A fifth SCARAMANGA SIX studio album, all but finished, got locked into producer Tim Smith's studio last year when he fell ill: an early completion was quickly ruled out of contention. The band, who are not in any way inclined to let shining light hide under bushels promptly released HOT FLESH RUMBLE (blistering live session recordings of established songs) at the end of December 2008. And now, only a few months later, here's a completely new set of epic material every bit as good as their best. James Kenosha, a rising star as a producer, with the appearance of GRAMMATICS début album this month, has worked on the production and recording.
"Cabin Fever" (2004) and "Dance Of Death" (2007) were both magnificent CDs and that missing third-in-the-series could still be their crowning masterpiece. But, damn it, this interim collection is magnificent. The band's well-known heroes have their coat tails well and truly tugged - QUEEN, THE STRANGLERS, SCOTT WALKER, the B52a, THE FALL (and more) are present in tribute cameo parts, disguised or otherwise but always assimilated. "Hole in My Emotion" opens the album with a choir of Bohemian Rhapsody proportions and "Pink and Blue" closes it with Engelian range and intensity. Between these huge songs are ten more sonic torpedoes and two entr'acte pieces "Song of Prey #1" and "Song of Prey #2".
Appearing these days as a foursome, THE SCARAMANGA SIX sound has a sharper definition. Gareth Champion's drumming has tempos up and tight and the band's delivery is more ferocious than ever. Giant, guttural, riff-splattering guitars and wildly expansive vocal harmonies are the dominant parts of the whole. Real tunes burst out from every quarter, and ideas flash stroboscopically across the rock and roll landscape, blinding any chance of hearing them all first time through. Rock and awe, for sure. "No passengers, no prisoners" seems to be the battle cry.
In a climate that would love to hear TWISTED WHEEL or THE FRATELLIS as brash, exciting and self-confident, THE SCARAMANGA SIX are men among milksops. Especially Julia Arnez with her spangled guitar, siren vocals and glam heels. Pomp, drama, grandiosity and brazen overstatement and are embraced as equals and hurled recklessly into the void where hubris dare not show. It's only an act, I know - but with bizygotic twins Paul and Steve Morricone, it sometimes feel that they are reigning in their own smouldering rage, rather than exaggerating life's normal thresholds for art's sake. It can be scary.
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I absolutely love track 13, the five minutes 43 seconds of "By-Product" that starts with a set-closing crescendo of guitar frenzy and then launches into a bass-riffing, string-touched ballad of severe emotional remorse: "in our experiment, that went horribly wrong / you wound me up then let me go. / You made me sit and beg / and dribble just like Pavlov's dog / whenever it suited you ..."
This album is much more than compensation while the cult wait for that tantalising red meat in the freezer. It's reassurance that the old dogs have tricks to spare. For those who have not yet heard the band, it's a good opportunity to get straight into the swaggering essence of Huddersfield's finest. These sacriligeous "Songs of Prey" do seem to insist on being played at neighbourhood threatening volume. Praise be.
Track listing:
1. Hole In My Emotion
2. Self Destruct
3. I Didn't Get Where I Am Today
4. You Should Have Killed Me When You Had The Chance
5. Song of Prey #1
6. Misadventure
7. Another Coward
8. Groom of The Stool
9. Song of Prey #2
10. Back to School
11. Sophia In Blue
12. The Twentieth of Hell
13. By-Product
14. Pink & Blue
www.thescaramangasix.co.uk
www.last.fm/music/The+Scaramanga+Six
www.myspace.com/thescaramangasix
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