21-year-old, converse-adorning Blom sneers a feisty nature that refuses to be contained, using youthful frustration as a loaded gun of lyrical spite that is as enigmatic as it is angry. She projects the erratic, raw energy of early Blur, straying into more furious Sonic Youth territory that similar bands in the indie rock genre, such as Black Honey or Goat Girl, may be too cautious to dip into. Blom has a musical maturity that I’ve rarely seen from bands this early in their career. She knows how to form the hook of a garage-rock song; captures the bitter frustration that today’s youth face. ‘Pussycat’ is a revealing turn into the shadows of garage-rock from a talented and promising siren of indie.

The song features possible acknowledgments of Reznor’s past drug addiction, warning of the downward spiral that comes with trying to solve one’s issues through inebriant misuse: “You won’t find the answers here – not the ones you’re looking for”

A track enigmatic enough to cause a polarising reaction from their fanbase, Nine Inch Nails have created more questions than answers with this experimental addition to their ever-changing discography. Love it or hate it, it’s toxically different; quintessentially Nine Inch Nails.

Production of Bad Witch has been up in the air for some time, with fan speculation rife. Not that Reznor cares for speculation; giving us an explanation earlier in the year as to why the recording process of this third record has been so intensive:

“We started out with a rigid concept, having not written them all. As we finished Add Violence we found ourselves… it felt too predictable. It felt like we were forcing things. Musically and storytelling-wise. The reason this has been delayed is because it took us a while for—what has become the third [record]—to reveal itself to us.”

Accompanying this final record is a massive North American tour that reaches all across the States. Starting in September, The Cold and Black and Infinite tour has 26 dates and will be accompanied by The Jesus and Mary Chain as their supporting act (WOW!).

And in a wild move that goes back to basics and will perplex Millennials’ across the country, the tickets that go on sale on May 19^th will only be available through a pre-sale at venues box offices’.

Tickets will be limited to four per person on a first come, first served basis. This situation could possibly be a rebuttal to the frenzy that surrounded purchasing tickets for Nine Inch Nails latest shows, which saw ticket availability decimated in seconds and replaced with third party websites selling them for prices that were in the hundreds. Do you think this is the right move? Let us know!

A European tour of The Cold, the Black and the Infinite is expected in mid-2019.

JUNE
22 LONDON Meltdown Festival *SOLD OUT
24 LONDON Royal Albert Hall *SOLD OUT
25 PARIS Olympia *SOLD OUT
27 AMSTERDAM AFAS *SOLD OUT
29 ST GALLEN Open Air Fest
30 PRAGUE Aerodrome Festival

JULY
2 BERLIN Zitadelle *SOLD OUT
4 ROSKILDE DK Roskilde Festival
6 BELFORT Eurokennes Festival
8 WERCHTER Rock Werchter Festival
9 MONTREUX Montreux Jazz Festival
12 LISBON NOS Alive Festival
14 MADRID Mad Cool Festival

Released for Record Store Day 2018, the single is a grieving slow-build with a bitter twist, transforming the high-beat lyrics of the original track and distorting them into a woeful ballad, reminding us of the haunting melancholy that put the Southend-on-Sea band on our radars back in 2015 with their debut album.

The distorted instrumentals instil an anxiety that explodes into quintessential alternative rock, spiralling with lead-singer Conor Mason’s bewildering, pained vocals; easily cemented as one of rock’s most promising vocalists. ‘Crazy’ is a perfect choice of cover that shows the comfort Nothing But Thieves have with their own sound, proving that they’re much more than their name suggests. Or does that make me crazy?

The Brighton grungers’ 2015 debut ‘Dream Soda’ revitalised the genre and they’ve aimed for a much bolder and experimental second album. It’s the kind of music that John Lennon would play in the halls of hell; unafraid to tarnish its own poetry with rough, flowing rhythm that destroys the calm of the very musical expectations that the tracks structurally present. It’s an album of human connections and bipolar relationships, moaning of unseen gods and dead men’s clothes, a trickery of soothing lyrics and aggressive grunge rage. 

They’ve been described as ‘sex grunge’, but it could be perceived as even more nihilistic – anti-romance grunge, the dark reflection of Beatles’ pop; waves of exhaustion and bemusement flowed by melancholy and nostalgia for better times that perhaps never even existed to begin with.

Lead-singer Matthew Marcantonio has a Kiedis-cool at his core; mumbling, screaming and whining lyrics that bring a funky zen to the head-spinning music. He captains the presence of the heavy band with Josh Homme stamina, not afraid to go soft in tone for beautiful contrasts that reflect the album’s core emotive themes. 

The album is a devilish wind-up toy that doesn’t stop spinning until the finale. Stand-out tracks include the two singles, ‘Be Your Man’ and ‘Loosen It’ – poetic choruses infected with a brutal bass skeleton and maddening drums. ‘Maker of Mine’, ‘Liar in Your Head’ and ‘God’s I’ve Seen’ are must-haves for fans of the grunge genre and heavy indie rock. ‘Fresh Out of Luck’ fades the album majestically out with waves of heavenly disconnection evaporating the album’s sound in a tactical reflection of the heavier opening track. 

Demob Happy may have finely tuned their sound too well, leading to predictable entries in the album for those that have been waiting since 2015 for a new album. Some songs feel like obvious filler; a couple of tracks towards the second half of the album drawl on longer than they should and, though a reimagining of early rock and grunge, the choruses can become repetitive. We have certainly heard this sound before, however, if you love the album as a blended Frankenstein of grunge dreams and indie horror, then this nightmare will give you a more everlasting memory than dreams ever can do. 

HARRY PAGES