MORLOCKS – Amor, Monstra Et Horrore Profundi EP

In terms of musical interest, Morlocks’ 2023 LP ‘Praise The Iconoclast’ didn’t sell its listeners short. On the stand out track, ‘I’m The Payload’, the band managed to fuse orchestral sounding synths to a relentlessly mechanical rhythm, before loading the arrangement up further with alt-pop vocals, 80s keys and a few rock-edged guitars. The result sounded at times like an industrial band channelling early Oingo Boingo, with a couple of vocal phrases in the latter part of the number that hinted at a love of KMFDM. Rather fittingly, that legendary band’s Käpt’n K would also make an appearance on the record, and somewhat predictably, his presence throughout ‘Mean World Syndrome’ leant that number more of a KMFDM flavour. Elsewhere, ‘Instigation’ swamped vocal samples with a heavy groove and nods to classic Ministry, and taking another curveball, ‘Cold War Fusion’ melded soundtrack-like elements and darkwave melodies into an epic closer that more than suggested this most cult of bands still had musical ground to cover somewhere in the not too distant future.

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Lavish 8CD box set of Status Quo’s seminal “Status Quo – Live!” album from 1977 due in May

With a career now in their seventh decade, it’s no wonder that Status Quo have become national treasures. Even with some of their 90s output being a far cry from their best, the Rossi/Parfitt commitment to live work helped the band remain a massive draw for gig goers, and any musical missteps are easy to forgive when taking into consideration that Quo’s run of albums released between 1967-77 is almost flawless.

On 16th May, lovers of classic Quo are in for a real treat. The essential 1977 release ‘Status Quo – Live!’ will be reissued as a lavish 8CD box set. Obviously, this isn’t the first time that the album has been given the box set treatment: in 2014, a 4CD version coupled the original album with the previous Japanese-only release ‘Tokyo Quo’ and a decent quality bootleg recording from the Australian leg of the same tour.

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