If you ever wondered what would happen if The Wildhearts decided to experiment with Stoner two ton heaviness and grooves, the Nuneaton’s Dig Lazarus would go some way to satisfying your curiosity. This debut full length album has been a while coming, with quite some time passing since 2019’s Figure It Out EP, but then when you’re self-produced then there’s nothing like a global pandemic to grind your cash raising potential into the ground. Perhaps it’s just as well, as so many bands have punted their first boat into a huge oceanic market with no ability to get out there live and drive the brand forwards. Let’s hope this wait pays off.
But then patience is part of their DNA, as the material on here has been gestating for a while, with the band having known each other since their teens. A&R men always used to say that a band had ten years to write their first album, which is true in so many ways, but it also means they’ve really worked out what their sound is to a tee. With an experienced hand like Dave Draper on the desk that also means that they’ve a damn good chance of that sound being captured in a manner which does justice to the work that’s gone into the creation of the songs. The production is beautifully crunchy, rich and subtle, but also retains a stripped down bare bones feel that allows every instrument clear definition whilst retaining that cohesive band feel. Add to this a great use of vocal harmonies and what you have here is a rather stonking door-kicker of a debut.
I love the punchy delivery that retains the subtle slow-build that’s the trademark of a great songwriting team, with tracks like Tell Me Why capturing the moody depths, but not before you’ve been hooked by some really catchy song structures and the kind of delivery that you cannot help but tap along to. To be fair, the band have had some great support slots along the way, so have clearly had the chance to hone the material, but the end result is this sounds like a band punchy well above their weight, with the kind of heaviness that not many three pieces can pull off. Like so many debut’s that have been cooking for a while, this is filler free and even though thirteen tracks seems a lot to cram in, does not outstay its welcome at all. It’s energetic, it’s raw and its thoroughly well delivered. 8/10
Mercury Circle – Killing Moons (Noble Demon) [Matt Bladen]
Coining the phrase ‘new doom’ on their 2020 EP The Dawn Of Vitriol, Mercury Circle bring yet more haunting, atmospheric, doomy music to the masses with their full length offering Killing Moons. If the quality of the EP won you over then the absolute majesty of this record will send you into esoteric raptures. Killing Moons is a 63 minute traverse through wonderfully, vibrant yet dark soundscapes, bandleader/producer and mastermind Jaani Peuhu, paused Swallow The Sun activities purely to concentrate on this album, which kind of shows you how this is more than just a side project. It is him discovering this alter ego of dark, melancholic music that owes more to the 80’s scene than anything else, elements of The Mission, Bauhaus and of course Echo & The Bunnymen (from whom the album title is derived) are melded with the more recent sounds of Katatonia, Solstafir, Paradise Lost and of course Swallow The Sun but with less reliance on heavy riff driven guitars (though Death Poem is true doom riffer).
Rather there is plenty of swirling synths, orchestral features and low end brooding on tracks such as Avalanche and the cathartic climbing riff of An Arrow. The album is a conceptual piece that deals with escapism from real life inspired by drummer Jaska Raatikainen’s (Children Of Bodom) love of science and space as well as Jaani’s involvement with the occult, spirits and the occult along with the more poignant influence of his father’s Alzheimer’s and the notion that he is able to escape to anywhere he wants. All of this inspire the heart rendering compositions of this album, the darkness increased on Like Matches which features the bewitching vocals of Cammie Gilbert (Oceans Of Slumber) to further increase this records otherworldly feel. With this full length record Peuhu has cemented Mercury Circle as a fully-fledged independent band rather than a side project. 8/10
Kowloon Walled City - Piecework (Neurot Recordings) [Paul Scoble]
Kowloon Walled City have been away for longer than usual in preparation for their fourth album. The band, who formed in 2007, have previously only taken three years between albums rather than Piecework’s six. Lead singer and Lyricist Scott Evans has suffered from writers block in competing the lyrics, according to the band the music for this album was finished before the lyrics. In addition to Scott on Vocals and Guitar, KWC feature Jon Howell on Guitar, Ian Miller on Bass and Dan Sneddon on Drums.
Kowloon Walled City - Piecework (Neurot Recordings) [Paul Scoble]
Kowloon Walled City have been away for longer than usual in preparation for their fourth album. The band, who formed in 2007, have previously only taken three years between albums rather than Piecework’s six. Lead singer and Lyricist Scott Evans has suffered from writers block in competing the lyrics, according to the band the music for this album was finished before the lyrics. In addition to Scott on Vocals and Guitar, KWC feature Jon Howell on Guitar, Ian Miller on Bass and Dan Sneddon on Drums.
Kowloon Walled City’s first release was an Ep called Turk Street in 2008, a year later they released their debut album, Gambling On The Richter Scale. After this their second album Container Ships was released in 2012 and then after another three years we got their last album Grievances. The band have also released a number of splits with acts such as Thou, Fight Amp and KEN Mode.
So how has the band changed in the time they have been away? Well, Kowloon Walled City have always shown a lot of different influences, but have mainly been known as a Sludge band, so huge, heavy and aggressive. However, on this release the band have taken a step back from overt aggression and have embraced a style that is far closer to Noise Rock than Sludge. In many ways this album is a study in dynamics, in ebb and flow. All of the songs feature driving Noise Rock riffs, tempered with quieter, more restrained sections. This means that the feel of the album is dark and brooding, rather angry and aggressive.
The title track Piecework and second track Utopian probably have the most aggressive mix of Loud and Quiet which gets the album off to a positive and driving start. Oxygen Tent is initially much quieter, but builds to huge ending. Splicing is a more relaxed track with more gentle tempo and a very good bluesy solo. The album ends with Lampblack, one of the more relaxed tracks on the album, there's a dreamlike and expansive feel to the riffing that makes this a great song to end an album that is mainly dark and brooding, with occasional chinks of light.
Piecework is a great addition to Kowloon Walled City’s body of work. It sounds like the album had a difficult birth, but considering how good it is the effort was clearly worth it. Ok it isn’t a massive slab of aggressive Sludge, but the added subtlety has really added to their sound. By adding space to their songs they have built a dynamic that uses the restrained and minimal sections to give the bigger and more aggressive parts room to be huge, whilst adding a darkness that is so much more effective that mere rage. A brilliant examination of Dynamics and Intensity. 8/10
Raven’s Creed – Give War A Chance (Metal Bastard Enterprises) [Paul Hutchings]
One of the unsung heroes of the death metal scene in the UK, Raven’s Creed have been bringing the thunder for 15 years. Formed in Nottingham in 2006, the band featured Ben Ward and Martyn Millard of Orange Goblin from 2006 – 2010 although the line-up of Jay Graham (drums), Steve Watson (guitar), vocalist Al Oster (ex- Cerebral Fix) and bassist Rod Boston has been settled for over a decade.
Give War A Chance brings the band back into the spotlight for the first time since 2018’s Get Killed Or Die Trying and sees Raven’s Creed make their debut for the Metal Bastard Enterprises label. To say it’s brutal is an understatement. This is bruising stuff from the start. 32 minutes of cranium crushing death metal very much in the vein of Bolt Thrower, Benediction and the like, there’s a swagger and groove which threads through the album, allowing you time to slam off the wall or simply bang the head. “If it Ain’t broke, don’t fix it” so the saying goes, and Raven’s Creed know what they do and do it well. This is at times gargantuan in its aural assault, the relentless riffage a tide that eventually will overcome.
So how has the band changed in the time they have been away? Well, Kowloon Walled City have always shown a lot of different influences, but have mainly been known as a Sludge band, so huge, heavy and aggressive. However, on this release the band have taken a step back from overt aggression and have embraced a style that is far closer to Noise Rock than Sludge. In many ways this album is a study in dynamics, in ebb and flow. All of the songs feature driving Noise Rock riffs, tempered with quieter, more restrained sections. This means that the feel of the album is dark and brooding, rather angry and aggressive.
The title track Piecework and second track Utopian probably have the most aggressive mix of Loud and Quiet which gets the album off to a positive and driving start. Oxygen Tent is initially much quieter, but builds to huge ending. Splicing is a more relaxed track with more gentle tempo and a very good bluesy solo. The album ends with Lampblack, one of the more relaxed tracks on the album, there's a dreamlike and expansive feel to the riffing that makes this a great song to end an album that is mainly dark and brooding, with occasional chinks of light.
Piecework is a great addition to Kowloon Walled City’s body of work. It sounds like the album had a difficult birth, but considering how good it is the effort was clearly worth it. Ok it isn’t a massive slab of aggressive Sludge, but the added subtlety has really added to their sound. By adding space to their songs they have built a dynamic that uses the restrained and minimal sections to give the bigger and more aggressive parts room to be huge, whilst adding a darkness that is so much more effective that mere rage. A brilliant examination of Dynamics and Intensity. 8/10
Raven’s Creed – Give War A Chance (Metal Bastard Enterprises) [Paul Hutchings]
One of the unsung heroes of the death metal scene in the UK, Raven’s Creed have been bringing the thunder for 15 years. Formed in Nottingham in 2006, the band featured Ben Ward and Martyn Millard of Orange Goblin from 2006 – 2010 although the line-up of Jay Graham (drums), Steve Watson (guitar), vocalist Al Oster (ex- Cerebral Fix) and bassist Rod Boston has been settled for over a decade.
Give War A Chance brings the band back into the spotlight for the first time since 2018’s Get Killed Or Die Trying and sees Raven’s Creed make their debut for the Metal Bastard Enterprises label. To say it’s brutal is an understatement. This is bruising stuff from the start. 32 minutes of cranium crushing death metal very much in the vein of Bolt Thrower, Benediction and the like, there’s a swagger and groove which threads through the album, allowing you time to slam off the wall or simply bang the head. “If it Ain’t broke, don’t fix it” so the saying goes, and Raven’s Creed know what they do and do it well. This is at times gargantuan in its aural assault, the relentless riffage a tide that eventually will overcome.
Tracks such as Panzer Maniac, Crimea River (I see what they did there!) and the thrashfest of The Knot That Binds are all haemorrhage inducing. And if that isn’t enough, the outro, with a filthy pulsating cover of Venom’s Witching Hour will surely push you over the edge. 8/10
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