I remembered these Texan renegades from last album ‘Road Agents Of The Blast Furnace’ from 2019. They are kind of difficult to forget when their posse includes a self-described Mad Arab along with partner in stagecoach robbery Zawicizuz. With past and present ties to Bleed The Son and Absu, this grizzled pair along with drummer and bassist consider themselves as kings of the wild frontier, namely the West where if you are lucky you die with your boots on in a blaze of bullets and glory. Indeed, their blackened thrash is littered with the corpses of familiar tropes that will have fans picking up reference points on here.
Opener, the three pronged ‘Slain Children/ Roaring Arrows / A Blood Atonement’ for instance starts off with an instrumental section that although has some futuristic keyboards also has the ghost of Morricone’s Once Upon A Time In The West ‘Harmonica Man’ enthused into the melody lines. Once the arrows fly in it storms away and the vocals come in with a real gritty snarl, washed down by moonshine vibe to them. They gurgle and croak like their singer has had his neck stretched on the gallows but just about managed to survive the ordeal, no doubt courtesy of a man with no name springing a daring rescue. After a bit of campfire narration, songs such as ‘Endless Prairie’ and ‘Echoes Of Hooves’ take a more Americana theme and move away from the Italian side of things with a galloping fervour bringing to mind memories of shows such as Rawhide and Bonanza. They are fun and full of vim and vigour bouncing away with some soothing backing vocals and at times the presence of trumpeting horns accompaniment as if a Mexican showdown is about to kick off. I’ve not seen the lyrics but our grizzled one is obviously narrating a gnarly story as he gurgles his parts out. It’s all guaranteed to leave you with a smile on your face as you search for a plate of beans and some hard liquor at the last chance saloon.
Widescreen vistas sprawl into apocryphal tales where catching the last train west is more than a likelihood. Pace is fast and furious on the likes of ‘The Devil’s Grin and the vocals are spat out like bullets from a six-shooter. But it’s not just the guns to be wary of as ‘Buy Me A Blade’ illustrates getting up close and personal on a scalping mission. The black thrashing tumult I remember from before has certainly been incorporated into things here but one gets the feel that the band have gone the whole hog roast here with the tales of old. As for the knives there’s some flailing guitar leads, cocked weapons and roars of “you fucking scum’ spat out. It’s obviously all kicking off here. The unlucky are destined for Boot Hill and as the more sombre strains of ‘Blessed By Buzzards’ attests bones will be picked over. Bells toll, wind is whipped up ‘A Night in the Desert’ is cold and arid but for some strange reason the song sticks out sounding more like a strutting 80’s cop show theme than a Western to my ears. Perhaps some mescal was involved. A more conventional lonesome pine twang broods over penultimate number ‘Carry Me Home’ but then our hardy outlaws have new challenges that will perhaps lead us into the next chapter as ‘A Witch Is Born.’ Having just seen the desert shootout movie that is ‘Night Of The Bastards’ I can see the crossover potential with a segue into the supernatural and it’s a rousing finale for sure.
All that remains to be said is “don’t mess with Texas!”
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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