With a title that owes more to a university thesis than an album of music, October File make a welcome return with their first offering since 2010. As ever they remain difficult to pigeonhole when it comes to their musical style, and their fusion of industrial and post punk owes as much to Killing Joke as it does to Godflesh with its abrasive base tempered with a socio-political edge. They’ve long been one of those reliable artists where you don’t need to worry if the new album is going to be any good because that’s a given, it’s more about just how good it’s going to be. So, safe in the knowledge that it’s going to put a self-righteous smile on your face, it’s time to kick back and take a look at humanity through the eyes of October File.
Coming out of the blocks in a defiant and aggressive manner Ben Hollyer outlines the band’s position in no uncertain terms as they ‘Fuck The Day’, backed by an impressive wall of guitar based fuzz and a shitload of attitude. The Killing Joke influence remains very strong as is evident in the sound of this track and follow up ‘Heroes Are Welcome’. The combination of strong and catchy riffs along with Hollyer’s authoritative and insistent voice lend an anthemic quality to all the tracks, but none more so than the epic ‘The Water’. Clocking in at an impressive eleven and a half minutes and taking a far more doomier stance than I’ve ever heard from them before, the song chugs along, drags you in and takes you under with the same inevitability of drowning implied in the lyrics. There is something so insanely catchy about this that might even make it my outright favourite track of theirs.
After the weight of ‘The Water’ you need time to take time to catch a breath and the perfectly timed ‘Upon Reflection’ changes the pace with its relaxing guitar track and poetic outro; however the lull is short lived and the hits keep coming as ‘Elation’ lives up to its title, lifting the mood and the pace with what is sure to become a live favourite due to its immensely singable chorus. The guitar combination of Matt Lerwill on lead and Steve Beatty on bass is a formidable pairing, churning out riff after riff and never giving the impression of anything other than full commitment. It’s arguable though that the most impressive member of the band is drummer John Watt, who plays with a similar verve and flair to Keith Moon.
It’s rare to find an album with little to no filler on it, (although there’s been quite a lot of them recently), and October File have used the last few years to give us a top quality album. Hugely enjoyable from start to finish, the only gripe I can really have with it is that some of the songs can seem very similar, although this is more down to Ben Hollyer’s singing style than the music. That aside however there is very little not to like about this and fans of the band will love it. Some of these tracks are going to sound immense live…
(8.5/10 Lee Kimber)
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