A review of Cactus and Cardigan’s new EP Highland Bastards out this coming Monday. For those who like their music savage you should be impressed.
The EP Starts with the short but majestically spine creeping Intro “When there is no more room in Hell” making the listener wonder excitedly what exactly is going to come thundering from the speakers. This quickly follows onto the intense “The Dead will walk the Earth” where Peter Bacon s harsh vocals gives the impression living so far up north must make one very aggressive. Joking aside, visions of bloodied mosh pits certainly arose, however I did feel this track didn’t sit quite so well with me as the rest of the tracks.
Liverkicker shows us enragement at its finest with burly riffs and some memorable melodic breakdowns that caught my attention.
Explosions Implosions is a slower but still as heavy track with some nice splashes of melody thrown in between the menacing instrumentation and Neon Suflex was a nice surprise, in which it had a stripped down beginning with some clean vocals before the barrage of bloodthirsty throat work continues.
The lyrics made me chuckle in 80/20 particularly, at what sounded like at first listen, odd random shouts of “meatball meatballs!” But if you listen carefully you do realise the track is indeed about meat. Showing these guys not only have some talent but a good sense of humour who don’t take themselves too seriously. A refreshing delight in some of the current era of musicians, performing music should be about enjoying yourself after all.
The title track of the EP has a groovier start and was my highlight to the ears, especially with the unexpected fabulous Guitar solo by Bacon.
All in all the EP is 6 very different sounding songs and the lack of vocal melody is more than made up for by the burly riffs, thunderous drumming and flattering bass work. Many trios often don’t cut it when trying to make barbaric music but Cactus & the Cardigan proved themselves rather well.
Details of how to get hold of the EP via their Facebook page.
