This is a thrilling record. The steps towards it have been prodigious and impressive enough. But the final realisation is a magnificent achievement. All hail Paul Astick, guitar and vocals, Matt Reid drums, Ryan Clark bass and Rob Stephens guitar.
It amazes me that that such pure metallurgical ore could feel so fresh and so gripping. It’s very very late in the day for heavy rock that could rise above genre, but here’s an album that demands excited attention from all quarters. There is thunderous precision drumming and cloudbursting bass. There are supplementary doses of unexpected electronic manipulation in all kinds of places, sharpening up accents and dazzling the ears. There is impossibly hot guitar and there are screamed vocals whose words and emotions can be heard right through the cacophony. There’s also an illusion at work where each track seems faster, louder and more exciting than the last. The dizzying, squealing opening of “Scorpieau” should have defied escalation. (And can you believe an intro that weaponises The Surfaris' legendary “Wipe Out” drum solo?) Even so, that first track turns out to be just a scary foothill on the way to a terrifying summit. By the end of the album (“Bottle Rocket”), the only thing to do is to race around to the back of the queue for another gut wrenching trip through all eleven tracks, while sneaking the volume up another notch as you do it.
As hinted, most of the songs were on the original (limited edition) CHICKENHAWK album, called “Chickenhawk” and released in November 2008 by Sound Devastation. It is clear though that a lot of parts (including a couple of songs) have been supplemented. “Modern Bodies” is a lot more than a remastered version. The muscularity of the whole thing has been forged even more tightly together. Steroids, time, or crazed determination? All three probably. The chances are that the original reached a relatively small number of people. They would all be well advised to get the new one too. With a widely praised set at Leeds Festival this year and Brew Records’ enthusiastic promotion, there is every chance that “Modern Bodies” will end up in lot of collections. A major tour of the UK and Europe is about to start, so a lot of copies of this are going to be bought at source.
The heaviness is extreme, but the power of the invention and the restless creativity of the band hurl it all around with prodigious ease. But describing all the contradictions and impossibilities strikes me as particularly futile. Just buy the damn thing and lock yourself in for a couple of days. One secret that emerges will be the short bursts in which the fire power is unleashed. With what seems like an unlimited ability to think of new riffs or time-defying drum patterns the bloody show-offs can just go on re-scrambling your brains indefinitely. Frying, roasting and flaming are further options. Slow basting is not.
Science, science fiction, zombie movies, geek rock, naked sensation, mentalism, virtuosity ... whatever your passion, this band seem to have a riff for you. “Sit back and relax now!” screams Paul Astick at one point in “The Pin”. Fat bloody chance. Just watch Danny North’s berserk video for . “I Hate This, Do You Like It?
Just so you know, the track listing is:
Scorpieau
NASA vs ESA
The Let Down
Son Of CERN
The Pin
I Hate This, Do You Like It?
My Name Is Egg
Mandarin Grin
Kerosene
Gravitronic Life-ray Table
Bottle Rocket
