Album Review: Evil Blizzard – Everybody Come To Church


Evil Blizzard, one of the slightly less conventional acts (and we’re not just talking about the masks) to grace the current music scene are all set to release there follow up to last years debut long player ‘The Dangers Of Evil Blizzard’. Recorded live in a single day at Magnetic North Studios, ‘Everybody Come To Church’ quite faithfully captures their somewhat manic, yet intoxicating, deep, bass heavy live set.

– Preston’s second most popular shower of shite, Evil Blizzard, have finally got round to doing something constructive and put together another (I know! – As if one wasn’t enough?) album. But don’t get too excited. They only spent a day on it – more a case of a ‘that’ll do’, than ‘can do’ attitude. Furthermore it looks like they kidnapped and tortured that bloke from Embrace while they were at it…

After being blown away by their live set, unlikely bedfellow, Embrace frontman Richard MacNamara approached the band about recording the album for them…

He pretty much begged to produce us,” admits bassist and keyboard player Filthydirty. “Initially we were a little hesitant as there seemed to be few musical similarities between the two bands but after several meetings it was apparent that Richard had some incredible ideas and a vision of how to capture the chaos and energy of the live shows; something that was lacking on our debut album. Evil Blizzard thrives on chaos and it was great to have a Captain at the wheel.

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Once you’ve been drawn to church by the slightly menacing, but equally as enticing vocal intro of the opening track, there is only one question on everyone’s lips –  ‘Are You Evil? A glorious anthem for the damned. A clarion call for the disposessed. A psalm for the psychotic. A melody for the mad. A ditty for the daft. I’ve almost run out of adjectives – needless to say this is a romper of a track. A track that will get everyone – even your granny – singing along.

– Thanks Evil Blizzard !!! Everything was going fine until Mum heard the line “You dirty boy. I know what you keep in the box beneath your bed.” Right on cue a number of accusatory glances came my way followed by a rather embarrassing cross examination from my sister and grandmother – who up until that point had been enjoying a good old sing along. Cheers!

The intensity of the opening track continues with ‘Stupid People’. On paper you could be excused for thinking that four bass guitars and a drummer would be somewhat limiting. For some maybe. But, especially with the enhancement of a bit of synth, this track demonstrates how skillfull Evil Blizzard are at switching between full force and bare basics to create another serious head-nodder.

– This is for you. Yes you, and all the other people who have taken the time to pay even the slightest bit of attention to this foul ungrateful bunch. You know, people who give up their hard earned cash, and precious time, so that this lot can sloth about all day watching grindhouse movies and pulling legs off sparrows. This song is about how the band view you.’Stupid People’ is dedicated to you. 

Slowing down the pace of the album openers, ‘Bow Down And Pray’, as with quite a few Evil Blizzard songs, employs a great deal of repetition throughout, making it a rather heady, stupefying track that goes a fair way in defining their sound. 

– ‘Bow Down And Pray’? ‘Bow Down and bloody Pray’? You’ll need more than bloody prayers to help you wipe this from your memory. 

‘Spread The Fear’, a rather sedate trip through what for some would be a dystopian future, but for others an accurate reflection of today’s collapsing society. A subtle, but no less poignant, political statement that has elements of dub reggae in it’s delivery.

– Is if their appearance wasn’t enough, ‘Spread The Fear’ speaks of “dangerous times …chaos all around…streets filled with blood”. Hardly relates to the leafy avenues of middle England. But, needless to say my old Gran listened to this last week, and now she’s so terrified, she’s refused to leave the house. So once again. Thank you Evil Blizzard. You bunch of…!

Previously released as split with the Italian, occult inspired, psychonauts, Mamuthones, ‘Sacrifice’ (for my money anyway) is the best track on the album. This is Evil Blizzard at their finest. Sub-sonic bass, more of that repetition and distorted vocals, combine to take the track from the almost turgid to the utmost absorbing, hypnotic of tracks, tuning your synapses and rewiring you to their wavelength.

– No I wasn’t nodding along totally absorbed by the song. I was hanging my head in despair at the futility of it all. Honest…

The slow droning repetition continues with ‘Balloon’ and ‘Laughing Gas’. I read somewhere that certain beats played at a certain tempo and at a certain frequency can have the effect of rendering human beings into a deep hypnotic trance. Apparently it’s the sound that Tibetan monks make and the note that the Egyptian pyramids resonate at (?). Something to do with our primal instinct, Earth rhythms and memories from the womb.  Not sure if it’s the litany of the beats, or the power of the sub-sonic, but these and other tracks on the album, have an uncanny way of tapping into something not too far from what I’d imagine this effect to be. If you could sum it up easily, I think ‘potent’ would be a good adjective.

A song about a bloody ‘Balloon’. I bet it’s a bloody red ballon too. Just like the one in that shite French film we were made to watch at school…There’s no wonder they’re advocating the use of ‘Laughing Gas’. You’d need something to get you through this dross.

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Closing things is ‘Watching’. A tremendous, tumultuous affair that once again has the band defy all logic, and deploy their unusual set up to the full. Of course it’s a bass laden frenzy – it couldn’t really be any other – but it’s accompanied by some very tripped out theremin like synthetics and some of the finest blast beats you’re likely to hear.

– Thank f##k for that! Won’t be listening to that again!!! 

Having seen Evil Blizzard live (click HERE for our live review from Leeds a while back) and witnessing first hand their ever growing appeal, I was very curious to see how, and if, they could successfully transfer the evil, broodiness of their live set to disc. Plainly speaking the answer is yes. But as well as capturing the air of malevolence and controlled chaos that has made them such a popular live proposition, the album also lays waste to any claims that four bass players and a drummer doubling up as lead vocalist can’t work fully as a band. ‘Everybody Come To Church’ is definately up there as one of the best, if somewhat sinister, psychedelic rock albums to have emerged for some time. All round a very good, very well constructed album, from a bunch of very accomplished musicians. Well, as accomplished as you can get when your trussed up in pink nylon and hanging around with slaughter house pigs.

If you weren’t evil before,you are now.

– Thankfully my copy of the album is on CD, which is very handy. Me and my grandad have tied some string round it and hung it over the allotment to scare the birds off his peas. Other practical uses for the CD include – coaster, clock face (just make sure you place the written side to the wall), cut it into lots of small pieces and make a stylish mosaic, or even use as a scraper for removing dog shit from your aunties espadrilles (that’s what we did before we washed it and re-deployed it to the allotment).

A must have long player to add to your collection.

– Utter drivel!

‘Everybody Come To Church’ track-listing:

Are You Evil?
Stupid People
Bow Down And Pray
Spread The Fear
Sacrifice
Balloon
Laughing Gas
Watching

‘EVERYBODY COME TO CHURCH’ by EVIL BLIZZARD is released by Louder Than War Records on October 9th.
Order CD copies by clicking THIS LINK
Order VINYL copies by clicking THIS LINK
Apparently vinyl stocks are already running low – so get your order in now to avoid disappointment.

– Thankfully,  it doesn’t look like the slackers made enough copies to go round. Blessing in disguise if you ask me.

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Tour Dates – Places to avoid this coming Autumn/Winter…

September
26th Liverpool Psych Festival
October
10th The Great British Alternative Weekend, Butlins Skegness
15th The Donkey Bar, Leicester
17th Bumper, Liverpool
24th Georgian Theatre, Stockton
30th The Hairy Dog, Derby
31st Blitz, Preston (Halloween album launch)
November
11th Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
27th Wagon & Horses, Birmingham
28th The Barfly, Camden w/ Bad Guys
December
19th The Academy, Manchester

Evil Blizzard are:(-shite!) Side – drums & vocals, Kav – bass & noises, Prowler – bass & leather, Stomper – bass, Filthydirty – bass, keyboards & ranting..

FACEBOOK – EvilBlizzardband – Evil Blizzard Fan Page 

TWITTER – @evil_blizzard 

WEBSITE – www.evilblizzard.com – FFS! Might have known. ‘Site under construction’.

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