pMad – Who Why Where What
pMad – Who Why Where What
Sliptrick Records
Release Date: 29/11/22
Running Time: 50:17
Review by Dark Juan
9/10
Good evening, my dear friends. I write this missive to you for possibly one of the last times at Dark Juan Terrace, before Mrs Dark Juan and I quit it for new pastures at Crow Cottage. I don’t know what to think about it, because I have got used to this place and to go somewhere else is strange, although the upside to that is that in Sowerby Bridge my house will be within five minutes’ drunken stagger from no less than six fine hostelries, including two rather splendid live music venues in the Puzzle Hall Inn and the Blind Pig, where Ever-Metal.com’s own Hyperactive Metal Pixie ™ has played live.
In other news, I did daytime drinking with my work colleagues and now I am having a glass of port to wake me the fuck up again whilst I give “Who Why Where What” by pMad the benefit of my attention. This is the debut album from this Irish artist and it is described as “If The Cult and The Mission had a child this is what it would sound like.”
I don’t agree. What a fucking shock eh?
I hear the influence of The Mish clearly – but I hear the sound of Post-Punk and a bit of New Wave in there – there’s more Bauhaus and Blondie in the music than The Cult. I hear Cabaret Voltaire and Siouxsie And The Banshees and Waterglass and The Horatii and the bass-led sound of the Sisters Of Mercy, and the puckish sense of humour of The Cure on ‘Except Me’. I hear bits of Joy Division in the vocal performances as well as The Undertones in the phrasing of the singing. The only times I hear anything to do with The Cult is when pMad cranks up the distortion. There’s nothing in the compositions that indicate a desire to have a Manchester City fan playing a big white Gretsch guitar while a paper-thin man in a bandana and white shirt sinuously writhes as he howls goodbye in Italian to Edie.
Also, ‘Sisters’ is a sneaky little bit of work, the guitar work immediately referencing both ‘Temple Of Love’ and ‘Alice’ by the Sisters Of Mercy at the SAME TIME, that totally and utterly not a goth band because Andrew Eldritch threw a goth paddy and decided he wanted to be “An Industrial groove machine painted in the shiniest of yellows and blues”. Or something like that. I was coveting his United Federation Of Planets ice hockey shirt at the time.
The record has a pure retro sound – it could have been recorded in 1987. pMad has effortlessly managed to recreate the clove cigarette and neo-classical angst of classic Gothic Rock – ‘Horror’ even has a small flavour of Gary Numan in the vocal pattern and delivery; it reminds me rather a lot of ‘Stormtrooper In Drag’ and that is a fucking brilliant song, so all in all pMad’s doing all right as far as Dark Juan is concerned…
Being as we all know that Dark Juan is a sad old goff (mainly because he bangs on about it all the fucking time) it is fair to say that he has gone off on a nostalgic trip down memory lane and remembering the first time he heard the Sisters, and Naut, and The Jesus And Mary Chain, and Fields Of The Nephilim, and Bauhaus. The world has missed this unashamedly Gothic Rock, and Dark Juan for one is delighted that this Irish artist has brought it back into the daylight, where he’s abandoned it, blinking and disoriented, lusting after a pint of snakebite and a licorice cheroot.
The production is rich and full even if there are some occasions where pMad’s vocal limitations are on display (opener ‘Who Am I’ being an example) and there are times where his bass guitar overpowers everything else, but this is a minor gripe indeed considering the amount of fun I am having sipping port and being transported back to The Banshee in Manchester and not being able to see my way to the bar because of the fug of clove cigarettes and hairspray and tripping over minute ladies with coiffures taller than themselves and boots that added almost a foot in height.
Tracks 9-13 are remixes – They encompass Darkwave and Futurepop, primarily – ‘Youth (MeMory Mix)’ being rather reminiscent of something Ladytron might have released. The remix of ‘Sisters’ gives us the kind of eight-minute plus epic that Eldritch was so fond of subjecting us to back when he did anything like, you know, RELEASING A FUCKING NEW RECORD, but it’s such a good track it totally stands up while almost doubling the runtime. Throughout the whole album, though, there’s a warmth, a knowing nod and wink to the listener that lets you know that pMad is with you – he’s a similar age and has listened to all the same music you have and he wanted you to hear what he could do compared to all the classics. It gives us a classic sounding record that is somehow relevant today.
So, all in all, this is a fucking cracking listen if you’re of a certain age and still wear black nail polish, or you’re a young neophyte who wants to discover what Goth sounded like before Metal kids started recruiting operatic sopranos to front their bands…
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System really, REALLY loves pMad and his 80s-tastic Goth and Roll. It’s the perfect soundtrack of the musical voyages of discovery Dark Juan went on as a kid in his bedroom back in a dirty mill town just north of Manchester, where the alternative and the different were frowned upon and despised. pMad brings back the feeling of wonder and excitement when your correspondent had been to Vibes Records in Bury, and had taken a punt on a record by Alien Sex Fiend rather than just shelling out on Sepultura’s latest thrashatopia, and getting it home and reading the inlay studiously so I knew every word by the next day. 9/10 – A mark has been deducted because Metal fans might not find it suitably bruising, but Dark Juan fucking loves this album. I can take or leave the remixes though – they seem a bit… pointless, really, and makes Dark Juan wonder whether pMad needed to pad out his album a bit.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Who Am I
02. Broken
03. Medicine
04. Except Me
05. Sisters
06. Youth
07. Horror
08. I Am
09. Who Am I (pMad reMix)
10. Youth (pMad reMix)
11. Sisters (Extended Keira Mix)
12. Horror (hoMe Mix)
13. I Am (Me Mix)
LINE-UP:
pMad – All instruments and vocals
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Dark Juan and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
