The city of Birmingham, it seems to me, has never been proud enough of its musical exports.
MV works just a couple of miles from where Tony Iommi had that accident and invented heavy metal, yet Birmingham always seems embarrassed to be bold in a way other cities aren’t.
Templeton Pek are natives of the city I live just outside, and while I know the road where the promo photo for this record was taken, that doesn’t change the fact that the album itself is brilliant.
“Savages” is the sound of evolution: heavier, darker, and more politically charged than anything they’ve done before. And Christ, how can you look at the news and not hate what we’ve become? Those flags flying on lampposts aren’t symbols of pride, but of division in the context of right now.
That’s the febrile societal air this record emerges into.
The title track is built on a chunky melody – think Jimmy Eat World if they’d grown up in the second city – and blimey, they can launch into a hook.
Proudly working class, the wind of change blows strong in “Hurricanes.” If the bass groove of “Paradigm” is made for moshpits, then “Artifact” brims with anger.
Equality runs right through this album, not least when they spit “who died and made you god?” on “No Kings.”
“Perfect Storm” has all that melody and anger bound together, gloriously, while “Pioneers” urges us to “keep our heads up” and “Reviver” finds the light at the end of the tunnel that’s so easy to miss these days.
The trio—Neal Mitchell (vocals/bass), Kev Green (guitar), and Simon Galvin (drums)—have been at this for a decade, and that bond shines on “Ghosts,” one of the record’s clear highlights.
“We’re nothing if not in control,” offers Mitchell at the start of “Print Is Dead,” before the Orwellian cry of “They’re watching you” closes it out.
This gale of a record ends with “Tempest,” reckoning that we’re at the “last chance for freedom.” And if the winds of change need to blow—and blow quickly—there’s still hope in these songs.
Whether you can make a defining statement a decade into your career is open to question. Nonetheless, that feels like what Templeton Pek have done here.
“Savages” is brilliantly refined.
Rating: 8.5/10
