Review: The Intelligence Service - Trangressors

I've been looking forward to this album since I learned it was being recorded a while back now. The Intelligence Service first registered on my musical radar last year with their 'Maladies' EP (read the review here) and were recently one of the bands who very generously contributed a track to the recent charity comp I put together 'Dayz Of Purple and More Hope'. 'Maladies' was a riotous mix of gnarly garage punk and psych fuzziness with a large dollop of post punk weirdness thrown in for good measure - it was, in short, a hugely enjoyable EP. Thus, my expectations for this album were quite high to say the least and when I read that the LP has been produced by Chris Woodhouse (Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Fuzz, Sic Alps) then those expectations were raised further. So...did it reach my high expectations? well, read on dear reader...

The four tracks from 'Maladies' have been reworked and given some gloss and make another appearance on the album. One such, 'Driving To My Sun' kicks things off in a flurry of organ and dense, dense fuzz. Little synth oscillations flash in and out of the mix, adding more interest to an already pretty fantastic track. 'School Me', also appearing on the EP, is a another fuzz driven monster. The vocals are reminiscent of the B52s, both in the male / female interplay but also the style in which Alex Pen actually sings this one. The input of Woodhouse is already evident..he has upped the fuzz stakes making the tracks denser and somehow more solid. 'Bilge (Help Me)' is the first of the 'new' tracks. Opening with an almost industrial beat and some electronic drones before the fuzz sets in, positively crackling through the speaker. The vocals are further down in the mix for this number, harking back to the Black Angels references made about the EP. It is a moody and dark track, partly due to the timbre of Alex's vocals but also in the pessimism that it exudes...a cracker! 'Can't believe' is a garage stomper...the organ gives it some sixties authenticity and the harmonised vocals on the chorus bring some levity to proceedings. 'Speak With You' brings things down from the manic frenzy of 'Can't Believe'...it still has that retro feel and enough fuzz to keep anyone happy but has a sunnier disposition.'Broken Raft (Bobby Says)' is lush...beautifully arranged and played. It retains that garage feel but the instrumentation and production give it a softer feel, almost bordering on ballad but not quite tipping over the edge of maudlin. It is an oasis of calm in the middle of the frenetic whirl of fuzz. However, 'Call The Doctor' sees the fuzz return, and then some. It is a monster of a track..loud, snotty and full of garage punk attitude. The album is brought to a close with 'Distraction (Here comes Dror)' (which actually opened the EP). A long, complex track that is the magnum opus, both in terms of length.......almost 15 minutes.....but in scope. The vocals are a narrative, spoken rather than sung, that sit atop a psychedelic melange of organ, fuzz and percussion. rather than let this run its natural course in the same vein, the band mix things up along the way...some coruscating guitar flashes in and out and the bassline positively throbs. The further along you get, the more psych the music becomes..things become almost an acid jam of heroic proportions, held back only by its brevity. It is testament to the band that you lose track of the fact that minutes earlier you were listening to some kickass garage punk rather than a dyed in the wool psychedelic freak-out outfit. It steams along in this manner before dissolving in a cacophony of glorious feedback.

So, in answer to my question....yes, 'Transgressors' most definitely met my expectations... and then left them behind in its wake. It is a fantastic album that uses the 'Maladies' EP as a foundation from which a luxurious psychedelic abode has been erected. Two things really stand out..the first is the band itself; the garage punk scene can sometimes seem stale and somewhat treading water but The Intelligence Service breath new life and vitality into it..this is an inherent factor to the band themselves and was evident from the EP. The second thing is the production by Woodhouse...it has added a new layering of fuzz to some of the tracks, bringing it to the fore and so giving them a denser 'wall of sound' vibe. In my review I drew comparisons to Thee Oh Sees and that comparison is even more apt with regard to the album...it has that Dwyeresque sense of irreverence and mischief whilst still being a 'serious' album. All in all, this is pretty darned awesome and has already become a mainstay of my everyday playlist. 'Transgressors' is actually released on May 5th but pre-orders are up now on the band's Bandcamp page here. If anyone in the UK still needs a copy of the 'Maladies' tape there are still some left in the Dayz of Purple shop.