detest “wacky.” Whether it’s the self-styled “character” (they’re another word beginning with C…) you meet in life, or the musicians who make deliberately impenetrable records, it usually grates on me.
However, there are bands like Battlesnake who are just built differently.
A couple of years ago I reviewed an album by the Aussies — all in their matching robes — and wrote: “The Rise and Demise of The Motorsteeple is utterly marvellous. And whatever you think it sounds like, it probably will…”
Now they’re back, and “Dawn Of The Exultants And The Hunt For The Shepherd” is every bit as crackers as its title.
Half of the title track, “Dawn Of The Exultants,” is narration so grandiose it outdoes Simon Callow. Which means when the proper metal (the kind people who don’t like metal assume all metal sounds like) of “The Fathers Of The Iron Flesh” lands, it hits even harder.
There’s real gravitas here. You might call it power metal, but it isn’t quite. In truth, it isn’t quite anything — except magnificent.
“Shepherd Hunter” is six minutes of chug and fury, and at one point someone yells that they’re a dragon. Why? Who knows. Just go with it.
Gloryhammer would probably pass on “Beelzebub II” as being too mad. She drinks the blood of men, that much we can say. Oh, and it’s heavy.
For all the knockabout theatrics, Battlesnake could have been conventional if they’d fancied it — but where’s the fun in that? “Murder Machine” starts with twin guitars, but by the chorus it’s Cardiacs-level chaos, and that’s before the nightmare beatdown in the middle.
“Sanctum Robotos” is as heavy as it gets, and yes, someone appears to be playing bagpipes in there too.
This is probably a concept album, though who really knows? Battlesnake, probably — but I wouldn’t be certain even then.
What I do know is that “Aurous Robotic” is marvellous, and Frank Daniel Willington on guitar has had his work cut out.
“Moto Exordium” explores their prog side further, its acoustics underlining the very real and salient point here: Battlesnake can be whatever they want to be moving forward.
For now, “Dawn Of The Exultants And The Hunt For The Shepherd” is another glimpse into their bizarre world. Just don’t file it under easy listening.
Rating: 8/10
