In their 20-year history, Rocket Recordings have orbited between twin planets; Fuzz and Wah and fewer guitarists have pioneered this more than Paul Allen, who not only appeared on the very first Rocket 7” with The Heads, but who as the front of Anthroprophh leads the forefront of exploration into the garage rock, filth laden frontiers.
OMEGAVILLE is the third release for the band on Rocket, set for release on 30th March from the power trio. Allen peddles his art alongside bassist Gareth Turner and drummer Jesse Webb.
We open with ‘2029’ which wastes no time in displaying its traditional, heavy rock roots with plenty of pleasing guitar slides overlaid with lashings of noise. The short track gives way quickly to lead track ‘Dead Inside’, another quick one two punch with its manic countenance and static tendencies. ‘Housing Act 1980’ begins in a similar vein, with its added sample vocals draws parallel with some of the early Crazy World of Arthur Brown offerings, before descending into heavily punctuated chaos. ‘Oakmoll’ is an instantly more melodic and more accessible piece with its remote sounding vocals, more obvious guitar riffs and motorik drum beat.
‘Sod’ is back to a dose of reverberating layers of sound, cleverly presented so that all elements can be distinguished. The complete change of tact just after a minute in makes you want to check you’re still on the right album, well, we are, and its taken a punk meets kraut rock turn, with tapping of the feet consequences. All this, before ‘Death Salad’, with its hypnotising Sabbath-esq guitar riff and whispered vocals. It enchants with each repetition, whilst emphasising its unique place in the album. Anthroprophh really distinguish themselves from the norm by throwing in tracks like this which just mess with your sense of correctness.
‘Why Are You Smiling?’ continues the more accessible tracks with its droning bass line and motoric beat once more driving the sound before the distant sounding, far removed vocals and another dimension, inspiring visions of soundscapes from times gone by or those yet to come. The track descends from relative order to mayhem before it ends with a slightly sinister taunt of its title and then ‘I’ begins almost exactly where it left off before evolving into its own existence. ‘Maschine’ changes tact once again, with a funky bass riff dominating before samples and sinister guitar melodies join the fray.
‘Human Beast’ is the simplest track, musically speaking, on the album with its interplay between elements before we come to ‘OMEGAVILLE/THOTHB’ and ‘Journey Out of OMEGAVILLE and into the……’, which are two monster tracks to conclude, weighing in at a combined total of over 30 minutes. They essentially serve to tell a story combining spoken lyrics, musical dabblings and more than just a dash of experimental noise. They are living entities in their own right, with their own birth, live and death played it in their duration.
Anthroprophh could fit into many of the ‘rock’ categories that are out there are the moment, but with OMEGAVILLE they don’t try to. They just make the music they love and it shows, their passion and determination are portrayed in musical format. OMEGAVILLE will be an LP that divides opinion, with a sound that is certainly not for everyone; that being said – the world would be a very boring place if we all liked the same thing…
