Normally, one might be a little wary when handling an established rock star’s self-confessed attempt to do what he first dreamed of as a starry-eyed schoolboy. But Echo & The Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant has tapped into something primal and pyrotechnic here.
Paying homage to the krautrock greats – Can, Neu!, Amon Düül – he lets rip with incendiary, psychedelic guitar cascades as original Bunnymen bassist Les Pattinson and current Bunnymen drummer Nick Kilroe keep the sometimes-motorik, sometimes-liberal rhythms coming.
With no vocals to fence the project in, the results are wild, fiery and often brilliant. The title track emphatically tells you this is working, as Sergeant locates the fine line between shrewd structure and berserk blazes of inspiration over a piece which defies you to resist its power. The canvas is solid, but the guitars slash away at it like driven demons. First Signs Of The Plague and Dawn Visits The Garden Of Evil start with a moody groove, then raise it till it all but crashes and burns.
It’s prog in that it’s other-worldly and untethered. Bunnymen fans will find the atmospheres familiar but amplified. Heaven, up a gear.
