Post-rock quartet The Fierce And The Dead first captured the attention of listeners the artier end of the rock spectrum with their 2011 full length ‘If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe’. While the intricacy of the album’s music inevitably found the band gaining the “prog” tag, the instrumental wig-outs pulled far more from various alternative rock sources, with elements of noise rock, often making their love of Hüsker Dü/Minutemen et al fairly obvious. The following album, 2013’s ‘Spooky Action’ was potentially even more bonkers, showcasing four very talented musicians working their frenzied guts across a variety of angular rock sounds, with most of the material sharpened by brevity. With no filler, ‘Spooky Action’ is potentially TFATD’s masterwork; in addition to the world of looped guitars and mind bending, gleeful complexities, Kevin Feazey’s bass sound – particularly on ‘I Like It, I’m Into It’ – comes across with a genuine force. It is a record that anyone interested in quirky and thoughtful musicianship should lend an ear.
BIG BIG TRAIN: The Real Gone Big Big Albums Poll
With cult proggers Big Big Train breaking years of live silence this weekend with three quickly sold out London shows, Real Gone thought this would be an optimum time to find out which albums have spent the most time on your stereo systems.
BIG BIG TRAIN: “Bard” – Authorised high quality download
Betweeen 14-16th August 2015, progressive rockers Big Big Train make most of their fanbase’s wishes come true, staging three live gigs in London. This breaks years of silence for the band in the live setting, having not played any live shows for decades. Unsurprisingly, tickets for those shows sold out in record time.
There’s still another piece of the BBT puzzle eluding most fans. Their third proper album ‘Bard’ has been out of print forever. Recorded at a transitional time in the band’s history, they do not feel it is at all representitive of the bulk of their work and are not keen to have it reissued, despite fan demand.
FOREVR – Demonstration EP
This debut EP by Australian-based duo FOREVR is one of those discs you’ll either love or hate within seconds of hitting the play button. With no time to warm up, the band have already shifted from silence to a complete wall of sound in a split second, as the intro ‘Yucatan’ crushes with a huge droning noise. Overdriven guitars with amplifiers turned up to twelve (one even louder) gleefully throw out distorted shapes as chief musician Donovan Miller hammers at an array of effects pedals. From somewhere within, vocalist Sam George-Allen melds her voice accordingly, a filtered sound rising and falling throughout, wisp-like and ghostly as if she’s channelling Elizabeth Fraser on a collaboration with the equally uncompromising A Place To Bury Strangers.
THE MURDER OF MY SWEET – Beth Out Of Hell
Formed in 2007 around the talents of drummer/producer Daniel Flores and vocalist Angelica Rylin, The Murder of My Sweet is a symphonic metal band based in Sweden. Their third album, 2015’s ‘Beth Out of Hell’ is a ridiculously grand affair straddling a fairly typical symphonic metal sound with huge elements pulled from musical theatre. Those who enjoy Within Temptation, Nightwish et al might glean some listening enjoyment, but to say its bombast is both one-paced and predictable would be an understatement.