It’s been a week since Anthrax dropped The Edge of Perfection, the second single from their upcoming Cursum Perficio album. And I have to say that I cannot get enough of this song. It is simply unbelievable. It’s heavy, it’s epic, it soars like nothing they have ever done before, and every element combines to be about as perfect a slice of epic thrash as you are likely to hear.
Essentially, it is a love song about Scott Ian‘s family, yet it is darkly brooding with massive layers of guitars and rapid fire percussion building a wall of sound to underpin the ever excellent Joey Belladonna‘s huge vocal. In a recent interview with Allison Hagendorf, one of the most respected voices in rock, she described the song as an instant classic and pressed Scott for an opinion. The guitarist replied “I have zero modesty when it comes to that song. I truly think it is the best song we’ve ever done. It’s the apex of our career. It’s our magnum opus”. I cannot disagree.
Released 35 years ago on July 09, 1991, the Anthrax and Public Enemy version of Bring the Noise remains the ultimate rap metal crossover. Sure, Aerosmith / Run DMC‘s version of Walk This Way had made a massive impact, but speed metal with rapping on it was totally unheard of. Scott Ian and Chuck D, however,were among the first to recognise the shared power of Hip Hop and Heavy Rock and made this irresistable mash up work so well that it still sounds awesome to this very day.
Although Anthrax had first covered the track in their live set some two years earlier, Chuck D didn’t really take the thrashers seriously, and given the tribal nature of music at the time there was plenty of concern that both groups might lose some of their audience. However, Scott Ian was heavily into Hip Hop and was the architect who made it happen, famously keeping Joey Belladonna the band’s vocalist, completely in the dark literally until Chuck and Flav showed up in the studio. Despite the misgivings, the bands totally hit it off while hanging out together, and once the song was in the can it was an obvious banger, with the tour that followed seeing Public Enemy up the intensity of their live show to match their fellow New Yorkers. It ended up being Anthrax’s biggest hit in the UK, peaking at number 14, and his been a staple of their live shows ever since.
The song standing the test of time is no real surprise, given its undeniable accessibility and solid gold quality, but the fact that both bands are still relevant is no mean feat. Anthrax are set to release their twelfth studio album later this year with the first single, It’s For the Kids showing that, 45 years into their career, they have lost none of their vibrancy. Chuck D, meanwhile, never stops creating: 2025 saw the release of PE’s superb 16th studio album, Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025; this year he released the classy doPE project with John Densmore; then there is the book of Chuck’s art – Livin’ Loud: ARTitation; not to mention everything else he curates, promotes and collaborates in. Chuck may be approaching 66 but he continues to prove that age is just a number.
Check out the gallery below featuring the wonderful package of the limited edition 10″ picture disc. Classic.
Last Friday, The Power of Intention, the excellent debut EP from Call To The Void, finally dropped. Gathering previous singles dating back to 2023 and a smattering of new material, the London-based four piece have banged out a quality slice of alternative rock that promises at a bright future. Although their influences are pretty evident they manage to carve out their own sound and they have clearly refelcted pretty deeply on the message they deliver.
The EP kicks off with the atmospheric incantation of The Power, highlighting vocalist Jack Osborne’s belief that anything in life is possible if you apply belief, intention and dedication, before latest single Resurgence muscles in with a hard-rocking riff and a versatile vocal ranging from a semi-spoken vibe to a ballsy scream. From the outset, there is a clear My Ruin influence, yet they retain their own identity as goth rock influences drift through the arrangement in the second half of the song.
Now that The Power of Intention is out, there is clearly a strong connection between CTTV and My Ruin beyond musical influence, with Mick Murphy mastering the record, Tairrie B. Murphy making a guest appearance and contributing to the band’s aesthetic (drawing my own conclusions here!), and Osborne having recently featured on the classy True Allies from My Ruin‘s Declaration of Resistance. Nevertheless, the friendship with the Murphys is a positive addition and complements the talent and hard work on display here.
As the EP progresses, it is clear that there is much more going on with some seriously dark undercurrents and a strong nineties vibe in the background – they cite Placebo, Soft Play, and Type O Negative among their influences. Early single Uncontrollable in particular conjures more than a hint of a goth-rock vibe, delivering a measured mid-paced flurry that keeps the musical melting pot bubbling nicely before stand-out track Viper’s Venom steals the show. The Placebo influence is evident in the melodic intro but once the heavy riff kicks in a loud-quiet-loud vibe takes it elsewhere, providing a backdrop for Jack’s most accomplished vocal on the record. There is deep emotion to his voice and the song delivers a killer hook that really slays and, once the tempo change takes it up a notch, John McGlade’s guitar lines lead us towards the stark a’capella conclusion – masterful.
After the fairly disposable but distinctly likeable ode to getting high that is Blow, we get CTTV’s cover of the Edwyn Collins classic A Girl Like You, featuring a cameo from the marvellous Tairrie B., whose influence runs right through the number. It has to be said though, it is freaking awesome. They stay pretty true to the original, but the heavier arrangement and the understated rap from Mrs Murphy take it to another level that absolutely rocks, with Jack once again showing that he has the chops to sing anything.
The band’s name comes from the French term L’appel Du Vide, describing the inexplicable urge to jump when faced with a fearful height, which they encapsulate on the track of the same name. Again, Osborne’s vocals are sublime as he switches easily between styles as they track drives along on the unrelenting momentum of McGlade’s solid riffing interspersed with his signature meanderings. Once more, it is an effective combination, hard rocking, memorable and sure to work a crowd into a sweat in the live arena. The EP closes out with the atmospheric ballad Alive – the first half is bare to the bone with a soaring vocal and guitar accompaniment before the rest of the band kick in for a visceral finale – quality.
All in all, this is a fine debut from the Londoners. Osborne is a charismatic frontman with an impressive vocal range and musically speaking the band is pretty damn faultless. Despite the undercurrent of influences, they don’t actually sound like anyone else, they forge their own identity with some catchy songs and plenty to rock out to. At eight, well seven and a bit, tracks and weighing in at a hefty 32 minutes, the EP is good value and well worth checking out.
Metallica´s Black Album was a brave departure from the winning formula thrash of the first four records and resulted in stratospheric sales in excess of 30 million, making it one of the most important records in the history of rock. It includes some of their finest songs with the likes of Enter Sandman, Sad But True and The Unforgiven, and took their sound to a whole new level, catapulting the band to a status in the music industry few can hope to achieve. So, why have I never embraced it like the previous records?
Like so much of the music that I came to love in the eighties, I first heard Metallica while listening to the Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1. It wasn’t actually one of their best tunes, but with …And Justice For All set to drop that week, Tommy Vance played Eye of the Beholder and hooked me once again. I soon fell for all things Metallica and the Justice album became a staple of my teenage years and my gateway into their back catalogue. Although like many of their fans, it is the first four albums (+ Garage Days) that define Metallica for me, it was this period from Justice to the Black Album that really rocked my world – I bought the albums, I spent a shit ton on Live Shit: Binge & Purge; I managed to get The Good, The Bad & The Live: The 6½ Year Anniversary 12″ Collection; and even a US edition 7″ of One – I remember being excited to see the video on TOTP or the Chart Show. I also had the Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica videos on VHS. I could not get enough and it all culminated in seeing them at Donington Monsters of Rock in 1991 playing second fiddle to AC/DC.
However, there was something about the Black Album that just didn’t sit well with me. Sure, I loved Sad But True, it was heavy as fuck, and The Unforgiven was a masterpiece of song craft, so I didn’t feel like Metallica had sold out. I mean, it was obvious to all that they were moving forwards commercially and they were proactive in doing so, with James getting singing lessons, Kirk being taught by Joe Satriani, and hiring a more mainstream producer big enough to challenge the band to do better in Bob Rock. The result was a slicker sound and next-level Metallica – they were experimenting creatively and developing as artists – but that wasn’t the issue for me. It was more that some of the songs left me cold and, as I had the vinyl version, the record had a disjointed feel as four blocks of three songs. It was only years later, while reviewing Hardwired (https://hardpressed.com.br/2016/11/22/metallica-hardwired-to-self-destruct-album-review/) that I realized what the problem was – “their lack of capacity to self edit has made for an album with excess baggage“.
Metallica has rarely employed a philosophy of less is more. They have never been a band to give their songs space as, even today, according to Rob Trujillo: “We have more riffs than we know what to do with“. It seems as if they come from a perspective of building songs around the riffs, so the impression is that it becomes more about fitting a song to a riff, or multiple riffs, rather than fitting a riff to a song. Obviously, this mostly works for Metallica and they do, apparently, discard much more than they use, but there are clearly moments where the resulting song is just not that great, which is also not a big deal – all bands have filler. However, in my humble opinion, as Metallica’s bar got set so much higher than most, for the Black Album to be the all conquering record it is lauded to be, a few of those songs could have been saved for b-sides as they are simply not adding anything to the record as a whole.
Given the gargantuan success they have achieved over the last forty plus years, James, Lars and co obviously know what they are doing, but the fact that they rarely play live some of the songs from the album says a lot. I mean, the three tracks that I would drop – Holier Than Thou (nice riffs but vocally and lyrically poor), Don’t Tread on Me (awful), and Struggle Within (meh) – have amassed a grand total of 150 live performances between them. There are songs from 72 Seasons that they have played more often than the latter two. I would, however, keep My Friend of Misery for the atmospheric texture, the bass line, and how it fits the vibe better, even though it is another song with only 20 live outings.
I am not trying to say that I know better than Metallica, but as a massive fan, I felt sure that a bit of editing could make for a more enjoyable experience. So, I have reworked The Black Album in a Spotify playlist, cutting the three offending songs listed above and rejigging the running order for a more satisfying listen. I have kept what works with the big hitters staying in more or less the same position, but, for me, the second half now flows much better and doesn’t find me skipping to Nothing Else Matters before I switch off. Have a listen and see what you think.
With tales of love and loss, maverick heroes and loveable rogues, The Dogs D’Amour‘s mini album A Graveyard of Empty Bottles was one of the most delightful surprise releases I’ve ever encountered. Sandwiched between the Dynamite Jet Saloon and Errol Flynn albums, it came just over a month after the superb How Come It Never Rains had flirted with breaking the top forty. It would prove to be the premature peak of the band’s success and showcases their songwriting at it’s finest.
MTV Unplugged was still some eight months away and, although Guns N RosesLies had set a precedent, acoustic albums/versions were not yet in vogue when the Dogs unexpectedly dropped Graveyard with an initial run of fifteen thousand limited edition, numbered 10-inch mini albums. It would go on to get a 12″, CD, and cassette release, propelling it to the dizzy heights of number 16 on the UK albums chart, but none would have the charm of the 10″. It’s a beautiful little package dominated by Tyla‘s artwork that so perfectly encapsulates the band’s aesthetic. The best thing about it though, was the songs themselves.
A Graveyard of Empty Bottles kicks off in upbeat fashion with the laid back, blues tinged, foot-tapping vibe of the jaunty I Think It’s Love Again, before the stark contrast of the bleak minor chords of So Once Was I, which doubles down on Tyla’s romantic view of modern day cowboys and wasteland heroes. There is more contrast as we segue into the blues shuffle of Comfort of the Devil, which finds the frontman at his most poetically sublime: “The devil runs his fingers down the spine of fate / Grins at me with a smile that spells out hate / Spins his chamber of his gun / There’s only one soul loaded for fun / Much more fun.”
But it is on Saviour, which closes out side one, or the Blue Blooded Bar Side, where the planets really align. It is two glorious minutes of the Dogs D’Amour at their very best as a heartbroken acoustic backdrop underpins a bittersweet tale of dereliction tinged with hope. In my humble opinion, this is where Tyla just about peaked as an artist, both poetically – “Let me lay your soul to rest / Let my lips drip red wine on your breast / Let me stain your pain with disinterest / Just let me be there for the rest” – and vocally as his voice soars on the killer hook, making this delicate pull on the heart strings nothing short of irresistable.
The flip side, or the 5th of Whiskey Side, opens with the original version of the title track of the then forthcoming album, Errol Flynn. Despite being a catchy, upbeat, mid-tempo romp it adds little to the record as a whole, serving more as a contrast to the heartbroken melancholy of what is to come. And come it does in the measured, atmospheric tale of disgrace that is the drunken downfall of the preacher stumbling from his castle of sin in The Bullet Proof Poet, before the understated When the Dream Has Gone brilliantly continues the story of the heartbroken lovers in How Come It Never Rains with surprising delicacy.
Once again, they save the best ’til last though. Angel initially sounds like a continuation of the previous track given the similar vocal melody, but it soon takes on a life of its own. Weighing in at a positively hefty 3 minutes 19 seconds it tells a serious of near misses for the self destructive, deftly covering loss, depression and grief in one fell swoop. The verses are as ponderous and full of heartache as the other ballads, yet the chorus soars with an absolutely sublime hook before they throw off all previous restraint in an electrified finale of blistering guitars – perfection!
A Graveyard of Empty Bottles may be short at around 19 minutes in total, but it is a delightful little collection that inadvertently showcases a much-loved band at their very best. It captures everything that was great about Tyla J Pallas and his Dogs D’Amour, from their romantic, booze-fueled melancholy to their raunchy, blues-soaked balladeering. This is unpretentious, good old fashioned acoustic rock n roll and deserves twenty minutes of your time.
I am a Megadeth fan. I have been listening to their music for the best part of forty years, I saw them at their very best on the Rust in Peace tour and supporting Metallica, and I have written about them extensively. So, last Saturday, I was really excited about watching the cinema release of the Behind the Mask movie. However, this intimite look at the world’s second most important thrash band indirectly revealed much more about its leader than providing deep insight into the life, times and music of a band the fans love so much.
Behind the Mask largely achieves its purpose of being a listening party for the band’s final release and it has an engaging format with Dave Mustaine telling us about the new songs and providing a potted history of the band’s journey between tracks. Although the film doesn’t appear to be particularly scripted, as Dave is often on a stream of consciousness skipping blithely over important moments in the band’s career, it does appear a little contrived with the frontman sitting at a desk surrounded by Megadeth merch such as the Vic Rattlehead Funk o Pop and copies of the Rust in Peace book.
We get to hear the entire album at full power through the cinema sound system, with a series of lyric videos alongside the official releases for the ferocious Tipping Point and the punky I Don’t Care, which we discover was written in place of covering a punk tune. The new record is actually pretty damn good, some of the visuals are stunning, others less so, and gaining some insight into how the songs were made and what goes on the studio made it all worth the ticket price. There is a fabulous scene of Dave dancing in his seat during playback, hair tied back, glasses on and waving a popsicle (ice lolly) around, revealing that he is still just a kid at heart.
However, I can’t help but feel that this is one massive missed opportunity and that Dave has a lot of things he needs to work out. The three main points that he makes, besides reminding us of being a black belt (he slips it seemlessly into a story about Nick Menza becoming the drummer) and revealing the ability to predict earthquakes based on the weather, are that he really doesn’t have a problem with the guys from Metallica (no, really), he does have a problem with band members receiving collaboration fees for “being in the room” when he shows them a song, and he is the first metal guy to thank Jesus at the Grammys. All of these things get mentioned twice.
The overall impression is that Dave never got past being the new kid at school that he often was and still feels the need to try hard to impress people and that he never got over being dumped by Metallica and still feels the need to show that he has “closed the circle”. He tells us how Megadeth was the first metal band to have a website and Gene Simmons wanted one just like it. On said website, Dave was hanging out in the chatroom one night and a kid got beaten by his drunk dad but Dave asked if anyone lived nearby and managed to get someone to intervene, thus saving the kid’s relationship with his father. Then there is how songs like Darkest Hour saved people or how Train of Consequences gave a girl who had been hit by a train the will to carry on! It all seemed to unnecessarily magnify the importance of Megadave in people’s lives.
The people watching the film already know how good Megadeth is, knowing about Dave being a black-belt fighting, earthquake predicting, internet pioneer, chatroom saviour inspiration to the depressed and disabled doesn’t really add to our appreciation of their speed metal awesomeness. Rather than telling us how amazing he is, Dave, who has been praised for his honesty in the film, could have told us about his addiction issues, or how he got through cancer and a debilitating nerve condition, or how he successfully navigated the grunge era, or given us some insight into accepting slots to open for Metallica, or what it was like touring Clash of the Titans or the Big Four, or how much it meant to go multi-platinum and receive an award for Countdown to Extinction or finally receive a Grammy for Dystopia.
Instead we get a stream of consciousness about Dave’s superiority and pettiness (there is a fine for any promotor who spells Megadeth with an A) and zero ownership of anything that went wrong. Despite making it clear that it is his band and he has creative control, he basically blames Bud Prager and Marty Friedman for the Risk fiasco. At one point, there are three (classic) song titles on the screen with the writing credit below each just listing Dave Mustaine; when the fourth song appears (I think it’s Crush ‘Em), it lists Mustaine, Prager, and Friedman as the writers as if to say “ya see what happens when other people get involved”. In fact, he is pretty dismissive of Friedman’s contribution to the band, saying that his solos for Rust in Peace were based on Chris Poland’s demos and that once Marty had said he preferred The Doctor is Calling after Dave slowed it down he knew that was the end.
Then there is the Metallica issue. The last song that gets played is Ride the Lightning. Fair enough, it is the last song on the record and it does take us back to the roots of Megadeth. But why allow your success to always come back to you being dumped out of Metallica? What about everything Megadeth achieved and all the great records you made? Some poignant music and a montage of photos from 1983 with James and Lars is not what defines the Megadeth legacy. If Dave genuinely has no problem with those guys, why keep bringing them up? Also, there is more of the distancing himself from anything that went wrong as he downplays the whole thing by saying that they were all young and alcoholic and that things got said, preferring to make it a collective scenario. It’s true that how Dave got fired was pretty shitty, but as to why he got fired, a lot of that is on him.
Anyway, I digress. Behind the Mask could have been an incredible experience for Megadeth’s family of fans – it has its moments with the new songs really standing up and the insight into making an album – but, unfortunately, Dave kinda rains on the parade a little with his discourse, leaving a sense of disappointment and a little sadness at his approach to life. Nevertheless, I will always love the music of Megadeth the band and remember that sometimes we need to separate the artist from their output.
With Megadeth releasing their eponymously titled, seventeenth and final studio album, the cinema release of the Behind the Mask film, and a fairwell tour on the horizon, it’s no surprise that all things Dave Mustaine are trending right now. As such, it seemed relevant to revisit their work and take another look at the top ten I came up with a few years back, which, while I stand by the songs included, I have rejigged a little. Also, despite the strength of their last three albums since the return to form on Dystopia, there hasn’t been anything new to compare to the tracks listed below, although the continued omission of Devil’s Island and A Tout le Monde may be cause for debate. Anyway, here’s what I had to say…
When Megadeth released their fifteenth studio album Dystopia ten years ago (almost to the day!), I was charged with the task of flexing my writing muscles on a Starter Pack piece for Already Heard (http://alreadyheard.com/post/137748764480/starter-pack-megadeth) as a kind of introduction for the uninitiated. As such, I spent many a waking hour with Mustaine and Co blasting through my headphones at breakneck speed as I explored their ample back catalogue; I listened to everything they have ever recorded! Although Dave’s work is consistently high quality, with even some of the newer releases boasting hidden gems, there are a handful of songs which stand head and shoulders above the rest. So here goes my take on a Megadeth top ten, buckle up!
10) Foreclosure of a Dream Normally when people talk about ‘Countdown to Extinction’ they remember the title track, ‘Symphony of Destruction’ or ‘Sweating Bullets’, but for me Foreclose is untouchable. It’s got the riffing and the solos that epitomize the Megadeth sound, but it also has an absolutely killer hook – seriously underrated song.
9) Good Mourning/Black Friday Maybe not the first song that springs to mind, but recent listens to ‘Peace Sells…’ revealed it to be one of their finest tracks. The atmospheric intro and sinister guitar lines to ‘Good Mourning’ was something nobody else was doing at the time. The song then gathers in brooding atmosphere, taking its time, before exploding into life with a blistering solo. ‘Black Friday’ then rocks to a mid paced groove and engine like riffing, before accellerating for a ball busting race to the end. Breathtaking.
8) Hook In Mouth One of Megadeth’s most underrated tracks from an album many overlook. ‘Hook In Mouth’ deals with the issue of censorship and the moralistic stance of the PMRC (the reason we have those parental advisory stickers). It is a more measured track, but is a prime example of Mustaine’s songwriting prowess with its intelligent lyrics and top drawer arrangement.
7) Rust In Peace…Polaris Only Megadeth do this – the two part song thing I mean – and ‘Rust’ is one of their finest examples. It puts the icing on the cake of their best album, Mustaine putting in one of his most vicious vocal performances on this politically charged track, whilst also delivering a killer hook. Just when you think it’s done the second part kicks off and basically it’s a guitar frenzy as solos blaze and riffs chop and change, while Nick Menza provides the groove.
6) Countdown to Extinction As a whole, the ‘Countdown’ album lacks the teeth of earlier releases, yet it showcases the bands highly developed songwriting skills; the title track itself being one of its standout songs. The whole thing is highly accomplished, from the riffing being expressive of the lyrical matter, past the killer chorus and on to the hot rocking solo – it has everything a top rock song needs. Not surprising that it won awards.
5) Tornado of Souls After the first two killer tracks on the R.I.P album some of the other songs pale in comparison to their monumental attack. However, ‘Tornado of Souls’ is similarly special and is surely one of the most complete Megadeth numbers. This is a guitar player’s song; the wonderfully complex arrangement layering riff upon riff, whilst giving Marty Friedman free reign on a raging solo. The rhythm work is also superb and Dave even manages a hint of melody to the hook; quality.
4) Hangar 18 The partner in crime to Holy Wars; you can’t hear one without the other following. Hangar is the ultimate conspiracy theory and one of the band’s finest moments.
3) Peace Sells The first Megadeth track to show off Mustaine’s ability to write a hit. Killer bass line, killer hook, frantic thrash finale. “Can you put a price on peace?”
2) In My Darkest Hour Famously written in one hour, upon hearing of the death of ex-band mate, Metallica’s Cliff Burton, In My Darkest Hour is a monster of a song. It broods intensely on the back of grinding riffs as Mustaine spits his bitter lyrics, before exploding into a thrashing finale, love it.
1)Holy Wars…The Punishment Due Holy War’ is without question one of the greatest rock songs in history. It has everything: Powerhouse riffing, scorching solos, sublime time changes, politically charged lyrics and a level of technical excellence beyond compare; thrash metal perfection goddammit.
Ahead of their upcoming Las Vegas residency, Def Leppard have dropped stand-alone single Rejoice, their first new music since last year’s cover of the Ben E. King classic, Stand by Me. Despite knocking on the door of 50 years since they formed, the veteran rockers show no signs of slowing down with a busy year on the road coming up and the new single sounding as fresh as ever.
With a slow-boiling groove, a classic Phil Collen riff, their signature drum sound and a hook-filled chorus, Def Leppard sound as good as they ever have. It’s as slick, tight and professional as you would expect, but most importantly, it’s a fine tune and as fine a slice of hard rock as you are likely to hear these days. The uplifting theme, slick harmonies and some cheeky delays hark back to the glory days of Hysteria while retaining a heavy edge to keep their poppier tendencies in check. It is, nonetheless, something of an earworm that is hard to ignore – you can definitely imagine a packed arena getting behind this one.
It’s been ten years since the world lost David Bowie, yet people still talk about him and his work resonates as much now as it ever did – it is like he is still among us somehow. I had quite a lot to say on his passing, so I am re-sharing as it still seems so relevant.
“Don’t believe in yourself Don’t deceive with belief Knowledge comes with death’s release”
January 10th 2016 will forever be remembered as the day the world lost David Bowie. He innovated and created to the very end, having just released his (now) final album, barring the retrospectives, re-issues and studio outtakes that are sure to appear in the future. Thankfully, his inimitable work will resound in the collective conscience for generations to come. Few artists have left such an indelible mark on the world of entertainment and even fewer have been as unique or half as influential.
Bowie was always innovative, constantly updating and renewing, never afraid to move on without looking back; though the temptation to resurrect Ziggy Stardust and other such heroes may have been great during more difficult times. Instead he continued to create, up to his dying days, not only influencing his peers but allowing himself to be influenced by the world around him.
“I still don’t know what I was waiting for And my time was running wild A million dead-end streets And every time I thought I’d got it made It seemed the taste was not so sweet So I turned myself to face me But I’ve never caught a glimpse Of how the others must see the faker I’m much too fast to take that test.”
John Peel once said: “Pop is a car-boot sale, a parade of trinkets, junk and handicrafts, most worthless, some capable of giving a few moments of pleasure with a few glorious items made more glorious by their unexpected appearance in this market. Then in an unpredictable double-bluff, the worthless can, within a few years, take on great worth and the glorious become merely laughable.” Bowie’s appearance in said market was always unexpected and mostly glorious, with any apparently worthless work standing the test of time and taking on great worth, or even proving incredibly portentous.
“Written in pain, written in awe By a puzzled man who questioned What we were here for.”
It’s incredible that one man has had such a profound effect on the human race and left such a massive cultural footprint behind. To say that I am saddened by his passing is not really the best way to put it. I didn’t have the privilege of knowing him, we were not friends, like most people my relationship with David Bowie is one of fan – artist.
Nevertheless, for me, as I’m sure it is for many, it goes much deeper than that; he has been a part of my life for longer than I can remember, his work has always been there, his influence has spread to other artists whose music I also love. It’s kind of strange because that familiar figure, with all his guises, is not there anymore, they’ll be no more interviews with those mismatched eyes and that broad smile on his face and his self deprecating laughter, no more groundbreaking albums, and no more parts being played.
His music will live forever though, and the memories we have all created that are intertwined with his incomparable body of work cannot be taken away from us. My earliest are of hearing ‘Ashes to Ashes’ on the radio, Major Tom already known to all. Then there’s my Mum’s copies of ‘Aladdin Sane’ and ‘Pin Ups’ with their striking cover art. Then came all those hits from the 80s, ‘Lets Dance’, ‘Absolute Beginners’ and ‘China Girl’ – someone had a copy, I no longer remember who. And of course the collaborations on ‘Dancing in the Street’ with Mick Jagger for Band/Live Aid and the unforgettable ‘Under Pressure’ with Queen. Which also reminds me of the stunning performance of ‘Heroes’ at Live Aid.
But it was as a young adult that I really discovered Bowie, my best friend introducing me to ‘Hunky Dory’, which along with ‘Space Oddity’ (a.k.a ‘David Bowie’) got played to death in the first home I ever owned. I once tried to get tickets for a “secret” gig at a small London venue but it was such an exclusive (comeback) show that not even the touts could get hold of them; I had to resign myself to never seeing him play live and to being content with ‘Live from Santa Monica’ and ‘At the Beeb’.
With his passing it is this evoking of bittersweet memories of how and when his work touched us that forces us to reexamine our own lives and contemplate our own existences. And therein lies the sadness – I’m not sad that David Bowie has died; he led a full and rich life and was one of the most significant artists in the history of humanity, I’m sad for what his death means to me, to everyone he touched and to our society. It moves me deeply to think that where once there was a constant that could be relied upon to challenge and inspire in equal measure, whilst sound tracking our very existence, now there is an empty space.
“I’m stuck with a valuable friend “I’m happy. Hope you’re happy, too.” One flash of light But no smoking pistol…”
Rest in Peace David Robert Jones, you will be sorely missed.
This year has begun with party goers gleefully filming what would become a fatal blaze killing 40, while the president of the United States has illegally orchestrated an invasion of a smaller, weaker country that happens to have a lot of oil. There is clearly something very wrong with the world. We need people to speak out, we need people to question, we need people to use their platforms to help us wake the fuck up and smell the rancid coffee of the god awful, social media obsessed, post-truth, broligarchical world that we live in.
We need people like Tairrie B and Mick Murphy. We need bands like My Ruin.
After a ten year hiatus, My Ruin are back, and Tairrie B. Murphy is angrier than ever. And rightfully so. Although My Ruin were on hold, Tairrie’s been busy with politically charged hip hop albums and the joyful rock n roll of SWTEVL with husband Mick. However, it is as My Ruin that their creativity really resonates, bringing together all the elements that are evident in their multiple side projects – it’s metal, it’s punk, it’s hardcore, it’s hip hop, it’s every part of who they are and what they are capable of. And the new album, Declaration of Resistance, does not disappoint, sounding urgent and fresh while rooted in the old school; it makes for an essential listen in the current political climate.
The album kicks off with the first single, Compromised, and right from the word go, the ominous riffing sets out the stall while Tairrie screams salvos like “A hollow oath with immunity; A cult of chaos and vanity; Malignant pig and fascist muse; Definition of waste, fraud and abuse; Persona non grata there is no doubt; About the man who sold America out“, making it clear that they are pulling no punches and giving no fucks. In the current oppressive climate, it’s a brave but much needed move.
The blows keep coming with second single Audacity, which burns a little slower in a controlled, but hard-hitting protest, using Tairrie’s vocal versatility to celebrate the power of female voices in a nod to their own feminist anthem Beauty Fiend.
The current version of My Ruin has been stripped down to Tairrie and husband Mick, who not only plays everything but also co-produces and engineers the record, and, is absolutely on fire throughout. The guitar playing on this record is simply outstanding, particularly on stand-out track True Allies, the killer collaboration with Jack Osborne, of Call to The Void. The atmospherics, the mixed tempos, the vocal interplay, the heavy hook and blazing solos take it to another level.
Contempt follows in slightly more angular fashion with a more mechanical sound but it is another slap in the face of the evangelical power brokers with searing lines like “Cause there’s no hate like Christian love” – superb. Infinite Connection burns a little slower with its chugging riff and largely spoken lyrics before the punky earworm HHRL (Hitler Hated Red Lipstick) kicks everything up a gear and transforms beauty into a political weapon.
In another highpoint, Tairrie gives her rap tropes their full flow on Fragile Like a Bomb, even dropping a cheeky Ice Cube reference in the opening Goddam. This is rap-rock fusion at its very best with its retro feel and steady groove, underpinned by more stellar work from Mick to rock hard and deliver one of the fiercest blows of the record in an almost understated fashion. The straight up, “immensely cathartic dis track“, Dark Eyes of London, follows with zero subtlety but is equally effective, with Mrs Murphy spitting pure vitriol to an ever-intensifying rifferama.
Spoken word dirge Lady Liberty is cleverly done and demands that we actually listen to what is being said: “I watch as compassion; Withers and dies; Where those we once welcomed; Are scorned and despised“. You have to respect the message here, as even if this isn’t the most immediately accessible track, it really captures some of what Tairrie is trying to say and deserves some extra attention. Muzzle Velocity then uses its firepower to remind us that Democracy is at risk with the current regime if we remain apathetic. There are better tracks on the record, but the final message is one we should all pay attention to:
“It didn’t start with gas chambers & concentration camps; It started with one party controlling the media and the message; One party deciding what is truth & fake news; One party censoring speech and silencing dissent; One party dividing citizens into “us” against “them”; It started with a gradual erosion of democratic principles and human rights; When good people turned a blind eye and let it happen“
The album then closes with a quick-fire double whammy to deliver the knockout blow. First, Truth or Consequences provides a punchy summing up the overall theme of the record before the blistering cover of L7‘s Shitlist provides a fitting finale, it being pretty obvious who has made the shitlist.
All in all, Declaration of Resistance is a mighty fine record deserving of repeated listens. On a simply musical level, it is a great record of hard rocking, cathartic tunes that really hit hard. More importantly, it is a record of the moment and serves as a chilling statement on the pile of shit we are currently drowning in. Tairrie B has a well thought-out vision on the state of the world, which goes far too deep to fully do justice to in a simple album review. But if there is one takeaway, it is that despite the mess that certain people are creating, there are decent people in the world for whom prejudice and hatred is not the way forward.
So, sit down, listen to the record, look at the beautiful artwork that goes with each track, and read the lyrics and the thinking behind each song. The album drops on January 16th and will be available on Bandcamp at https://myruin.bandcamp.com/.
Hard Pressed 