By Jim Rowland
Preston’s unholiest sons Evil Blizzard finally return this month with the follow up to 2018’s acclaimed ‘The Worst Show On Earth’ album. ‘Rotting In the Belly Of The Whale’, the band’s fourth album, heralds a few changes, and promises to be their most furious, compelling and diverse album to date, released on their own Crackedankles label.
Famed for having the unusual set up of four bassists, a drummer and a singer, Evil Blizzard have had a bit of a reshuffle since the last album, following the departure of one of those bassists, Kav. In comes Fleshcrawl, aka Mr. Dibs, Hawkwind’s vocalist and bassist for over 12 years, with Filthydirty switching to lead guitar. The result is a wider sonic palette to choose from, and a diversification of and progression from the band’s sound up until now. The result is also one exceptionally great album that manages to meld punk, metal, goth rock, space rock, alt rock and electronica together into one cosmic soup of delicious and diverse sounds.
The album gets off to a compelling start with the dark and menacing ‘All Pigs With Snouts In The Trough’ mixing a goth rock vibe with a Killing Joke influence and a touch of electronica. Dark and menacing is a vibe that is repeated across the album, especially on the space rock sounds of ‘Lullaby’, where the influence of Hawkwind looms large, an influence that crops up with the clever use of spacey electronic sounds throughout the album. Perhaps that’s not too surprising considering the involvement of the former Mr. Dibs and the fact the band have supported Hawkwind in the past, as they have with Killing Joke and Public Image Limited, two more bands with an evident influence on the album.
Elsewhere, ‘All You Bad, Bad People’ has an altogether more big riffing metal approach, and the superb heavy, twisted boogie rock of the title track sneaks in the influence of Black Sabbath. ‘Tiny People’ is a short, sharp slice of art-punk and the hypnotic, twisted punk vibe of ‘Professional Driver’ is where the Lydon/PIL influence chips in.
One of the many highlights is the epic eleven minute ‘Darkness’, an atmospheric, hypnotic and huge sounding piece with progressive leanings, a vibe shared with the shorter but just as effective ‘Clouds Like Ghosts’. ‘Darkness’ benefits from a Bowie-esque vocal delivery in places, which is even more evident on the cracking album closer ‘The Buried Believers’.
Whilst I’ve name checked a fair few influences and touch points along the way, they all blend into a whole that is something really quite unique and totally thrilling. ‘Rotting In the Belly Of The Whale’ is easily one of the best albums I’ve heard this year.
Stunning.
- ‘Rotting In the Belly Of The Whale’ is released on Saturday (4 November).
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