HOUSE Of ALL: Continuum
Tiny Global Productions
Superb Vinyl | CD | DL
Available 2nd April here
Not even a year since their debut album and offshoot album Bay City Pistols, HOUSE Of ALL are back in all their glory with another nugget of magic sound from the minds of Bramah, The Hanley Brothers, Wolstencroft and Greenway. Wayne AF Carey reviews…
It’s been a canny year already for Fall addicts. The second album from members of the last lineup of The Fall – Imperial Wax reviewed here by LTW is a maelstrom of garage punk in the vein of the late sound which features guitar maestro Greenway who isn’t fucking about with getting on with his life under the cloud storm of MES’s erratic mood swings. Rather than banging on about the band that have influenced the whole music scene for years, lets talk about the new (old) guys lead by a true bingo master in the form of Martin Bramah who could tell you a thing or two that the Hanley’s couldn’t in his time. Blue Orchids anyone? Bramah is also a master of the spoken word / sprech without a carrier bag to store the lyrics in. It’s all up there.
Scenario One:
Our resident punk grumpy bastard Ged Babey has been mates with Bramah for some time now and reviewed the debut House Of All album here which he describes as a glorious debut from the ranks of the finest musicians ever to grace the best album’s of said back catalogue, joined by the prose of Martin Bramah who can throw out a quote of two… or three… or four…
Scenario Two:
What happens when you get Martin Bramah, ‘Funky Si’ Wolstencroft, Paul and Ste Hanley, plus Pete Greenway in one room? Not a fucking chicken crossing the road anyway. Just a magic sound of five veterans on fire who make their craft sound so effortless in this world of social media and rich young kids trying to create a sound that doesn’t even touch this serious shit. They’re not even trying hard here. It’s all in the hips…
Fuck off. I’m waffling…
Let me tell you from the off, this album was recorded at the same time as the debut, yet it’s a lot more darker and sounds like most of the tracks have been cleverly left out for the next chapter.
From the off the excellent For This Be Glory bangs in with a glam rock stomp backed with those double drums and Bramah spouting his prole with ease. “For this be glory, into eternity” he cries for the climax. Murmuration comes in like a slower version of Nirvana’s Scentless Apprentice and goes all claustrophobic and gothic with a dirty bass from Ste Hanley and a great guitar lick from Greenway. Dark, yet monstrous in scope. Gaudy Pop Scramble is a right fuckin laugh! “All art transcends the author’ proclaims Bramah through his tiny megaphone backed by a double drummed helping from Si and Paul and the excellent line “A gaggle of punk rock tourists with little plastic guitars” that could be aimed at anyone… The best pop punk offering you’ll hear for a while. Shout along: “Gaudy pop barrage, pop pop!”
Cuckoo In The Nest is just a top slice of slow rockabilly machine gun guitar and bass with Bramah pronouncing “Yes I was born here, no choice no memoreh, no rights no history” Greenway is exemplary on this one with his signature sound from the late Fall albums warping into this unique platter of Si and Paul stealing the show with their drums and Ste keeping the bass flowing. “I stuck an onion in my mouth, I’m not Jack The Ripper” Yes Martin, we know… Under A Crooked Sky goes all Joy Division dark and hits the spot with Bramah actually singing in monotone against a dark bass line and Greenway’s plucking guitar complimenting those tender yet thundering drums. The best bit of psych I’ve heard for years that crashes in and out of wonk with ease. Highlight of this album is the fucking amazing Aim Higher with the opening line “They put me up in a nice hotel. Isn’t life a bowl of cherries”, the most upbeat tune going here and a proper anthem that shits all over anything I’ve heard lately. “Step we gaily on we go!” Perfect bass, great guitars and drums and Bramah on top form enjoying himself. Next single to me!
Letter To A Young Poet goes back into dark territory yet again with a foreboding guitar riff and doom laden drums with Bramah pronouncing “Tackle the man not the ball’ and ‘Don’t worry about who your friends are” “examine your conscience” “a gentleman is never rude, except on purpose”, fuck me it’s all their from the mind of a true poet who is letting off his own kind of steam in this world of quotes from dickheads who’ve never really read the right books, or any. A cheeky dig at post grad students? I”ll let you decide… A Taste Of Money is a funky bastard that has the best bass line I’ve heard for ages. A slight dig at Marr maybe with the ease they’ve written this without going full on plastic indie. A weird pastiche of shite landfill that slays it all. “Possession with intent to supply” Yep!
I Must Get Clean sounds like Oasis if they were ten times better. Greenway is taking the piss here and the chant ‘I must get clean’ is brilliant with it’s ‘raw psychic force’ ‘suited and fuckin booted’ Proper anti drugs going on here! Closing track Each Ending Has A Beginning is a proper mellow affair and the title of the song hopefully gives us an inkling that there’s no stopping here. Sublime guitars with a subtle bass, backed by Si and Paul having a slow moment with the percussion. “My love, my life, I’ve never felt this strong” proclaims Bramah in a warped production thats sounds echoey and psych as fuck. An excellent closer to an album that gives you more on every listen.
Call this a supergroup if you like, yet I’d like to say this is what these guys have been heading towards their whole lives. Their musical paths have gone in different directions to keep their own flame alive yet this is just a fucking fire of five individuals who still want to play and keep us aware of talent that never dies whilst staying true to their original purpose in life. THE MUSIC.
House of All Facebook
Words by Wayne Carey, Reviews Editor for Louder Than War. His author profile is here
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