Under the Volcano kicks off in style with the chaotic ‘Sublime Architect Of Death’ banging on like a spastic blur of the best of Mark E Smith and his Fall and a bit of Gun Club for good measure.  Hey, even a hint of Idles here and there if you’re looking for genres and reference buddies.

Shit, ‘King Of Rock and Roll’ kicks off with a throbbing unravelling bassline decaying with overdrive before the abrasive guitars kick in.  Vistic is on fire as he preaches his sermon in front of a wall of vicious guitars colliding with the rhythm section setting off shards of glass-like spears into your ear and burrowing through your head making for uncomfortable sounds but pleasing and addictive drops of raw garage Rock and Roll.

‘Psycho Death Cult’ is like early hypnotic Gallon Drunk mixing it with eldrich or even some extreme garage punk rock Depeche Mode.  hunter, gatherer this is primal screaming alright all the way to the chanted chorus.  A most excellent start to the record.

‘Its Nature’ is almost tame in comparison – a more gentle Rocker with a pop melody trying to break through as we head towards the chorus which pokes you in the temple demanding your attention and bloody well getting it.  Excellent track almost Bowie-like in places. ‘Louts’ is a twisted electronic pop song with distant drums and super fuzzed-up guitar.  ‘I Am The Shadow’ is like a long lost classic Pete Murphy – Bauhaus number, it builds to a twisted crescendo with a wah wah static solo – at times it feels claustrophobic and your gulping for air but the music pulls you about like a rag doll and I like it, I like it a lot!

‘Heart In Danger’ builds with a hypnotic drum beat over a raw repetitive guitar rip before a stabbing jarring lyric.  This already impressive album just got more epic, more intense, more interesting and believe it or not more enjoyable and we’re only two thirds through.

‘Moronic Inferno’ invokes the likes of Bauhaus meets swell maps and a simple riff meets some twisted stabs and lush piano fills to make a simple yet complicated song but completely enjoyable.  To wrap this up we are treated to an acoustic song ‘Sapiens (When We All Are Free)’, building on big Bowie-like chords is the perfect full stop to a really good album and one I’ll invest some time in for a multitude of moods and reasons.  Take a bow John E Vistic you’ve done good Man – real good.

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Author: Dom Daley