Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There
(Ninja Tune)
At the time of writing, Isaac Wood, vocalist and guitarist in Black Country, New Road, has just announced his departure from the band, alluding to mental health reasons. Admittedly it’s come as a shock to us all, particularly with this here second album just about to land and it’s hard to imagine the band without his distinctive vocals. But with the band vowing to continue, ‘Ants From Up There‘ acts as the perfect swan song for this chapter of the collective.
After seeing the band air a lot of new material live last summer, I remember thinking there was a definite change of pace from the genre shifting drama of ace debut ‘For The First Time’. With a focus on slow burning, post-rock dynamics, ‘Ants From Up There’ swaps intensity for atmosphere, bringing in new layers of beauty and vulnerability.
The intro is a jubilant, math-y burst of staccato sax and piano stabs that towers overtop a driving, full band backing. It’s such an uplifting start that is almost over too quickly, but brilliantly leads into the sprightly, orchestral indie pop of ‘Chaos Space Marine’. It’s a head on start to the album that feels bright and elegant, but it’s when we get to shimmering indie epic ‘Concorde’ that the beauty of this record really begins to shine.
Dynamically, you can’t help but be engulfed by the songwriting here; the build in ‘Good Will Hunting’ is nothing short of heart-bursting, while the drum track on ’Snow Globes’ is incredibly encompassing. They always know how to keep you interested as a listener, but there’s a fluidity to the compositions here that feels tighter, stronger and even more engaging.
‘Ants From Up There’ retains the excitement and theatre of its predecessor but adds new levels of depth, warmth and even romance. Though it’s sad to think of this as Isaac’s last outing with the band, especially with him putting in such incredibly raw and emotive performances, I still feel hope gleaming through this record, particularly in the instrumentals. And with this I feel a lot of optimism and excitement going forward for this supremely talented group.
Cassels – A Gut Feeling
(God Unknown Records)
There was a point where Cassels seemed like a band that never stopped, with an arsenal of releases (including two full lengths) and countless tours across the past 7+ years. But, like the rest of us, the brothers Beck found themselves in the midst of some unexpected downtime, allowing them to work on new material at a slightly slower pace. Still keeping their noise punk credentials firmly in place, they looked at how they could evolve their two piece sound, and the result is their most assured work to date.
My first thought when hearing ‘A Gut Feeling’ was how raging it is. Huge riffs tower over crashing, muscular drums with ever eloquent yet snarling spoken word vocals. For this third album, guitarist and vocalist Jim looked into writing character based stories in which he found himself able to inject even more personal thoughts and feelings through these characters. It can go from intense to thrilling to even heart-breaking in the blink of an eye.
While the likes of ‘Mr Henderson Coughs’ and ‘Charlie Goes Skiing’ are arguably the most dramatic and gnarliest tunes they’ve penned, ‘Family Visits Relatives‘ and ‘Dog Drops Bone‘ nearly reduced me to tears with there brutal realism and stripped back arrangements. This is pretty potent stuff – at first I just wanted to be battered round the chops with noisy rock songs, but the depths this album goes to can be rather breath-taking.
‘A Gut Feeling‘ requires the same amount of attention that was put into it. It’s not an album that you can digest straight away. Though it has some pretty immediate moments on it, as a whole piece it’s a record that soaks into your skin more on each listen. The foundations of what makes Cassels such a great brand are still firmly in place, but with subtle sonic switch ups and a deeper understanding into composition and texture, Loz and Jim have made their best record by a country mile.
Rolo Tomassi – Where Myth Becomes Memory
(MNRK)
I have a vivid memory of hearing the first Rolo Tomassi EP back in 2006 and being blown away by its mathcore madness. Forever pushing the boundaries of alternative metal, It’s been extremely interesting to see this band’s journey unfold over the years.
Here we land at their sixth album, ‘Where Myth Becomes Memory’, which comes four years on from the critically acclaimed ‘Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It’. To my mind this album feels like the third part in a trilogy of albums which started with ‘Grievances’ in 2015. Though I have a lot of positive things to say about the last two albums, I did sometimes feel that the band were still working out the kinks, heading towards their masterpiece. I think it’s fair to say that this record is definitely that.
Never have Rolo Tomassi sounded so humongous. I’ve always enjoyed their sharp dynamic twists, often going from the extremely heavy to the beautifully melodic, but on this album there is this expertly executed blend which sends the songs into the stratosphere. ‘Cloaked’, ‘Drip’ and ‘To Resist Forgetting’ are superb examples of combining ethereal yet Instant melodies over the top of bone-crushing metal-core riffs. And they sound even more powerful and fearless for it.
It’s also really great to see them push the post-rock undertones of the last two records. It’s something I’ve really wanted to hear the band move into and you could not get more gorgeously expansive than ‘Closer’ or enticingly transcendent as ‘Almost Always’.
Rolo Tomassi have done this really rare thing of trimming the fat but also knowing when to hit you at the right moment. The emotional core of this album has never felt stronger, sometimes it being the instrumentation that completely catches you off guard (the piano passage in ‘Mutual Ruin’ is quite possibly the most stop you in your tracks moment they’ve made). I know I’ve already made a pretty sweeping statement in this rundown, but it must be said that ’Where Myth Becomes Memory’ is the sound of a band at their most realised and is quite possibly their strongest and best album to date.
Thank – Thoughtless Cruelty
(Box Records)
We’ve said it a few times across these pages, but there’s definitely something in the water up in that there Leeds. It’s like you know whenever you see the words ‘Leeds band‘ that you’re going to be impressed. Although, Thank frontman Freddy does state on this record that there’s never been a good band from Leeds. Or London for that matter. But he’s wrong, because Thank have been the DIY scenes best kept secret for a number of years now and we are chuffed to finally have a debut album to sink our teeth into.
‘Thoughtless Cruelty’ continues to expand the horizons of this brilliantly bonkers band, making obnoxious noise fuelled punk for the dance floors. Recent single ‘Good Boy’ is a gleaming example of the above statement, battering your ears with hypnotic sub bass that builds into a disco punk banger from hell, sounding like Gilla Band being possessed by old Lucifer himself.
Described by the band as a stark observation of human cruelty, this is very much an edge of your seat sort of record, often exploding into a rampage of thick bass, spiky guitars, acid dipped keys and groovy beats. On top of this we have Freddy shouting his head off with superbly executed one-liners that range from anxious and intense to sarcastic and witty. The description of viewing the house that smells like grilled sausage and old boots on the electrifying ‘Dread’ is equally hilarious and grimly relatable.
As a fan of the band’s previous releases, it’s really great to see them push the limitations of the foundations they’ve already set. They’ve gone deeper and darker into their sound – everything sounds beefed up and compositionally they really know how to draw you in, scare the shit out of you then just ascend into an utterly thrilling world of chaos. ‘Thoughtless Cruelty’ is intensely smart, beautifully detailed and totally batshit crazy. Welcome to the new norm.
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