Barbarian Hermit is a band I’m pretty familiar with, my last purchase of their material being the 2021 reissue of the EP ‘One’, although at a 45 minute plus run time across the seven tracks I’m not sure why it’s an EP as opposed to a fully-fledged LP. As such, with their latest release what I was expecting was a massive helping of dirty sludge, and with ‘Mean Sugar’, that’s what I got, but a hell of a lot more too.
Opening title track lays down the foundations of the album, down tuned riffs bolstered by a fuzzy bass and hammering drums lifting up the angry shouted vocals. I could easily imagine the bearded face of Kirk Windstein grimacing in appreciation of the music of this filthy five piece, their own take on the genre rising not from the swamp filled bayous of Louisiana, but the urban decay of post-industrial Manchester. This metallic bludgeoning continues unabated with ‘Battle of the Kompromat’, but with the unexpected and most welcome addition of a gentle, okay, comparatively gentle, break in the middle where the vocals are calmed and the guitars explore the realms of the psychedelic before returning with a body slamming crunch at the end.
After the instrumental weirdness of ‘Out Comes The Boasts’ the band return to fray with ‘Who Put 50p In You’, an insult I’ve not heard since I lived in Manchester myself over 30 years ago, a put down aimed at those who love the sound of their own voice too much to turn it off even when they have nothing to say. Having being reminded of it, I thoroughly intend to introduce a number of my gobshite work colleagues to the phrase, and trust me, if I had the band bellowing this at me, I’d shut the fuck up. After this verbal assault the delivery of ‘Stitched Up’ is at first a helping of almost Indie-Rock decorum, but with the menace of the band simmering just under the surface before emerging at the end to remind the listener that this is metal, a statement they reinforce with the fist in your face battering of ‘Deadbolt’.
Ever ready to surprise, ‘Kick Up The Dust’ commences with a gentle swirling keyboard that could have come from the early experimental days of Pink Floyd, Gareth Manning’s rolling drums even hearkening back to the work of Nick Mason, the track meandering between the subtle and thunderous, demonstrating that Barbarian Hermit are anything but a one trick pony. After the slow, inexorable tar like flow of ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ the band save their most epic track for last, the almost funky start to ‘Heal The Tyrant’ showcasing the versatility of the band, veering into unexpectedly Progressive realms before delivering the anger with an almost punk stomp, and deliver it they do by the spadeful. Barbarian Hermit are clearly a band willing to take musical risks, refusing to be tied to a single sound, and mix a host of influences and sounds into their compositions, and for that they can only be commended.
(8/10 Spenny)
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