Words: Ben Forrester
(Photo Credit: The1point8)
As well as having two of our most anticipated records of the year on review this week, we have a much welcome debut from out beloved city of Manchester and a cheeky little 7″ single review. It’s another strong release week kick starting April, so if you have the cash to spare be sure to go to your local indie store website, they need us more than ever.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – ‘Viscerals’
(Rocket Recordings)
It’s been pretty swell to see the riff kings of the North East become, well, pretty fucking massive. This is thanks to a solid work ethic that has seen them tour here, there and everywhere, always with an eye on the next record. ‘Viscerals‘ is their third long player, coming as the hotly anticipated follow up to 2018’s ‘King of Cowards‘. As you can imagine, this is another sludge rock party that we’re all invited to, but has plenty of new tricks in store.
I’ve noticed the tracklist slowly increase with each record, which naturally sees their winding song structures get toned down a bit. However, as with their previous release, this only intensifies the drama within these songs. ‘Rubbernecker‘ is a bite sized blast of pysch with some huge melodic vocals from vocalist Matt, channelling the power of early Ozzy more than ever before. ‘World Crust‘ has a thrash fuelled riff that would sound at home on King Gizzard’s last release and don’t even get me started on how catchy the fuzz pop hook on ‘Crazy In Blood‘ is. They’ve tightened up the screws even more to deliver some of their meatiest riffs and strongest, most prominent vocal work yet. It’s great to see Matt come out from the mask of reverb even more as he flickers between classic rock cliches (“Let’s Rock” – ‘Hell’s Teeth‘ ) to current world commentary (“Ego kills everything” – ‘Reducer‘).
But in spite of its precision, we do have two longer tracks that display Pigs as the mind bending overlords we’ve come to know them as. I’d go as far to say that ‘New Body‘ is the heaviest thing they’ve written, with a relentless doom-y breakdown; I listened to it with the lights off late at night and I actually thought I was going to descend into hell! ‘Halloween Bolson‘ is a familiar sludged out stomp with a particularly head bobbing closing with guitarists Adam and Sam soloing and squawking underneath Chris and John-Michael’s hard as nails rhythmical attack. Pigs have not compromised in making the biggest noise possible, but still keep adding in new textures and ideas to push them into the stratosphere. An action packed thrill ride of the highest order, ‘Viscerals‘ is their best work yet.
Thundercat – ‘It Is What It Is’
(Brainfeeder)
I don’t tend to use the word masterpiece often, but Thundercat’s 2017 LP ‘Drunk‘ was exactly that. It felt like you were given the time to swim around the wonderfully creative mind of Cali native Stephen Bruner. It was magical. So when he dropped exquisite modern funk comeback track ‘Black Qualls‘ in January, my excitement for album four went through the fucking roof!
‘It Is What It Is‘ is a fitting title for an album that looks for calm within a storm. It retains the charm and wit of ‘Drunk‘ but this time, Stephen takes a deeper look. It was the death of close friend Mac Miller that hit TC hard during the albums creation and therefore makes for many moments of introspection and reflection. This is all mirrored with beautiful pysch-soul production as Steve teams up again with good pal and producing hero Flying Lotus. ‘Fair Chance‘ is a stunning piece of modern r’n’b, with Bruner paying a touching tribute to Mac, while the 52 second ‘Existential Dread‘ sounds anxious but offers the self reassuring line “I know I’ll be alright“. It feels like Thundercat is really letting us in and if ‘Drunk’ was us looking into his mind, then this is us looking into his soul.
Of course, out of the dark comes the light and we’ve got plenty of fun little grooves to tuck into. Powerhouse drummer Louis Cole goes hell for leather on a track respectfully titled ‘I Love Louis Cole‘ while comic Zack Fox plays an excited flight attendant on ‘Overseas‘ before sliding into the tongue in cheek seductiveness of ‘Dragonball Durag‘. But of course, the daftness is always met with unbelievable bass playing and a knack for writing massive cosmic soul hooks. As a piece this acts like a neatened up cousin to ‘Drunk‘ but with a strong emotive core, ‘It Is What It Is‘ is a tight, honest and beautiful portrayal of a supremely talented artist.
Astral Bodies – ‘Escape Death’
(Surviving Sounds)
Formed in 2015, Manchester based trio Astral Bodies have been quietly beavering away on their expansive space rock, having played all across their fair city and releasing an EP in 2018. Since then, the eye has been on the creation of a full length. ‘Escape Death‘ was recorded at No Studios by Joe Clayton of Pijn fame. As well as being part of one of the UK’s finest alt-metal acts, Joe has produced some huge releases these past few years so you know you’re in good hands.
Having followed guitarist Ian Breen through his vast list of musical endeavours, this is reminiscent of the beautiful melodies he instils in his indie rock project Claw The Thin Ice. The main difference here is that this is mostly instrumental and louder than ever. Taking on a classic post-rock feel, this is a colossal set of fill heavy drums, chunky bass tones and these huge, over-driven guitars filled with reverb and aching with spaced out harmony. From the heavier side of Cave In (‘Oumuamua’) to the slower, poised heft of Mogwai (‘Orchidaceae’), this has killer references all over it and has been crafted with a lot of thought. It’s this sense of care that leads into the album’s overall cohesion, as you feel like you’re taken on a voyage beyond the stars.
Sonically, ‘Escape Death’ sounds so full and rich with the production really bringing out the startling dynamics in these compositions. Whether it’s the drum panning frenzy of ‘Equinox‘, the soaring Sax solo on ‘Mythic Phantoms‘ or the beautifully understated ‘Pale Horse‘, Astral Bodies want to put us through the motions. It totally works though and this is a very emotionally engaging piece. I love the twists and turns and I just can’t get over how BIG this sounds. Instrumental rock heads need to get on board with this and prepare to shoot to the moon!
Slow Crush – ‘Reel / Pale Skin’ 7″
(Holy Roar)
When our faves Holy Roar got in touch to say that Slow Crush had new material, I knew that the rules had to be bent slightly and feature them on this rundown. We’ve been in love with this Belgian outfit since the release of their shimmering debut album ‘Aurora‘ in 2018. Since then the quartet have been on a non stop world tour, still finding some time to work on new material. ‘Reel‘ and ‘Pale Skin‘ are two songs that came from the sessions for what will hopefully make up their second LP. Having laid these down to tape, the band couldn’t wait for them to be heard.
Still rooted in their fuzzy, shoegaze sound, this 7″ sees Slow Crush homing in on some new sonic textures. ‘Reel‘ is still as dreamy as ever but there does feel like more space has been granted to the vocals, which are brought much more upfront than previously. Melodically this feels more instant; it’s still shoegaze-y as anything but has a tighter grip on its main melody for sure. ‘Pale Skin’ is similar in this notion but brings in a strong post-rock flavour. Its floor tom heavy drum track especially brings to mind the work of early Explosions In The Sky and never have they sounded so soaring.
The changes may be subtle, but Slow Crush are upping their game with this gorgeous new single that has more than whet our appetites for album two.
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