Thunderous Black Sabbathian doom by the wonderfully entertaining, if deafening, Newcastle Upon Tyne heavy rockers with their fifth album, one which captures dark, uncertain times shaped by neoliberism, an exorcism of anxiety by frontman and lyricist Mark Baty, and a guest appearance by Run The Jewels rapper EL-P. Baty’s lyrics may have got even darker, but his delivery of roaring menace remains undiminished, and his microphone cord-wrapping stage presence is always unforgettable. The band’s sound also remains distinctive, especially those slowly sinking, industrial-sized, hammer-banging, sludgey, meaty riffs, but they’ve pushed into some other territory too, such as on Stitches, using some synths (yes that’s not a misprint), a track that as well possibly leaving you in some pain-pleasure-laughter vortex, gallops along with catchy rock, but one they describe as “like Motörhead trying to perform glam rock with a tipsy keyboardist”. Other highlights include that EL-P track and former Song of The Day, Glib Tongued, cosmic-thrash opener Blockage, distorted screaming guitars and anvil banging bass on Detroit, The Wyrm, and the epic closing number Toecurler. It might all be a bit dark, but through it all comes voluminous joy from a band infectiously loving what they do. “Live, laugh … riff!” they say. Yes. Let their sound engulf you, and then have a drink with them afterwards. Out on Rocket Recordings.
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