Following the release of their eighteenth studio album ‘FEAR’, Marillion found themselves somewhere near the top of their game. The recording had gained them a vast amount of praise, and the subsequent tour saw the band sell out London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall. Not a bad result for a band that some quarters of the press had previously written off. Although a rather dense listen, ‘FEAR’ covered a lot of musical ground, and had plenty of moments that suggested the band were in a more creative space than they’d been for some time. Between some dark arrangements, politically charged lyrics and a desire to make their listeners think, it felt like Marillion’s most complete sounding work for some time. Not necessarily their “best”, but arguably their most coherent.
DEATHCOLLECTOR – Times Up EP
Despite changing fashions within the rock and metal community, there’s always been plenty of room for bands who like to keep things traditional. DeathCollector – a band bringing together English/Irish musicians and featuring an ex-member of Bolt Thrower – brazenly fly the flag for no nonsense trad death metal on their debut EP. There are moments where the death is peppered by other equally angry subgenres, but in the main, its three tracks bring together some massive riffs and a sense of force that calls back to many of death’s forefathers. The bulk of the material may be hugely retro, but between some impeccably played riffs and tautly wound, relentless rhythms, the band’s desire to draw heavily from the past sounds anything but stale.
MARTYR ART – Through Soundwaves, Vol. 2
Under the name Martyr Art, multi-instrumentalist Joe Gagliardi III has been making industrial and gothic tinged music since 2004. Recording prolifically since then, his work has mixed original compositions and cover tunes, often in a style that leans heavily towards a darker sound. In 2019, he released ‘Through Soundwaves, Vol. 1’, the first in a planned series of four EPs bringing together most aspects of the Martyr Art universe. A mini treat for goth and darkwave fans, a moody stomping piece ‘Halloween (The Desire of Michael Myers’ showed off Martyr’s darkest side, while a brilliant cover of the Cure classic ‘A Forest’ teased with cinematic gothic moodiness before breaking into a brilliant industrial metal crossover sound that gave the source material a severe kick up the arse. With a little bit of a dark ambient sound creeping in during ‘In The Shadows of Philadelphia’ and a particularly mechanical re-imagining of an old Type O Negative classic thrown into the bargain, the EP had plenty to entertainment value for fans of the style.
PRIMA DONNA – Atomic Love / He’s A Rebel
Although their origins stretch back much further, LA power poppers/garage rockers Prima Donna considered their self-titled full length release from 2018 to be a new start; the kind of record that really introduced the world to a band at their best. …And indeed, the bulk of its material showcased a more confident band; an act fully at ease with a commercial sound and a huge chorus or six. Over the next couple of years, some great singles emerged, with Prima Donna’s blend of timeless pop cool and garage rock flair eventually peaking on an unexpected cover of Bananarama’s ‘Cruel Summer’ driven by a massive fuzz bass.
VARIOUS ARTISTS – I Love To See You Strut: More 60s Mod, R&B, Brit Soul & Freakbeat Nuggets
The inaugural release from Strawberry Records, ‘Halcyon Days’, set out the new label’s stall with extreme confidence. Taking cues from the now defunct RPM Records’ ‘Looking Back’ series, its three discs came packed with cult mod tunes, alternative floor fillers and a whole raft of feelgood 60s sounds. With very little overlap between those earlier releases from RPM, it proved there was far more to be mined in terms of Zoot Suit gold. Simply put, ‘Halcyon Days’ was one of 2019’s finest anthologies; an unmissable box set for anyone with the vaguest of interests in underground mod sides and Northern Soul nuggets.
Sequels are often inferior by their very nature, and complied of stuff that wasn’t quite good enough to make the cut the first time around. ‘I Love To See You Strut’ features many of the same acts, and you’ll find reasonably well known cuts from The Who, Dusty Springfield, The Kinks, The Zombies and Manfred Mann among its many treasures – tunes that many devotees of 60s comps will likely already have elsewhere – but it couldn’t ever be considered a lesser listening experience.