Single of the week - Machine Head
Year Of The Dragon (Roadrunner)
Ah, summer! Coppers in shirt sleeves, little children covered in ice cream (bless!), fun-packed festivals and, the entire country covered in a warm, fuzzy blanket of feel-goody love vibes.
Quick! Send for Machine Head! They'll stop you dreaming! They decapitate and shit down the neck of your pet pony, Frank, piss on the ice sculpture of two cooing doves of love and then stick the crusts back on the ever-muthaluvvin' cucumba fucken sandbastardwiches when no-one's looking. For a laugh. FUCK! That's what this record's like. Like someone suddenly swearing in capital letters with a gratuitous exclamation mark after it in the middle of what is otherwise sober and understated prose.
"I hope that's it because I'm going to pass out!" gasps lead shouter Robert Flynn at the end. Good grief, someone get the young man a chair and a glass of barley water. Well done sir! Does it sound likeRage Against The Machine? YES! Is this a bad thing? NO! So what you're saying is that it would be, like, really cool if we had lots of, like, really hardcore and maniacally aggressive dark-dance meddle bands and a lot fewer fucking boring and prematurely middle-aged 'singer-songwriters' who make music for poodles and ladyboy students. YES, THAT IS WHAT I AM SAYING. This stuff is hypnotic, isn't it? THE WORD YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS 'TRANSCENDENT'. Is it? Yes, well, I suppose you're right. Transcendent, angry, Rage Against The Machine-like aaaaaaaaargh! music. INDEED.
STEVEN WELLS
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