ALBUM OF THE WEEK

You may well ask where to next for black midi, the preternaturally talented prog/post-rock/punk band who have, in their two previous albums, the debut Schlagenheim and last year’s Cavalcade, released some of the most impressive, strange and genuinely adventurous music to ever grace the Rough Trade label.

From the moment the title track sparks up their new album Hellfire, we are once again flung into their unpredictable sonic universe. Hellfire opens with a stop start marching rhythm over which vocalist Geordie Greep narrates, the music ever-gathering momentum as Greep, sort of rapping, attempts to keep up with its whirlwind drama that eventually dissipates amidst spiralling strings that wouldn’t be out of place in one of Disney’s more surrealistic dream sequences, or The Wizard of Oz. Yep, we’re sent spinning back in to black midi land where nothing is ever as it seems.

With barely a breath we are plunged into the rhythmic pulse of Eat Men Eat, which sort of straddles Bossa nova, eastern European folk and pummelling punk-rock. Is there anything this group can’t put there hand to? Welcome To Hell is, as the title suggests, a harder edged affair and recalls, as much of black midi’s work tends to, Red-era King Crimson. Welcome To Hell’s abrasive textures are also evocative of post-punk, yet its compositional and technical aptitude are certainly more prog than punk.

Likewise, the excellent The Race Is About To Begin. The momentous 7-minute romp begins within a similar realm to Welcome To Hell, athrill ride of jarring, furious sonics perfectly placed and balanced, with Greep vocalising at lightning speed, his voice whizzing maniacally around the track. The race in questions ends sharply, followed by a somewhat soothing 2-minute coda which brings to mind the noir-theatrics of Scott Walker. The ghost of Walker is again present on Dangerous Liaisons, on which Greep sings of all manner of depravity and terror over the track’s initial lounge-jazz that intensifies and morphs into symphonic blasts of noise.

At a mere 38-minutes Hellfire is a relatively short record, particularly for one of its ilk, where many prog bands are likely to wantonly extend beyond one piece of vinyl. Instead black midi squeeze their seemingly infinite ideas into short, often frantic tracks performed in crazed abandon, but never without absolute control.

black midi – Hellfire is out now and available on Clear Red Vinyl, Standard Vinyl & CD.