Written
24th April 2014
Nine
Black Alps – Candy for the Clowns
The Band: Sam Forrest (lead vocals/guitar),
David Jones (lead guitar), Karl Astbury (bass), James Galley (drums)
Saturday
the 14th December 2013. A notable date
for Manchester’s very own Nine Black Alps as they played a triumphant
home-coming set at Manchester’s Gorilla to celebrate 10-years of the sounds,
the tours, the blood, sweat and tears that were all part and parcel of being in
Northern Hemisphere rockers Nine Black Alps.
But alas the gig at Gorilla was only the start of such jubilations as
the 4-piece band returns with this their fifth album ‘Candy for the Clowns’,
released this week on Hatch Records, and the follow-up to 2012’s fourth album
‘Sirens’ (previously reviewed in Flynndie Reviews #32 here). Does
their latest record continue their 10-year anniversary celebrations and offer
further loud and fun sweet-tasting treats or do we end up with a nasty-tasting
sour-sucker?
Candy
for the Clowns
1. Novokaine
2. Blackout3. Supermarket Clothes
4. Patti
5. Something Else
6. Morning After
7. Come Back Around
8. Not in my Name
9. Destroy Me
10. Take Me Underground
11. Clown
Opening
with a building high-pitched guitar riff before ripping into an industrialist
rhythm ‘Novokaine’, which was previously previewed online before the album’s
release, is a fun and loud opening track and shows the core sound of no-nonsense
carefree rock that Nine Black Alps are all about while Sam snarls delivering its
chorus “Hear me now/Call my name/Novok-aaaaine”. ‘Blackout’ follows with menacing guitars and
rhythms before building to a big sounding chorus, another staple of the Alps’
trademark sound “Here comes the Blackout
baby/Here comes the Blackout baby/Here it comes!” Another track previewed early online
‘Supermarket Clothes’ features a fast, frenetic toe-tapping melody and duelling
guitars between Sam and Dave with some nice lines through its verses “There’s a place where I can make the
scene/In the pages of your magazine/Pretty faces filled with snow white teeth” it’s
a fast, upbeat track that flows smoothly.
‘Patti’
has been a recent live favourite on tour for the band and is driven by a fierce
bass line by Karl and brutal percussion from James, making it the perfect
formula for hot and sweaty mosh-pits. It’s
another hard and fast track that pulls no punches while its lyrics paint a
psychedelic, trippy ride “Spin like a
top/Let your tired arms drop by your side/Take off your clothes/You can
float/You’re as high as a kite”.
‘Something Else’ opens with a bass line solo before speeding along with
guitars racing along faster than Sonic the Hedgehog in a Formula 1 car with the
“So shine a light on me/So shine a light
on me” chorus backed with a nice guitar solo giving the track a form of
brief rest-bite between its high-octane verses.
Midway
through the album we have ‘Morning After’ and this is possibly the standout
track on the album for me personally. This is delightful, jangly Indie-pop while
retaining a rocky edge and a nice, calming isolated rhythm to it. A real change of pace for the album so far, it’s
a song that in my opinion highlights the often hidden charm that lays tucked
away under Nine Black Alps armoury of heavy, industrialist, guitar rock sounds,
while laced with poignant and tender lyrics “Lying
in your bed with a broken wing and staring at a dying light/Everytime you speak
the room would spin and everything is one big lie.” Next we have ‘Comeback Around’ which returns
back to the band’s more familiar foot-stomping rock and overall this is a much
more traditional Nine Black Alps track with them sounding much more like their
material from their second album ‘Love\Hate’ here. With a punchy, head-banging rhythm ‘Not in my
Name’ is vicious, no-nonsense scuzzy guitar-rock “Do what you want you can take it from me/I’ll be around do whatever
you need” before the repeated track-title’s chorus sees Sam sneering “Not
in my name/Not in my naaaaa-me!”
- Nine Black Alps rocking London’s The Borderline harder than a pissed-up rockin’ horse
The
album calms down again with ‘Destroy Me’, another edgy-rock track that buzzes
away hard like a bee overdosed on the amber nectar while ‘Take Me Underground’
is the most chilled track on the album, with a forlorn, shoe-gazer melody at its
heart on a lazy summer’s day “So take me
underground/I need no invitation/So take me underground/And win me over”. It sees the band dabble at US-style
college-rock. Featuring some power-rock,
closing track ‘Clown’ has quite an up-and-down rhythm about it, another track
that burns and works away at the listener “And
you always let me down/Yeah you always let me down/Make me feel like such a
clown” it’s another busy, urgent track and sums up the overall mood and
sound of the record.
10-years
on and five albums in not many band’s nail shoe-gazing, fuzzy guitar-rock with
the edge and verve of Nine Black Alps; their sound may not appeal to all tastes
but they still remain a tight, full-on and no-nonsense, underground Indie-rock
band laced with some subtle underlying melodies to their sound for good measure. ‘Candy for the Clowns’ is a tight little
package and almost like a time-capsule of Nine Black Alps sounds over the past
ten years, perhaps a personal note back to their fans? It doesn’t quite reach the heights of their
excellent debut album ‘Everything Is’ for me but is still on a par with their
more recent material and a nice follow-up album to fourth album ‘Sirens’ in my
opinion and I will give this one 7 Novokaine’s out of 10 but would suggest if
you’re all for a bit of carefree, heavy guitar-rock then you may find much more
here to fulfil your sweet-tooth, candy appetite and would suggest to add an extra
mark to this review score. 10-years on
and Nine Black Alps are still celebrating and rocking hard and I didn’t mention
the word 'grunge’ once in this review! Oh…
Standing in Supermarket Clothes
Flynny
Track
1 ‘Novokaine’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SaGVP29bEA
Track
3 ‘Supermarket Clothes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q7McsqmMoo
Manchester
Gorilla 10th Anniversary gig setlist:
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-black-alps/2013/gorilla-manchester-england-13c471e9.html
Band
website:
http://www.nineblackalps.com/
