Lock up your daughters!
Right from the opening bloodcurdling scream, what we have here is a manic hybrid of progressive rock and twelve-bar blues that thunders along on a celebratory journey back in time through the late 60’s and early 70’s. It’s serious stuff alright, and insanity reigns supreme throughout the record.
Amongst the highlights are the monstrous and disturbing ‘Apple Tree’. With heavy riffs reigning supreme and the staccatto repetition, you can see the headbangers and longhaired freakouts in your mind’s eye. Likewise, ‘Colossal’ stomps along on the back of a punishing guitar that leaves casualties trailing in its wake, as Andrew Stockdale’s typically strong larynx and vocal cords withstand terrible punishment during that half-crazed vocal delivery, as all hell threatens to break loose and run riot.
Another strong track is the acid-distorted ‘World-in-Action’-esque ‘Joker & The Thief’, kicking in with a superb cyclical guitar lick and high havoc on the high hats before the chunky rock rhythms return to haunt us all
There are moments of reflection too. ‘Pyramid’ opens beautifully, and has a downbeat, epic feel about it, with a lovely arpeggio preceding the cymbal tapped guitar distortion. Lest we become too chilled out, the distorted and unforgiving ‘Witchcraft’ brings us back out of our senseless heads, and through a veritable storm, overloading and full of intensity. This is music for boys, and the Oz three-piece act must be a blistering prospect onstage, full of unharnessed energy.
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Their influences however, are sewn into the fabric for all to hear. Wearing your heart on your sleeve in this way however means that there can be no points awarded for originality, however well detailed this period study gets. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of rock n’ rolls halcyon days, and long for ‘real’ heavy metal, with a ‘no-mercy’ approach, then this release is for you. The songs are crammed full of the usual ‘castles and dragons’ imagery, and sound as authentic in places as the music of their predecessors.
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