CHEEPING JEAN – BUSINESS IS DEAD
Hotly tipped, championed by Radio 1 and loved in the indie press as much as they are in Classic Rock, everything is pointing only one way for Brighton’s Creeping Jean.
And they know it.
Listen to the swagger on “Meteorites”. 70s disco meets indie disco in 1994, and that’s after they’ve had the confidence to hold off the vocals on “Mammoth” for a couple of minutes to make it a proper intro
The single “Always At My Draw” is sort of what Vintage Trouble would be doing if they were English, and another of the singles “Sassy Got Shakes” is a fizzing rock ‘n’ roll highpoint.
Indeed, for my money, they are at their best when they let themselves go like on the garage rock of “The Rattle” although the Doors-esque title cut suits them too.
“Lovesnakes” has a nice line in organ, and the feeling that they’ve been born too late is shot all the way through the more psychedelic “Big Cheese”.
Sometimes, it’s so damn obvious that you’re listening to the next big thing you can’t avoid it.
Creeping Jean aren’t creeping anywhere; “Business Is Dead” amounts to an assault on the very top.
Rating: 7.5/10
BARBARIAN HERMIT – MEAN SUGAR
There must be something in the air in the north of England’s Pennine region. Crikey, it makes for good doom music.
From Manchester, on the other side of things from Paradise Lost, Barbarian Hermit is armed only with its mighty riffs and working-class tales.
That’s not entirely true because their first singer, Simon Scarlett, is back in harness, and on the brilliantly named “Battle of the Kompromat,” he essentially out-Ben Wards Ben Ward.
Right from its title to its sound, “Who Put 50p In You” could only be British, northern, and proud. None of these people have eaten tofu at Glastonbury while watching Coldplay, that’s for sure.
They do it very, very well too. “Kick Up The Dust” even does a kind of funeral march for reasons that are uncertain, and the near eight-minute epic that ends this, “Heal The Tyrant,” is the work of a band that thinks more than you imagined they would – right down to its cold, icy blasts.
Barbarians they might be, but Neanderthals they are not. Stoner metal surgery is a twist.
Rating: 8/10
MISTER MISERY – MISTER MISERY
Mister Misery are an enigmatic proposition.
Dressed in the Murderdolls’ old gear, they are way heavier, yet the choruses are anthemic, the solos soar, and they’ve toured with Dream Theater and Nightwish.
The opener here, “Root Of All Evil,” is a fizzing example of that, yet it’s followed by “Erzsébet (The Countess),” which is both as cinematic and power metal as the title suggests it might be.There’s something just a little ominous and progressive at play on “Doomsday Clock,” and if “Crooked Man” is three minutes and 33 seconds long, then it’s at least half as evil as the number of the Beast.
White Zombie might be doing the likes of “Sinner Or Saint” if they were still around, while both the ballad “Ripper” and the last one, “Dark Legacy,” are both epic in their own very different ways
Despite the title, this is the third album for Mister Misery. Perhaps the self-titled thing is a clue, but they’ve rarely sounded like they’ve found their sound as much as this.
Rating 7/10
LORD OF THE LOST- LIVE AT W.O.A
Opening for Maiden, representing Germany at Eurovision—that was the summer last year for Lord Of The Lost. Love them or hate them, Chris Harms and the lads couldn’t care less.
So it is they step into Wacken Open Air with all the confidence of a band that does it their way. “As The Curtain Falls” is quite the opener, yet “Morgana” veers from HIM to ferociously heavy.
There’s always that feeling that there are two bands in Lord Of The Lost battling for supremacy. Older songs like “Loreley” are heavy to their death growls, but for every one of those, they’re covering “The Look” with German pop star
Blümchen. Now, I’m not disputing that Roxette wrote some bangers, but it feels a bit much here.
“Blood And Glitter” was the perfect Eurovision song, though, and “Drag Me To Hell” and the mad circus that is the closing tune “La Bomba” reiterates that Lord Of The Lost, whatever else they may be, are always compelling and always put on a show.
Rating: 7/10
