26 — Wednesday, May 17, 1989 - North Shore News

Photo submitted

KING SWAMP Brits hit the southern U.S. of A. for a spat of Mississippi
inspiration and find themselves sitting between hard rock and a

swampy place.

KING SWAMP REALLY ROLLS

Voodoo blues

HEAVY IS hot. King Swamp rises from the muddy
Mississippi; Axxis rumbles forth from the Ruhr; The Cult
crush continues; Black Sabbath shows sympathy for the

Devil.
*e** King Swamp, Virgin Re-
cords 1939

Heavy without cliched heavy-
handedness, this rock rolls.

The band was swept up from the
ashes of Gang of Four (Dave
Allen), Shriekback (Dave Allen,
Steve Halliwell, Martyn Barker),
World Party (Dominic Miller) and
an “aspiring Sheffield group’
(singer Walter Wray).

Legend has it that Allen and
Halliwell huled up in a shack
along the banks of the mighty
Mississippi and absorbed the am-
bience to draw inspiration for the
Swamp debut.

MICHAEL °
BECKER

record review

The result is a wicked, hard rock
blast of voodoo blues. Wray’s got
the knack for righteous wailing,
the tunes are dynamically varied
and the stuff is infused with what
comes across as real passion.

* Axxis — Kingdom Of The Night,
EMI Electrola gmbh 1989

Heavy-metal chipmunk-voiced
lead vocalist Bernhard Weiss can
really hit the high notes. The boys,
rumbling out of the heavy-
machine laden Ruhr mining area
of West Germany, benefit from
Weiss’ classically-trained vocal
cords and his decidedly Green
Party concerns for Mother Earth.
Unlike most bands of this ilk, these
fuzzy long-hairs aren’t busy strok-
ing Satan or lyrically lording over
women.

Sentiments expressed in Fire
And Ice and Tears Of The Trees
will have you blowing your ear-
drums with environmentally sound
decibels.

On the down side of things, the
debut sounds like it was mixed in
a cave full of nitrous oxide.
Musically, the band gets by with
the laying on of preening and
talsely majestic metalist cliches,
leaving these Teutons virtually in-
distinguishable from countless
others crowding the genre.

** The Cult — Sonic Temple,
Beggars Banquet Records 1989

Although well-wrapped in Billy

Duffy’s impermeable, blistering

wall-of-guitar, the guttural flat-
noted moaning of jan Astbury tires
the ear in extended doses.

But who am I to talk? On
release, the disc blitzkrieged up
the charts, making short work of
those Wilbury and Fine Young
Cannibal fellows.

The Bob Rock-polished Led Zep
rip-off riffing will always appeal,
both to ossifying Yuppies and the
brave young Turks out on the
make with the top down and the
car stereo cranked to the max.
Summer of ’89 classic car tunes:
Watch out Fire Woman, | am the
Sun King.

* Black Sabbath — Headless
Cross, 1.R.S. 1989

This dark exercise opens with a
Blade Runner-gone-Hades intro
which slips into a serious bit of
sledge hammer power chording
called Headless Cross. And the
good times simply don’t let up.

Hang tight to your souls
children. Feel the hot breath of
Satan. Cringe with delicious
despair as you ride the coal train
express down to the realrn of the
Great Blasphemer.

if t play the tape backwards
enough times, do I get a free
round-trip excursion across the
murky river Styx? Lots of scary
songs here, with spirit-freezing ti-
tles like The Gates Of Hell, Devil &
Daughter, When Death Calls, Kill
In The Spirit World.

Thank God the big metaphysical
questions are answered: ‘’Can't
die until Satan says, you die; And
Satan takes your soul.” Don’t
worry; be barbecued! Is there an
exorcist in the house?

zee eee
Hey kids! Nardwuar the Human
Serviette presents... That’s Cool,
That's Trash, featuring The
Gruesomes (from Montreal), The
Vindicators (from Calgary), The LI
150’s (from Calgary), The Smug-
glers (from West Vancouver), fhe
Evaporators (from West Van-
couver) and S.O.T. (from Rich-
mond).

The all-ages fun happens this
Friday, May 19, 7:36 p.m. at the
Cinderella Ballroom, 185 East 11th
in Vancouver. Tickets are $4
(that’s less than a buck a band)
and are available at Track, Zulu
and Scratch Records.

Nardwuar says: ‘This gig
promises to be pure teen zit rock
at its finest, total rawk ‘n’ roll.” For
more information call 926-9444,

THE NANAIMO

ALONE AT THE EDGE OF
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THE DUNSMUIRS, PART 1

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Cambridge Shopping Centres Ltd.

May 24--May 31
A PROMISE KEPT:

THE DUNSMUIRS, PART 2

Sponsored by:

Nanaimo Commonwealth Holding Society

June 7-June 21

EVER LOVING by Margaret Hollingsworth

Sponsored by: Petro Canada
June 28~July &

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(Opposite Super-Valu)}

Open Sundays.

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