling as the science it is prowling, Minx at her glorious whilst the songwriting and invention of the band could be best described in literary terms as Frankenstein meets Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Both the equally chilling and ominously glazed Anonymous and the insatiable Hellbilly Heroin fire up body and emotions next, the first a captivating slice of bleak cyber punk and its successor, a track seemingly looking at Truelove’s own health problems and issues with drugs, their effect and ownership, is a honest and uncomplicated punk rock roar which pulls no punches. Both songs without matching the previous tracks, a level always going to be hard to maintain, easily ignite another wave of hunger in the appetite for the album which Bio Hazard instantly reinforces with its accusing web of sonic enterprise aligned to the temptress tones of Minx, its bait and lyrical canvas enthralling.

Through the absorbing stark infectious lure of Silver Or Lead, a song with aspects of calling All Astronauts to its presence, and the heavy rock smog of Wonderful Life, the album continues to find new impressive ways to light the passions, the second of the pair an incitement thick in intensity and robustly smothering sound which is speared and lit with the oppression tempering croon of Minx. It is a mouthwatering intimidating mix which is equalled in success by the coarse pop punk vivacity of You’ll Be Sorry and then the crunchy charred sound of Sedition. Both tracks in their unique ways embroil sounds of the late seventies and modern multi-flavoured punk into an irresistible uncompromising proposition. It is fair to say that the album is not as strong in its latter stages as its blisteringly inventive start, the songs at this point, more direct and straightforward then strikingly dramatic but still wholly addictive.

The final trio of songs are a mixed bag starting off with the outstanding Victory For The Victims. The imposing heavy bass within seconds flicks the switch to return the imagination to the heights which opened the album, quickly contradicting our just mentioned thought at that point. It is a minimalistic song in many ways looking at Hillsborough, but stunningly effective as it enslaves and invigorates thoughts and emotions. Its triumph is then matched by the brilliant Vampire Wedding, a dark gothic waltz equipped with Sister Of Mercy like rhythmic seduction and Sunglasses After Dark shadows which is then transformed further with bloodlusting angelic charm and vocal imagination.

The album concludes with Starship Transporter, a spatial flight of acidic colour and celestial sonic weaves narrated by Minx. It is a decent enough song but fails to come anywhere near the other tracks on the album though admittedly it still makes a provocative and skilfully sculpted end to an exceptionally tantalising and thrilling release. There may be a vast amount of time between new material but Rubella Ballet has not been resting on laurels instead designing and honing an evolution of presence and sound which in so many ways sets a new template for punk bands and fans to been inspired by. Planet Punk is the band’s best release with ease and a definite album of the year contender.

Planet Punk is available via Overground Records on all formats now!

https://www.facebook.com/rubellaballet

9.5/10

RingMaster 26/05/2014

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The Duel – Waging War

Posted by RingMaster on May 21, 2014

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On the back of their previous impressive album alone, the new full-length from UK now wave punks The Duel has been one of the most highly anticipated releases in the genre this year and the last to be honest. Its impending arrival has sparked an almost feverish excitement and on the ‘eve ‘ of its unleashing it can be revealed that all your hopes and wishes for the band’s fifth album will have fallen short of what it magnificently uncages on the ears and passions. Consisting of nineteen mentally and physically impacting and inspiring tracks, Waging War is a glorious new and inventive adventure from a band which is no stranger to pushing itself, the listener, and punk into new potent grounds. The London quintet on the evidence of their album has quite simply found a new maturity and mouthwatering enterprise to songwriting and sound which only makes the future even more exciting.

The Duel has come a long way from that first meeting between vocalist Tara Rez and keyboardist Andy Thierum, after Tara applied to an ad in Melody Maker. From the joining up creatively and the founding of the band, The Duel has unleashed a quartet of albums which have one by one increased its stature and reputation whilst forging a status as one of the most inventive, passionate, and socially vocal emerging bands in UK punk. Debut album Let’s Finish What We Started in 2007 instantly drew strong attention which Childish Behavior two years later pushed to another level, but it was the 2011 All Aboard The Crazy Train which brought a more intensive spotlight upon the band. A year later the boldly experimental but still rigorously enthralling Soundtrack To The End Of The World (Story Of Zak Splash) revealed the eagerness to really push themselves and expectations. The acclaimed release set a new benchmark for the band whilst challenging fans to evolve with their sound, which they did with rapturous passion for the main. Waging War takes those seeds planted in its predecessor to a far loftier template for band and modern punk whilst simultaneously also embracing decades of punk and its origins. The result is an album which is as addictive and infectious as anything from the seventies with barbed hooks a plenty and as melodically seductive as any pop punk /new wave triumph release from the following decade. It also simultaneously provides a scintillatingly new and experimental adventure bred in the now. It is a richly stimulating encounter which puts The Duel on the frontline of punk rock.

The first striking impact from the album is the use of poetry and prose in between many of the songs. It is a potent and highly provocative ideation which wakes and stirs up thoughts and emotions time and time again. It is not just words though as each piece is wrapped in an embrace of diverse music which colours the dramatic and enthralling canvas set by the voices. Provided by Tara and guests Angie Bowie, Segs Jennings (The Ruts/Ruts DC), Ginger Coyote, and Dennis Just Dennis, those particular tracks slip easily and perfectly between songs which add depth to the spoken narratives and vice versa. The pieces share the same titles as the songs they precede, with Breakaway starting off the album. Keys elegantly court the poetry of Tara as a portentous atmosphere spills its breath around them. As with them all it is a proposition in itself, not an intro but a companion to the song itself which emerges from a great scuzzy electro mist from Andy with rigid rhythms from Pumpy and guitar grazes from Thanos Oscar Pap. It is a less than forceful start but one soaked in dark oppressive drama caressed by the croon of Tara which captures the imagination and an immediate appetite. As the song settles in thoughts a switch is flicked and urgency and energy accelerates to an eager stride which only reinforces the exciting start to the album.

From another piano led skirting this time to an Angie Bowie brewed narrative, Feel The Same dances with raw sonic flames and agitated the duel rhythms around the throaty tones of Chris McDougall’s bass and Tara’s potent vocals. It is an absorbing slice of anthemic rock pop, keys teasing and kissing throughout as energies romp with feisty appetites. An essence of old school punk breathes across the encounter but not as loudly as in the following Gotta Hold To Love. There is a sterner rough edge to riffs and rhythms from the start which the vocals and subsequent quaint twang of keys soothe though at times certainly Tara roars as potently as the guitars. The song is in many ways epitomises The Duel, the band able to produce the most virulently addictive and contagious propositions without the blatant and obvious use of candied hooks and predictable lures.

Things continue to grow in strength and pleasure as Under The Thumb next swaggers into ears. Once more the grouchy sound of seventies punk spices up the exceptional track, a X-Ray Spex toxicity igniting imagination and passions whilst guitars sculpt a web of virulently persuasive textures and simply irresistible bait. Its glory is swiftly matched by Brotherhood which comes after another deeply registering piece of word and sound. Opening on a rich earthy bassline, the song soon wraps the senses in an epidemically alluring groove which is then itself coated in the vibrant vocals of Tara. Atmosphere and sound intensifies as the song spreads its intent, riffs and hooks as an enthralling trap within a blazing web of creative suasion which equally nets everything from ears to emotions.

The first part of Light At The End is an instrumental with gloriously orchestrated structures which proves music itself can be as poetic as words. There is drama, mischief, and expressive endeavour to the piece which in some ways makes the song itself slightly underwhelming initially but with punchy beats and bass prods, the coaxing vocals of Tara and Andy, and the latter’s glassy keys invention the song is soon riding thoughts with relish and mesmeric enterprise. As with most tracks, its body is impressive and gripping but it is the small twists and slithers of ingenious imagination which means things evolve into something truly special, the unpredictable breaks and turns in the direction of the song and the unexpected vocal detours adding delicious extra spice as the song reaches its peak.

Colours next explores with keys which are almost Stranglers like at times as a rosy psychedelic glaze soaking the senses. With a gritty persistence from vocals and rhythms aligned to scorching sonic flames, the song is a riveting protagonist if not quite at the heights of certainly the previous pair of tracks. Both Salesman and Gimmi Your Thing are similar, the pair insatiable with strains of vintage punk simplicity courted by raw hunger of dirty rock ‘n’ roll but lacking the spark to light a major fire in the belly, though each still leaves a vigorously satisfying and compelling presence lingering in memory and emotions.

The album is back on its highest pinnacle with Urgency, an incredible anthem which lures total allegiance through a smouldering coaxing rather than all out lines of hooks and riotous bait but still achieves the same highly successful results. It is a masterful recruitment emulated to the same degree by Love Me Or You Don’t. Merging a reggae swagger with electronic discord and dub teasing, the track is a constantly twisting weave which never relaxes or lets the listener’s senses rest into one inviting premise, instead offering a magnetic and thrilling off kilter waltz which adds another inventive exciting turn in the call of the album.

Closing on the challenging incitement of War, it coming in two equally imposing and vigorously pleasing parts, Waging War is a dynamic fusion of passion induced imagination and bold invention scaling new inspirational heights for the band. The production of the release comes as its predecessor with a hollow essence which ensures everything resonates in touch as well as premise, meaning intensive cloudy essences thicken and flames find a chilled starkness and it works a treat. The Duel has been to the fore of European punk for many a year but with Waging War they are taking on the world and we for one would not bet against them after this triumph.

http://theduel.co.uk

http://www.ffruk.com

9.5/10

RingMaster 21/05/2014

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Trioxin Cherry – Let’s Take Off And Nuke The Site From Space

Posted by RingMaster on April 29, 2014

TC Photo by Holly Monroe

The excellent Hell To Pay EP in 2012 more than suggested that its creators had the potential to make a big mark on the UK punk scene but Trioxin Cherry go far beyond making a mere potent impression with their debut album, unleashing one of the real treats of the year so far. Let’s Take Off And Nuke The Site From Space is a virulent contagion of rock ‘n’ roll, a brew of garage and horror punk which sculpts its own identity whilst insatiably working on senses and passions. Carrying hooks like a gunslinger and grooves like a nocturnal temptress, the release is punk at its riotous inventive best.

The Nottingham bred trio as mentioned made their first sizeable impression with their Hell To Pay EP, a raw and magnetic five track release which stirred up eager attention and support for the line-up of guitarist/vocalist Rebecca Campbell, bassist/vocalist Pete Grady, and Ryan Murphy on drums. Their two song contribution to the Chainsaw Ballads split with Thirteen Shots and Razing Hell only cemented their promise and an eager appetite for their presence and sound. The releases certainly hinted at the possibility of big things ahead from the band but may be not to the extent offered by Let’s Take Off And Nuke The Site From Space or certainly as soon as its release. Since the recording of the album Murphy has departed the band to be replaced by Nathan Hart but he has left being part of a massive breakthrough and step for Trioxin Cherry.

The raw energy and intent of the previous releases has been retained in the new album but honed into a concentrated and clear proposition TC cover which simply ignites ears through to passions from first track to last. After a Japanese spoken intro, opener Baka Manko thrills and catches the imagination by surprise. Also sung in the oriental language, the song bursts into view like a robust caped crusader, muscles flexing and energy brewing for a riot. Riffs stride purposefully and rhythms stomp with crisp sinews but not for the last time it is the bass adding the danger to the character of the song. It has a grizzled throat to its prowl, a gnarly air which is infectiously toxic alongside the similarly virulent riffs and soon to charge vocal declarations. As to what the song is about who knows, but it matters not as the romp is irresistible and an open call to feet and imagination to climb on board with the awaiting rampage.

The brilliant Fly, Bill Murray! steps up next, riding on a rigid spine of grooves from bass and guitar punctured by again firm rhythms. It is a composed yet hungry stroll of rock with nostrils flaring in its intensity and inventive chorus. The song sees the band just as keen to twists vocals and harmonies as they are their sound, but never taking its foot off of its anthemic potency as it roars and badgers as a fiery climax comes into view before making way for the equally voracious Psycho Killer. Campbell takes little time to unleash a masterful howl as the new track establishes a predacious stalking of the senses, guitars climbing over ears with hungry riffs as the bass again bringing a bestial growl to the scenery. Caged by a similarly intimidating stroke from the drums, the song crowds and pressures the senses until submission is inevitable, wiry hooks and that grizzled bass temptation only adding to the addictive lure with Campbell’s vocals the icing on the bloody cake.

It is a massive start to the album which only builds and seduces the further you go, Good Day To Die the next triumph in line to steal the passions. Campbell brings her Fay Fife like tones out for the song, backed by some great vocal shadows from the band. The track is a real predator, lurching and glaring with withering riffs beside antagonistic rhythms, but it is the glorious twisted surf rock toxicity of the emerging groove which is the most venomous and scintillating temptation and helps send the track to the top of the pile.

Both the melodically sinister Wrong Turn and Let’s Take Off continue the slavery of thoughts and emotions, the first a blaze of discord kissed sonics and pacey beats lorded over by the ever fine tones of Campbell and plays like the result of a demonic act between The Rezillos and The Duel. The second of the pair launches from another deliciously primal bass sound, guitars soon replicating its lure in their own colours. The song swings and saunters belligerently as it gives the kiss of death to the world below, adding its rapacious stomp to the dust.

A reworked version of the acclaimed title track from the band’s EP comes next, Hell To Pay crafted into an even stronger and irresistible enticement than before. Cored by a sultry groove which worms under the skin within seconds, the bass again providing its own addictive dark poison, the song manages to brew richer hues and darker corners to it’s just as epidemically contagious incitement, a success matched by another revisit to a track from the previous release, Hit Me. This track again develops new toxins and depths to its original premise but also an even greater aggression to its defiant spite and avenging intrigue. With another groove which simply winds so tight around the passions that lust bleeds from pores, the track is quite magnificent and with the previously mentioned song makes the atmosphere tough for the song splitting the two to contend with. Not that the old school punk bred Ratbiter notices as it rampages with relish, riffs and rhythms abrasing with contentious brawls and badgering as ridiculously catchy hooks and another bass exploit provide something more to drool over. It is the storming chorus though that clinches the deal, its venom and enterprise sensational.

You Belong To Me is the most adventurous song on the release but also pleasing ‘messy’. Like a fog of intense sonic squalls and thickly clouded aural animosity, the song is the soundtrack to hell, a caustic hymn to the outbreak of ravenous cemeteries and waiting devastation. It’s a noisy maelstrom which works a treat and shows more of the adventure of the band and further hints of how strong the band is yet going to become.

The album is completed by the excellent Rebellion, a storming ode to the renowned UK festival. Starting with an acoustic caress of Campbell and guitar, the track explodes into one last stomp of punk rock. It is the perfect anthem to close the release, like a mix of Holly and the Italians and Flogging Molly. Do remember to hang on after its conclusion too, as a great acoustic version of the same track is hiding in the silence.

Let’s Take Off And Nuke The Site From Space is a massive festival of punk rock, multi-flavoured and diversely sculpted and proving that punk is always an essential proposition and Trioxin Cherry one of its new masters.

Let’s Take Off And Nuke The Site From Space is now available on STP Records (www.stprecords.co.uk) and @ http://trioxincherry.bandcamp.com/album/lets-take-off-and-nuke-the-site-from-space

https://www.facebook.com/trioxincherry

10/10

RingMaster 29/04/2014

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Boy – Darkest Visions

Posted by RingMaster on April 19, 2014

boy 2

Imagine a mix of The Angelic Upstarts and UK Subs with an equally potent blend of Rocket From The Crypt and Turbonegro, and you have a sense of Czech punks Boy and the body of their outstanding debut album Darkest Visions. Fusing old school British punk with a touch of glam and raw rock ‘n’ roll, band and release make a dramatic entrance to a worldwide market with their Rebel Sound/Voltage Records released rampage. It is an encounter which has a welcome familiarity to its brawl but just as strongly a unique breath and substance which marks out Boy as a band with a potentially mighty future within the world of punk rock. The band name suggests wishy-washy media friendly teen pleasing blandness, what you get is raw antagonistic punk rock of the finest order.

There is little we can reveal about the background of the band with any available bio offered in Czechoslovakian, but they are a quintet from Brno who have previously released a three track 7” EP via Voltage Records last year and before that had a track on the 2012 compilation Brno stále v plamenech (Brno Still In Flames). Their new full-length is produced by Turbonegro’s Tommy Akerholdt and features numerous guests including Ronnie King (who has worked with NOFX, Rancid, Offspring, Snoop Dog) on piano, Shawn Smash (Total Chaos) on guitar, Daniel Marusack (Chancers) on flute, Theresa Kovalová (Calm Season) on cello, and Martin Maleček (ex – Centaury ,SRK) on conga. That piece of info alone tells you the flavoursome design and sounds bursting from within the punk bred tempest, though the album starts off with a more straight forward belligerent sound.

The title track opens things up with a fiery welcome, hooks blazing vociferously within the ears whilst vocal samples bred from 9/11 place front cover the drama of the release. It is a heavy weight welcome with sinews building up their intent and intensity ready for the following I Need Your Hate. The second track is immediately snarling and gnawing at the senses, riffs bordering on carnivorous and rhythms an imposing barracking. The excellent rough vocals roar and confront with a voracity which matches the passion of the sounds around them, the song further flaming with seductive melodies from within its rapacious onslaught. There is nothing dramatically ground breaking about the song but with impressive individual skills, a scorching solo, and anthemic band vocals it is an irresistible proposition.

Never Break Us Down binds the imagination next with an instant addictive groove, a lure aligned to numerous sharp hooks and that again virulent anthem seeded suasion which already the band proves they are expert at sculpting. The resourceful romp offers that earlier mentioned RFTC comparison as well as holding a touch of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones to its catchy temptation, both elements re-occurring across the album and adding extra spice to the outstanding raucous charge of punk ’n’ roll. It is a mix which lights up Back For More to a different degree, the band grazing the senses with greater causticity and ravenous breath. Again there is a compelling contagion to the track which has attention and appetite impatient for more which Stay Free more than happily provides. Abrasing ears with acidic sonic swipes from the first second along with an evocatively brewing wash of keys, the track broadens its riveting narrative with a wonderful dark cello croon and atmospheric shadows. It is like a mix of UK band The Duel and Russian punks Biting Elbows, an invasive seduction which subsequently stretches further into a NOFX like imposing. The track is quite glorious, pushing the invention and songwriting of the band whilst still entrenched in their epidemically appealing seventies seeded punk.

Stop Talking To Me stalks and riles up the imagination next, riffs on a chunky prowl speared by predatory rhythms. The vocals are vitriolic in delivery and malevolent in intent, a seemingly different voice leading the intrusive belligerence as the track squares up to the senses and emotions. It is a great strike but one which ends far too soon, only one minute forty seconds in length, and closes on a frustrating and actually very annoying fade-out. These grievances are soon forgotten though as Drop The Bomb scores ears with an acrid flame of guitar punctuated by keys and wisps of melodic guitar invention. The song strides purposefully with a slow predation, absorbing imagination and the by now constantly submissive passions. It is another total captivation revealing yet more of the depths of sound and invention within Boy, the unveiling continued with the heavy rock exploits of It was the Alcohol. The track is prime punk and hard rock with glam devilry and metal toned hunger, and impossibly addictive especially its infectious chorus which is bait only the deaf or the six feet under could resist joining in with.

The album comes to a close with firstly the thrilling quarrelsome bluster and catchiness of Fashion Police then the incendiary glory of Just A Number. The last track is an aggressive scrap of spellbinding hooks, fierce riffs, and punchy rhythms all merged into a rabid contagious punk spat, a last lingering triumph to sear the sound and name of Boy in to the memory and passions.

Darkest Visions is one of the punk glories of recent years and a potent suggestion that Boy has all the armoury and invention to be a real force in punk and rock rioting across numerous horizons to come.

Darkest Visions is available through Rebel Sound and Voltage Records now as a black vinyl release with a 12 -page booklet and in a deluxe version clad in silver foiled artwork.

https://www.facebook.com/PUNKROCKHOOLIGANS

http://www.boy-punk.com/

9/10

RingMaster 19/04/2014

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The Monster Ones – We Are The Monsters

Posted by RingMaster on March 27, 2014

The Monster Ones

It is a couple of weeks short of when Spanish horror punks The Monster Ones first burst into our welcoming crypt two years ago with their impressive slice of danger, the I Wanna Be A Teenage Monster EP. The second release from the band it was a feisty and bruising slab of mausoleum rock ‘n’ roll with punk attitude and glam rock wantonness. It has been a seemingly long time for the next episode of their death soaked enterprise but the patience is tested no longer as their debut album has been uncaged to ravage ears and stir up passions. Twelve slices of horror bred contagion, We Are The Monsters is an unbridled web of sonic intrigue and blood drenched grooves spiked with an addiction forging toxin as potent and impressive as any unleashed so far this year.

Formed in 2008, the Palma de Mallorca band soon made a strong scar locally with their blend of punk, blues, and rockabilly infused with healthy doses of glam and hard rock. It is a sound which is recognisable in many ways but unique in just as many others. The release of the Transilvania Rock City EP in 2010 drew them good attention but it was I Wanna Be A Teenage Monster two years later which stirred up greater awareness and appetites for their emerging menace, the band becoming regulars on our Bone Orchard podcasts alone. It is easy to feel that the release of We Are The Monsters could be the anticipated trigger to a stronger spotlight on the band with its striking range of flavoursome and deathly stabs of prime rock ‘n’ roll. Time is always the unveiling of reality but with the deaf and dead possible exceptions, it is hard to imagine true rockers not losing their inhibitions over this scintillating rampage.

Led by the fiery tones of vocalist Cecile The Beast alongside the rapier riffs of guitarists Carpi Malone and V, as well as the thumping beats of drummer Maf, The Monster Ones go straight for the jugular from the first seconds, teasing, taunting and seducing with unbridled rapaciousness. Aided and abetted by bassist Elvis Lugosi throughout the encounter with occasional guest backing vocals from Alex Femenías, the band lays a bait of rhythms and acidic guitar around the ears to open up first track Monster Heroes. Soon into its stride a blues lilt soaks the melodic flames of the song whilst drums crisply jab and the bass prowls around the senses alongside more straightforward raw riffing. The vocals of Cecile are as potent as the sounds, her delivery powerful and inflammatory easily leading the appetite to a full engagement with the anthemic chorus. It is a more than solid introduction of heavy rock, nothing dramatically grabbing, that comes later, but fully enjoyable.

Once the throaty bass line courted by intimidating beats hits the ears as Alien Paradise appears, an even greater exciting outlook breaks The Monster Ones - We are the monsters - cover out. The twin attack has total slavery of thoughts and emotions by the time Cecile and soaring guitar swipes join the affray. Into its stride the track is an adventurous punk tempest with broadly swinging rhythms and raging guitar causticity bringing a mix of The Duel and The Creepshow to the rampancy. It is one of those encounters where feet and personal exploits are no longer yours to command, a criminally addictive rampage impossible to get enough of.

The very different Solo El Solo is very much the same, its sultry dramatic climate over the strolling landscape a magnetic scenery to immerse in whilst the tangy vocals explore a cinematic narrative. Part cowpunk, part rockabilly, and fully spaghetti western intrigue, the track shows further the variety to sound and album which has paraded its raucous charm already, an enticement given another spice by Swamp Thing’s Lover. This song strides purposefully with flexing rhythmic sinews and heavy riffing across thick textures and a consuming atmosphere, its open hooks barbed but respectful to the tempting intensity brewing across the intimidating premise.

Both songs leave throat and memory involved long after their departure, though they do have to contend with the quite brilliant pair of Radioactive Dog and Black Roller for that success. The first of the two rumbles and charges down the ears highway from the opening note, the psychobilly spice to the careering groove and spiteful grin to the antagonistic beats irresistible. Settling into its hungry predation, Cecile the temptress to its seductive malevolence aided by great ghoulish harmonies, the song unleashes lethal hooks and a magnificent groove straight out of the Buzzcocks repertoire to steal an even greater chunk of the passions. It is a colossal triumph swiftly matched by its successor, Black Roller a badgering treat with its own insidious groove and heart spearing irreverence. Unleashing biting punk ‘n’ roll with horror punk jaws, the predator is a barbarous dark hearted seducing with Cecille its dangerous Lilith.

Joker ignites another spasm of hunger next with its dirty rock ‘n’ roll voracity, discord grazing imagination, and virulently addicting lures before The Man who was The Death swaggers in, its rhythmic hips swerving around the equally wanton guitar adventure and ever riveting vocals. The bass offers a deeper malice in its tempting too which only inflames the appeal of the creative bruising and the epidemically forceful infection, a toxicity which is just as insatiable in Always Elm Street which features guest guitarist Tomeu Destructor. There is a definite Batman-esque lure to the core hook of the song but it only broadens the eager smile and pleasure provided.

The next song Rat returns to a wider heavy rock persuasion, guitars flaring up with scorching spirals of sonic invasiveness against refreshing riffs. Though it is an accomplished and skilful blaze, the track fails to reach the heights and reactions of its predecessors. It pleasingly pushes the variety of the release all the same and makes a fine appetiser for the groove infestation of Bloody Stones, a track which spits out cutting riffs, battering rhythms, and searing grooves like it is its last chance. A thoroughly compelling and incendiary incitement, the song has to make way for the closing predatory stalking of Black Suede Night, a final solicitous trap to lose the passions to.

We Are The Monsters shows that The Monster Ones has really grown as a band from sound and songwriting to their presence. They are a powerfully confident and inventive proposition now which gives horror punk and rock ‘n’ roll a new thrilling ‘villain’ to drool over.

http://themonsterones.com

http://themonsterones.bandcamp.com/album/we-are-the-monsters

10/10

RingMaster 27/03.214

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