‘Holy Armour From The Jaws of God’ was my first encounter with October File and it was like a bomb dropping. I had finally heard a British band that had the energy and passion of one of my all time favourite bands Killing Joke, well certainly what they were doing around their Extremities, Dirt & Other Repressed Emotions era and hell they even got Jaz Coleman along to sing one of the songs. Not to say, I hasten to add, that they were copyists but I just got the impression that they shared many of the same ideas both musically and lyrically. I am really kicking myself that I still have not managed to catch the band live and they keep supporting some really good acts but I seem to be at other things each time they play and must remedy this as soon as possible. Hopefully they should be playing a lot more on the eve of ‘Our Souls To You’ coming out.
The last album was going to be a tough one to follow and the band have decided to do something quite interesting with the new album and release it twice in effect as a double pack with two different mixes. The first version is produced by John Mitchell who was actually guitarist and vocalist for It Bites (remember them) the second is done by someone called Justin Broadrick and if you need a further introduction to him you may as well get your coat and do one. There is absolutely no denying that V2 the Broadrick one is heavier; drums are ferocious and all instruments are up in the mix and vocalist Ben Hollyer’s bite is not quite so up front. Also by cutting ‘Our Souls To You Part 2’ from the version it has a bit more immediacy and strikes as harder, faster and more urgent. Part 1 on V2 is basically the same as Part 2 on V1 just to confuse issues. I was going to describe the differences between the two versions as like watching soft and hardcore porn but that is kind of selling V1 short as it is also very good and besides everyone needs a bit of subtle titillation rather than being flung into the action straight away sometimes don’t they? Having said that the Broadrick mix is probably the one that may end up getting the most attention and it is the version I find myself drawn back to more and is the one I am listening to as I write this review.
Whatever version you listen to, the songs are what make an album and there are some right belting good ones to be found here. ‘Crawl’ does anything but, it goes for the throat and perhaps ‘Devour’ would be a better title for it as drums hammer and the song title is spewed out without mercy. The lyrical hate of the albums also stands out and again brings to mind THAT album by THAT band, there’s no avoiding it. ‘Corporate Evasion’ has one contemptuous backbone about it and big business is torn to pieces as the vocals snarl away, as for the first time I heard ‘Dredge’ I was convinced I was listening to the bastard son of ‘Money Is Not Our God,’ it even has the lyric ‘Money is our poison’ running through it. At almost ten minutes long this is one fuck of a song (subtlety doesn’t cut it in describing this) and it is perhaps every bit as good as the song I compared it to and believe me I am not saying this lightly. Steve Beatty’s bass work here is excellent as are the football stadium anthem backing vocals.
The hammer-smash blast of ‘A Public Display Of Anger’ may just be over 2 minutes but it fits the speed of Ministry at their fastest and a crust laden Discharge beat over things and simply pulverises. The cataclysmic drumming of ‘Isolation’ follows and sounds like steel hitting an anvil with guitars coursing away in an industrialised fury. ‘Love Is (A Warm AK47)’ is a nice rant at Uncle Sam and bit more ponderous musically than the tracks that came before it, but then again after the rage of them it’s a good way to end things on (well on V2 anyway).
All in all this is a beast of an album and one hell of an angry listen that most importantly makes you feel alive. Full of passion and with a political message coursing through things ‘Our Souls To You’ is a veritable clarion call to action and an album that will energize and command your very soul. Praise the devil and pass the ammunition!
http://www.octoberfile.com
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