Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Monday, August 25, 2025
Thursday, August 21, 2025
Queens of the Stone Age – Royal Hospital Kilmainham – 20/08/25 – Live Review
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Monday, August 18, 2025
Friday, August 15, 2025
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Monday, August 11, 2025
Tuesday, August 5, 2025
Monday, July 28, 2025
Monday, July 21, 2025
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Monday, June 16, 2025
Friday, June 13, 2025
Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts – Talkin to the Trees – Album Review
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
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Monday, June 9, 2025
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Friday, May 23, 2025
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Thursday, May 1, 2025
Monday, April 28, 2025
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Monday, April 14, 2025
The Cruellest Month – National Concert Hall – 13/04/25 – Live Review
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Thursday, April 3, 2025
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Monday, March 31, 2025
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
PJ Harvey - Is This Desire?
You could
argue PJ Harvey is one of the most interesting artists of the last 30 years. Her fourth album, released in 1998, was
recorded in collaboration with John Parish.
It starts with the fairly muted Angelene, which unfurls gradually,
building pleasingly to a chorus of “2000 miles away”. There are a couple of
noisier tracks here. The Sky Lit Up
kicks things up on a notch but it’s a quick sub-two minute blast, while the two
minute My Beautiful Leah and Joy are almost industrial-sounding, the latter
featuring gentle clanging before cutting off abruptly.
But for the
most part the album is made of muted, mysterious tracks with little instrumentation
other than a prominent, moody bassline. These
tracks (The Wind, Catherine and Electric Light) are by and large excellent. There are a couple of more ‘traditional-sounding’
PJ Harvey tracks, not guitar-heavy rockers by any means but more fleshed out
tracks. The gnarling A Perfect Day Elise
has a soaring chorus, while The Garden and The River have sweet-sounding piano
and keyboards, the latter also feautiring a nice bit of trumpet.
The relatively
rocking No Girl So Sweet has PJ cutting loose completely on vocals and the
track turns into a glorious racket, but it’s back to muted glory for the title
track where PJ sings sultry and sweetly.
It’s another really high quality collection of songs from PJ Harvey.
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Monday, March 3, 2025
Sunday, February 23, 2025
Fields of the Nephilim - Elizium
The third album
from Fields of the Nephilim, released in 1990, could be viewed as a departure
from, or an evolution of the band’s sound.
After a brief intro (Dead But Dreaming), we get For Her Light, a
standard issue goth track, though here Carl McCoy actually sings more than
gargling with broken glass. At the Gates
of Silent Memory follows seamlessly, and is quite portentous. Slow and doomy. This is rounded off with (Paradise Regained)
which sparks into life. Much of the
album is sequenced like one long track.
Submission
opens with a low bassline and a faint keyboard line. Between this and McCoy’s intonation “where have I been” you are
reminded of Joy Division’s Decades, though you also get squalling guitars in
the midsection. It’s a decent track,
though it’s a few minutes longer than it needs to be. Sumerland (What Dreams May Come) has intricate
gothy guitar work, building up deliberately to great effect for an entire 11 minutes. The final two tracks are the closest songs to
Pink Floyd that McCoy and co released.
Wail of Sumer plods like mid 70s Floyd, leading into And There Will Your
Heart Be Also, another long, seven minute plus song. This one has a particularly haunting melody, probably the most
emotional on the album.
It’s a kind
of long moody album with not much variety, tracks all kind of evolve from each
other. Not a bad thing by any means,
it’s just different from its predecesssors.
There are fewer peaks and standouts and thus is a bit harder to get into
than Dawnrazor or the Nephilim.
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
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Monday, February 17, 2025
Friday, February 14, 2025
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Swervedriver - Raise
Swervedriver
released their debut in 1991. Designed to be played LOUD, it's an absolute
guitarfest, gauzy riffs bouncing off each other right from the opener Sci
Flyer. Adam Franklin's vocals are a little muddy and muttered which takes
a bit of getting used to, but just succumb to those guitars.
It really is
a driving album. Riff after riff
follows, with the heavy rush of Pile Up spelling that out, Franklin singing “let's
just drive”, quickly followed up by the pounding Son of Mustang Ford.
These are hard-rocking songs, with the latter's riff being particularly
addictive.
After this
the album slows a little, which actually suits them. Deep Seat takes it's
time to build up to its hard-rocking, meaty riff. The tracks are less
traditional verse/chorus tunes but more vehicles for their grungy guitar work
on the likes of Rave Down and Sunset.
The most epic
track is the penultimate one, Sandblasted. With a grinding, Pete
Townshend-esque central riff, they slow the pace down at the key moments on
this track which makes for a joyous moment.
Monday, February 10, 2025
Cian Nugent/ David Murphy / Matthew Nolan & Guests – The Fumbally – Gig Review
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Sunday, February 9, 2025
Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim
On Fields of the Nephilim's second album, released in 1988, if anything they dialled UP the drama, from their debut. Although there were fewer uptempo songs this time around, the drop in tempo wasn't matched with a drop in intensity.
It opens with a true epic, the seven-minute Endemoniada. The layered guitars build up slowly, picking out swirling arpeggios, then 4 minutes in the pace quickens to introduce Carl McCoy's low growl. It’s a great introduction to the album and it's followed up by the moody atmospheres of The Watchman which builds gradually to pounding intensity. After the breakneck speed goth 'Ace of Spades' of Phobia, the band’s hit follows, Moonchild. The song has a classic gothy riff, and actually crashed into the charts back in 1988. The lyrics are strange enough but the track has an excellent doomy atmosphere. And it's followed by another fast belter in Chord of Souls.
So what of the slower material? Celebrate represents a complete departure. McCoy sings (sings!) rather than growls over a moody bassline and very little else. Shades of Joy Division. Snatches of spooky chants and sinister organ introduces Love Under Will, a slow, lengthy epic with an excellent riff, some fine guitar playing here. At times it's hard not to think of the Sisters of Mercy, though that's not such a bad thing. The pacing is excellent with dramatic pauses in the instrumentation as McCoy sings "I'll send my child my last goodbye ".
There's still time for another epic with the final track, the almost 10 minute Last Exit for the Lost. It builds very slowly on sparse, ringing guitars as McCoy groans gloriously "this could be my last regress". The song simmers for six minutes or so before speeding up dramatically, McCoy losing it to great effect as he sings "we're getting closer.... last exit for the lost!" with real passion and feeling. It's an incredible ending to the album, what is probably the band’s most representative collection of songs.
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
The Laughing Chimes – Whispers In The Speech Machine – Album Review
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
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Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
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