Review: Hot Knives - Static Bloom

Sweet Jesus..this is major league brain frying stuff! When a submission falls through the virtual letterbox saying it is "part MC5, part Funkadelic, part Butthole Surfers" you kinda sit up and take notice and one of two things happens: 1. it is none of those things and the delete button is pressed or 2. it is simply a-mazing stuff... Hot Knives are definitely in the latter category. Before I get on to the nitty gritty of things, let me put this into some kind of context: whether by fortuitous timing or some kind of musical spidey sense (probably the former if I'm honest) I decided to listen to this minutes after the email landed....for those that know Monoshock, this hit me like the first time I heard them...that same rawness, that same 'fuck with us at your peril' and, more importantly, the same righteous noise.

'Alhambra, Baby' goes for the jugular from the get go with some Sabbath meets MC5 riffage..it's as heavy as all fuck and twice as exhilarating. MC5 are the obvious touchpoints ..as much as they are lauded as being proto-punk their music was very much based in ramped up blues rock and this is no different except ramped up that little bit further. From the spacey psychedelic swirl at the beginning to the very last note, this positively exudes late sixties counterculture....I love it! 'Sfincioni Dreams' takes a different route..the riffs are just as heavy but comes across more as a post-punk/Sonic Youth track but it is the last of this short set that is the real killer. 'Dank Zappa' has riffs that make Blue Cheer appear like Mumford and Sons...you can positively feel the electricity humming from the cables. It's probably a bit more 'stoner' than the rest but it has that same heavy psych vibe going on.

Not gonna lie...the sound quality could be better and normally that would detract from the overall effect but in this case it is that very rawness that gives these three tracks a down'n'dirty 'live' nastiness that is impossible not to love. The good news is that the guys have apparently recorded their first long player...now that is one album I cannot wait to hear. 'Static Bloom' can be streamed / downloaded (Free!) from the band's Bandcamp page here.