Nuggets - 20 February 2008

The Huguenots - Discography
By Nadeem Ali
In the mid to late 90s there was a dangerous punk rock group called The Huguenots. Hydrahead, having sponsored a split 10” featuring the band back in the day, are now releasing an all encompassing compilation. The Huguenots are probably more notable for the individuals that mad up their band rather than the actual music. Converge’s Kurt Ballou, Piebald’s Aaron Stuart and Dan Colby of The Explosion all passed through the band’s ranks. The music itself is corrosive Drive Like Jehu/Nation Of Ulysses influenced art-punk. Nothing terribly original but executed with undeniable style and panache. Razor sharp guitars slice and dice their way around chaotic drums, a thudding bass and banshee screams. ’Discography’ probably won’t rescue The Huguenots from obscurity or bring about an ATP sponsored reunion but it does allow some seriously nifty spazzcore to reach fresh ears.

Time Again - Darker Days
By Mike Haydock
Second album from the Los Angeles four-piece, and what a repetitive collection of songs it is. Time Again are architects of punk that rattles along at the same, consistent, speedy tempo, trying to knock you over with a volley of words. They sound like Social Distortion and Rancid, but less interesting or memorable, and ultimately Time Again fall into such depressingly obvious traps. They’re derivative, uninspired and unsubtle, and while there is the occasional chorus that works in isolation, it’s tough to pick it out of the overall morass of inevitability. Rancid fans with a limited perspective on the world will take to it; everyone else won’t.

Rotten Sound - Cycles
By Simon T Diplock
Sonically resting somewhere in that nasty place between Nasum and Converge, and brewing up their hate-filled sound for almost as long as both as well, Finnish devils Rotten Sound are here to hurt you. And they will too, just not quite in the way that they’re hoping. Oh sure ‘Cycles’ is ferocious and then some- opener ‘The Effects’ could peel the paint off your walls- but the intensity is fleeting, only two songs here breaking the three-minute mark, and with nothing truly terrifying or inventive to even out the blast beats, the band’s seventh full-length is more likely to bore your ears than snap at your heels. Useful for occasionally scaring the neighbours only.

Dead Letter Office – Complications
By Jenny Perkin
Prog rock of the wishy-washiest order from this English five piece, which at its big-drumming worst (see opener ‘Follow Me Down’) would make even Phil Collins cringe. Unfair, perhaps, given that the record has a definite style even if it is an unfailingly boring one. This is slow music that’s high on mood but low on substance. Benjamin Hiorns’ distinctive vocal style is a mildly annoying combination of Nathan from the Cold War Kids and Morrissey, and is used as a layer over lethargic, at time lazily jazzy, wall of riffs. And even that makes it sounds better than it is – and though this may be a case of marmite divisiveness, for our money you’ll only need to own this record if you’ve got sleeping problems.

Naughty Jack - Good Times
By Steven Fanning
Overflowing with blues riffs and influences from as far afield as the Mississippi delta and the Peak District (!), Naughty Jack, aka Adam Morley, has created an album of timeless blues progressions that wouldn’t have been out of place in the 1920s deep south of America. The guitar work at times is delectable with the only real criticism being Naughty Jack’s vocals. In about twenty years time when he’s had chance to cane forty Marlboro Reds a day and gargle each morning with a Jim Beam mouthwash, he’ll finally be on the way to becoming a true bluesman. An excellent first effort however, well worth a spin.