Review: Anthroprophh - OMEGAVILLE



Sweet fuckin' Jesus!! ...and if I could, I would be sorely tempted to leave that just there. I'm pretty sure that Anthroprophh need no introduction round these parts but in case you have been living under a rock for the past few years they are a psychedelic triumvirate composing of Paul Allen - guitar, Gareth Turner - bass and Jesse Webb - drums. This is their third outing for Rocket Recordings as well as having released via Cardinal Fuzz, Creepy Crawl, Greasy Trucker and Zamzam. All of their previous releases have been beyond special and to say they are held in high esteem by the psych family is an understatement...but this...this is their best. It is (very) loud, (very) fuzzy and (very) fucking heavy. Being loud, fuzzy and heavy on their own is not a prerequisite of greatness; many bands are producing albums that are louder, fuzzier and heavier, but in OMEGAVILLE, Anthroprophh bring us something akin to a masterpiece of sardonic songwriting and acid-fried noise with a liberal sprinkling of socially aware punk attitude.

Opening with the dystopian Stoogian blast of '2029', a hi-octane sub-2 minute explosion of hardcore guitar and crashing drums...not the opening I, for one, was expecting. This is followed in short order by 'Dead Inside' sounding like an English Misfits except harder and faster...oh, and fuzzier. Allen's guitar is on fire and that wah-wah is through the roof (but comfortingly familiar as we all pray at the altar of his former band The Heads right?). 'Housing Act 1980' has a real feel of the old agit-punk of Subhumans, Flux Of Pink Indians etc...the same politically charged lyrics and 'fuck you Thatcher' attitude. I'm seriously bloody loving this! 'Oakmoll' sees things take a distinct turn towards fuzzy heavy psych albeit with added electronic spacey effects that give it an extra, cosmic dimension. The last half of the track is gloriously unhinged...if a guitar could have some sort of breakdown, then this is the sound. 'Sod', after a musical u-turn a minute or so in, is another track of megalithic proportions, Allen's guitar leaving sparks in its wake like a sharply braking locomotive..the noise he can wrangle from a piece of wood and six strings is close to witchcraft....staggering. Kudos to Turner and Webb as well for providing a solid framework around which Allen can create his alchemy. 'Death Salad' (title of the year thus far!) sounds like the Anthroprophh of 'old' and so is reassuringly familiar but this distract from its ingenuity and power.

The first thing that hits you about 'Why Are You Smiling?' are the treated vocals which sound mysterious and threatening and sits beautifully with the heavy, arthouse post-punk musical stylings. When 'I' starts it is like you are listening to whole different album - the guitar is 'clean' and the vocals are melodic and trippy - it takes its cue from the that fertile period of the early seventies. But this being an Anthroprophh album, it doesn't stay like that for very long - the vocals become more strident and impassioned and the fuzz quota is increased by 1000%. When Allen breaks free with his guitar things become rather special indeed...some people may label it as proto-something - be it punk or metal or whatever - but all I know is that is staggeringly good. How do you follow a track like 'I'? Well, with 'Maschine' of course...a CAN-like krautrock workout complete with Webb doing a damn fine Jaki Liebezeit impression on the skins. What is impressive at this point is that they have somehow captured the spirit of krautrock and not just the musical tropes...the same level of invention and nous and that certain 'vibe' that Czukay, Schmidt et al perfected way back when...this is a masterful track that highlights the fact that these guys are not just bluff and bluster but supreme craftsmen who think their way through an album. 'Human Beast' opens with some priimal, nay atavistic, drumming from Webb accompanied by a throbbing bassline from Turner...its vaguely disorientating in its simplicity .. just pure rhythm.. but you can't keep a good guitarist quiet for long and when Allen comes in he doesn't just knock, he positively shoulder barges the door. Mercurial krautrock riffs, acerbated by some authentic sounding organ-like synths transform the track completely. This segues neatly into 'OMEGAVILLE/THOTHB' and its 'spoken' vocals and metronomic rhythms. It reminded me of The Fall and I really don't know why....Allen sounds nothing like Mark E. Smith and musically the guys are cruising the krautrock highway rather than the 60s Garage Punk one....maybe its the socially charged lyrical content ..dunno!! It is a strangely immersive track that drags you in and leaves you rapt which is why, at the six minute mark, when all hell breaks loose it comes as a shock to the psyche. Layer upon layer of feedback and static threaten to drown out the vocals....it is the soundtrack to a psychotic breakdown and no amount of medication is going to quell this mental storm. Abso-fucking-lutely huge! This is not helped when the noise stops and various clicks and whirrs of electronica kick in. 'Journey Out Of OMEGAVILLE And Into The....' closes the album and initially it is an oasis of calm and peace with delicate guitar strums and the sound of waves gently kissing the shore...all very tranquil. But we have learnt by now, we are holding our breath (metaphorically of course) just waiting for THAT moment when the peace is shattered. We have a bit of a wait as the guitar is joined by some shimmering percussion and understated bassline and some disembodied vocals. Things become a bit hazy as some distant, tribal drums and shamanic chants vie with the barking of dogs for our attention...maybe the storm won't break...but then you realise it has; it a quiet storm that disorientates, that throws us out of kilter with the world - clever....very, very clever!

Once in a generation comes a defining album that changes the musical (or at least 'genre') landscape...'OMEGAVILLE' is that album. Whilst never straying far from their psych roots, Anthroprophh have recorded an album that may well have sounded the death knell for all those 'psych by number' bands...the level of creativity and sheer mind-bending, warped invention is absolutely staggering but never falls into the trap of sacrificing pleasure for the sake of artifice. This is an important album but, vitally, it is an absolute blast from start to finish, a more viscerally powerful album you will not hear. What struck me, after several listens, is that the album is a journey..from the blast of '2029' to the blissful experimentation of 'Journey...' each track is informed by the previous and, like a game of musical Chinese Whispers, the landscape is changed incrementally until the last is unrecognisable from the first. Surprises around every corner and some electrifying playing by all involved make this an album that I'm willing to bet here and now, will top almost every poll come the arse end of the year. Anthroprophh have always been good but this...sweet fuckin' Jesus!

'OMEGAVILLE' is released at the end of March and can be pre-ordered here. It comes as a funky White & Black Explosive Splatter Double Gatefold Vinyl and CD as well as a digital download.

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