Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews

RENE SG – Fucko EP

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“If it’s too fast…you’re too slow!” proudly proclaims the blurb behind Rene SG’s 2018 EP. “Fast” isn’t exactly the word: these dutch punks give Zeke and Speadealer a run for their money by packing a whole album’s worth of tunes onto just seven inches of plastic.

Not all of the tunes are new at the time of release, however. ‘Fucko’ reissues the whole of RSG’s debut and throws in a few other tracks for good measure. That said, the bulk of the material will still be unfamiliar to those outside of the Netherlands, so any kind of reissue and re-promotion seems welcome.

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ZEKE – Hellbender

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Most people’s introduction to hardcore speedpunks Zeke was the ‘Super Speed Racing’ LP back in the mid 90s. It was an album that did exactly what it said on the tin: by packing in over twenty tracks in almost as many minutes, it wasn’t so much a long player as a sonic thrill ride set to shake teeth and bowels loose, all with a knowing grin. Zeke continued to bash out similar albums and sought after 7”s much to the delight of fans over the next decade, before bowing out with a final album ‘Til The Living End’ in 2004. A handful of retrospective tracks crawled out after that, but it seemed we’d heard the last of Zeke…but, to be fair, it’s impossible to keep up such a pace without reaching burnout. Thinking about it, it’s amazing they lasted as long as they did.

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THE FIERCE AND THE DEAD – The Euphoric

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For years, it felt like The Fierce And The Dead were a band that few people knew or talked about. Then, at some point prior to the release of their ‘Magnet’ EP in 2015, they started getting semi-regular coverage in Prog Magazine. This helped them to become a cult band in the truest sense, though it still seems odd that they’ve been so embraced by the prog crowd. They’re far beyond the Genesis, Porcupine Tree and Dream Theater clones that so much of the Prog audience seem to hold so dear. Their previous releases have had a progressive bent, it’s true, but their artier side has taken in elements of Fugazi and other angular noise-makers that would normally make your average prog fan run for the (Solsbury) hills. There’s a tale that suggests, apparently, at one indoor prog rock event, The Fierce And The Dead managed to half empty a room. For all the talk, some prog fans are anything but progressive in their tastes.

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AWOOGA – Conduit

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Creating a hybrid metal-based sound of doom, grunge, sludge and progressive metal, Awooga floored at least half of the competition with their debut EP ‘Alpha’. Taking cues from Deftones, Tool and Amplifier, the band created a sound that went far beyond being just a composite of its influences; a brilliant technical ability and a melodic vocal often contrasting the heaviness made it very compelling listening.

Approximately eighteen months on, the Sheffield-based riff-meisters have created something rather special in their first full length album. ‘Conduit’ takes everything that was great about the EP and refines it and improves upon it, but without any temptation to make it more commercial. The production is amazing; the songs – if indeed they are songs as opposed to a collection of amazing riffs with a vocal weaving in and out – each showcase a band who’ve really taken their time in making sure everything is almost perfect. And it shows: there’s barely a note out of place , and with the album clocking in at an old fashioned forty minute running time, there’s been no temptation to waste a second of it.

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MARK LANE – New Memory

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Mark Lane’s fourth album ‘New Memory’ continues the Californian singer-songwriter’s voyage down a rabbit hole of retro pop. So much so, that it’s hard to work out whether its title is meant to be ironic. These ten songs do not so much create things that’ll eventually become a new memory as delve into old musical memories and stir them up. To say that Lane’s work is often the sum of its many influences would be an understatement, but there’s no avoiding the fact that – assuming you like retro pop/rock with a heavy 70s bias – ‘New Memory’ is a thoroughly enjoyable record.

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