Classic Rock - Motor Head (2019-07)

BEST OF THE REST

Other new releases out this month.

Rev Magnetic

Versus Universe ROCK ACTION

Diaphanous in delicacy and merciless in monstrosity (as the best post-

shoegaze dream-pop should be), Mogwai collaborator Luke

Sutherland’s band’s debut skews reality at MBV/Loop volume. 7/10

Morrissey

California Son BMG

A competently executed, if indulgent, covers collection that lushly

revisits Jobriath, Orbison, Dylan et al. Not so much El Moz’s Pinups as

his My Beauty. Another album, another nail. 5/10

Imperial Wax

Gastwerk Saboteurs SAUSTEX

Featuring three 11-year veterans of the final Fall line-up, Imperial Wax

power their way through a dozen tetchy but tight garage-psych tracks

of varying degrees of majestic surliness. Recommended. 8/10

Dark Stares

The Lightning Echo SELF-RELEASED

Casually, if craftily, combining QOTSA and Muse’s better elements,

Dark Stares can lock down and bump ‘n’ grind a hefty groove with

the very best of them. Staggering potential. 8/10

Nik Turner

The Final Frontier PURPLE PYRAMID

Surfing a sonic maelstrom of Mountain Grill space-rock, Turner’s

Master Of The Universe vocals and treated woodwinds conjure

otherworldly visions. Psychedelic, darkly delicious and infused with

star-sick melancholia. 7/10

Jambinai

Onda BELLA UNION

The alien clangour of traditional Korean intruments allied to the

searing brutality of a Mogwai’tallica melange of cinematic bad-mood

music and furrow-browed instro fury. AntiKpop, anyone? 7/10

Dave Hause

Kick RISE

Hardcore punk-turned-Americana singer/songwriter makes

a brooding, ballsy stamp on the contemporary rootsy scene with his

fourth solo album. Expect soaring introversion and rollicking blue-

collar gusto, largely free of clichés. 7/10

The Waterboys

Where The Action Is COOKING VINYL

Heartfelt smorgasbord of moods, genres and stories from Mike Scott

and co, by turns warmly retro, electronic, soulful and surprising.

A little unwieldy in places, but still pleasingly timeless. 6/10

Deckchair Poets

A Bit Of Pottery ANGEL AIR

Extravagant, prog-tastic take on the Harry Potter universe, from

players behind Asia, Spock’s Beard and more. It’s really silly but oddly

compelling. If you’re Potter-literate, that is. 6/10

Hollis Brown

Ozone Park COOL GREEN/MASCOT

They began in a New York garage and grew into one of the classiest

purveyors of modernised R&B – laced with stylish soul and rootsy

charm, and appealing to indie kids and classic rockers. 7/10

Soto

Origami INSIDEOUT

Slick, meaty matter from Jeff Scott Soto and pals. It’s unlikely to

convert non-fans, but if you like your progressive metal tight and

birthed by moody cyborgs, then step inside. 5/10

Anton Barbeau

Berliner Grotesk PINK HEDGEHOG

Oddball feast of psychedelic pop and macabre moments from

a California-born enigma. Imagine The Beatles holed up in Berlin

with XTC and a ton of industrial-strength pot and you’re on the

right track. 7/10

crosses over into formulaic.
While there are occasional
moments, as on the swirling
head trip of It’s All Over, when
they do suddenly find a tincture
of inspiration much of this album
is decent but pedestrian.
Witching Hour is as good as it
gets, offering a flashback to their
impressive 1999 debut To T h e
Center. The rest, while not shit,
offers nothing holy either.
This isn’t worthy of a band
who were once stoner icons.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Malcolm Dome

Little Triggers
Loaded Gun LITTLE TRIGGERS
Liverpool quartet’s debut, filled
with sound and fury.
To Little
Triggers’ credit,
the fact that this
album sounds
like a bunch of
kids thrashing around in
a rehearsal room is actually
a good thing. Plucky, boisterous
and probably sneering, they
crash around like Arctic
Monkeys shot through the
spectrum of a 60s-era Who.
Singer Tom Hamilton is
especially good at delivering
small-town vignettes full of
rueful reflection (Silly Cigarettes,
Fosnavog) as well as clattering
foot stompers like Giving Me
Up and the excellent bluesy
rasp of So Fine.
The album is one-dimensional
at times, and probably reflective
of the songs that go over best in
their live set, but there’s much to
admire here. Hopefully they
make it to album number two.
QQQQQQQQQQ
Philip Wilding

Royal Republic
Club Majesty
NUCLEAR BLAST/ARISING EMPIRE
Saturday night divas.
Looking super-
sharp with their
gold lamé
lounge jackets
and snazzy
porn-star moustaches, and
obviously mad-keen to add
‘disco rock’ to the many only
partially accurate labels they
have accrued since their 2010
debut We Are The Royal,
Swedes Royal Republic return
in a Technicolor eruption of
glitter and 70s-styled party-
hardy anthems.
Still impossible to pigeonhole
neatly, the most consistent
feature of Club Majesty is the
feverishly high energy levels the
band maintain throughout; from
the insistent dance-floor inferno

of opener Fireman & Dancer to

breakneck boogie closer Bulldog,

this singularly focused album

hustles, struts and sprints

unapologetically for the finish

line in an exuberant blur of

instantly memorable good-time

tunes. Only thundering heavy

hitter Like A Lover trades pace

for added intensity, otherwise

Blunt Force Trauma, Under Cover,

the extra-sweary Fortune Favors

and Can’t Fight The Disco

(natch) rock stupidly hard and

addictively fast. Weirdly, the

result isn’t a million miles in

spirit from, say, David Lee

Roth’s Eat ’Em And Smile for

sheer relentless exhilaration.

Club Majesty is smart, funny

and impeccably entertaining.

QQQQQQQQQQ

Essi Berelian

Kenny Wayne

Shepherd Band

The Traveler PROVOGUE

Shut up and play your guitar.

We’ve learnt

a lot about

Kenny Wayne

Shepherd

recently. His

2014 back-to-the-roots album

Goin’ Home confirmed his blues

credibility, the two albums he’s

made with Stephen Stills and

Danny Goldberg in The Ride

proved he can thrive in exalted

company, and his latest band

albums – 2017’s Lay It On Down

and 2019’s The Traveler – have

added a glint of steel to his hard-

rocking blues.

On the latter Shepherd

delivers a relentless stream of

strong, sinewy riffs and blistering

solos backed by ex-Double

Trouble drummer Chris Layton’s

ferocious playing. The cover of

Joe Walsh’s Turn To Stone is

fearless, and welding the Stones’

Satisfaction riff to Buffalo

Springfield’s Mr Soul is a master

stroke. It’s just a shame he

doesn’t trust his own voice more.

QQQQQQQQQQ

Hugh Fielder

American

Bombshell

Tattooed ’N Bruised EMP

Tatts the way I wanna

rock’n’roll.

Power, sleaze,

attitude –

American

Bombshell’s

follow-up to

debut No Regrets has a lot going

for it, solid qualities for a band

intent on levelling stages every

night. The intensity here reminds

of a punkier Circus Of Power.

The only real adjustment the

band need to make to step up

from solid to stellar albums is

a tighter focus on bulletproof

hooks; tunes like excellent

opener Money On The Liquor, Run

Away, Raising Hell & Living Sin,

Stupid = Famous and bonus track

My Drug (produced by Mike

Clink) all have pleasingly punchy

choruses. Elsewhere, Faster, The

Bitter End and Only Rock ’N’ Roll

are enjoyable enough in the

moment but just don’t stand out,

and wistful acoustic slowie

Joyride sounds oddly like

a heavier Every Rose Has Its Thorn.

More songs like Money On The

Liquor is surely the way to go.

QQQQQQQQQQ

Essi Berelian

GloryHammer

Legends From Beyond

The Galactic Terrorvortex

NAPALM

In space, everyone can hear

you scream.

Anglo-Scottish-

Swiss

symphonic

power-metal

pranksters who

dress in superhero costumes

and role-play apocalyptic war

games between evil space

wizards and armour-clad sex

vikings, just how thrillingly

preposterous are

GloryHammer? Imagine Game

Of Thrones or Marvel’s Avengers

movies, but with all the boringly

sensible plot explanation

removed and the fire-breathing,

hammer-throwing, unicorn-

fisting battle scenes cranked up

to Valhalla-quaking volume.

Band founder and musical

mastermind Christopher

‘Zargothrax’ Bowes (who also

fronts goofy pirate-rockers

Alestorm) amps up the

whooshing disco-metal

synthesisers on this future-

themed third album, which

features rip-roaring, gabba-

speed, Maiden-on-steroids

anthems like The Siege Of

Dunkeld and Battle For Eternity.

Crucially, like Steel Panther,

GloryHammer have a deep

affection for the already

ridiculous panto-rock genre they

are only half spoofing. Moreover,

their deft technical mastery of its

trumpet-blaring, speed-riffing,

lung-bursting excesses actually

puts them a cut above most

power-metal bands. Admittedly

their stampeding maximalist

melodrama feels overwrought at

times, but in the right mood they

blast the senses into exhilarating

interstellar overdrive.

QQQQQQQQQQ

Stephen Dalton

CLASSICROCKMAGAZINE.COM 85