When Grunge broke big in the 90s the UK joined the party with bands like Headswim who might not have gained as much media coverage as say Bush who also came from the UK but Headswim had a big part to play in the scene in the early to mid 90s. More than just a UK Grunge band they had a decent stab at topping the alt scene as well with huge selling bedfellows like ‘The Bends’ coming out. There was certainly an element of that in their sound as well maybe more so after ‘Flood’ was birthed in to the world.

The Band released two albums, ‘Flood’ and a few years later they followed it up with ‘Despite Yourself’. Trapped Animal Records have been given the honour of reissuing ‘Flood’, repackaged, with a bonus disc covering some additional pieces. With a dark and anthemic sound ‘Flood’ captured the hearts of the UK scene Sure they took their lead from the likes of Pearl Jam Headswim stood on their own two feet and if you need reminding of how good they were then this is the perfect reissue.

Maybe the bands problem was they were not Grunge enough nor were they heavy enough to head swim down an Alice In Chains route and they weren’t Britpop enough either and fallign between several stools can be tough but it does happen.

Maybe now with some distance from the mid 90s the time is right for a resurgence purely on the musical terms it would be only fair wouldn’t it?

Anyway, be it discovering a new band or revisiting an old lost favourite this has its draw with a bonus disc with some added features, including tracks from Radio 1 Rock Show sessions and some deep cuts, b-sides and added extras. To be fair this has gone the extra mile as far as reissues go from the coloured wax to the heavyweight feel of the gatefold sleeve it’s a thing of real quality those BBC Rock show bonus cuts it’s a real labour of love and well worth shelling out for. A really good album now made even better. Buy it!

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Author: Dom Daley