This is the long awaited (well not that long really, but quite long anyway) new album from the most exciting band in the country. No, not the Take That reformation, but the Wildhearts ("We have split" "No we haven't" "Yes we have" "No we haven't" ad nauseam) with their brilliant new sound. Not quite industrial, not quite metal, not quite Pop/Rock but a curious and refreshing blend of noisy, melodic sonic assaults.
It kicks in with the worst song on the album, and thankfully the shortest. Junkenstein is noisy, tuneless and almost made me wonder why I bought the thing in the first place. But then Nurse Maximum rears its ugly head and I remembered. The Wildhearts make challenging music. Music which slaps you round the face and wakes you up to all the trash that's being marketed as rock these days. Anthem has become just that, an anthem for those of us who don't kiss up to every trend that pokes its head round the door and says hello. Urge took a while to grow on me, but thanks to repeated listens on the single, I have grown to love it. Then, bang smack in the middle comes the Masterpiece we've all been waiting for: Pissjoy. Oh yes. This is the boppiest, happiest, jumping-around-the-roomiest song you will ever, ever hear. I was so moved to dance to this, I even accidentally hit myself in the head with the CD case in my rush to mosh to this one (Doh!). This should be a SINGLE! Soundog Babylon carries this new mood on in style, whilst their cover of Heroin (Heroine in the original form) is truly stunning. Why You Lie is sing-alongable to the extreme and Thunderfuck is sheer genius as a closer (although I'll be blowed if I know what "and with the world in his ass" is supposed to mean. Answers on a postcard...) Oh, and this album has lyrics, I mean printed ones. So there'll be no excuse for not chanting along in the shower now.
In short, the Wildhearts have made an album which is more original than any of the bands currently being hailed as the next big thing, and Kerrang ought to take a good, long look at the way they cover bands and see if any of them really live up to the standards that the Wildhearts have set. I think they'll find that most of them can't even see the target, let alone get a bullseye.
Copyright - Lizz