Duskwood – The Last Voyage
Duskwood – The Last Voyage
Ripple Music
Release Date: 12/05/2023
Running Time: 44:29
Review by Dark Juan
9/10
Salutations, my dear hordes of beer-swilling, long haired defenders of the faith! It is I, Dark Juan, Hellpriest Emeritus, Ipsissimus of all things groovy and radical sex god to toffs, gentry, and most of Iceland (not the supermarket, Rory Bentley and Simon Black. I can see your fingers twitching already in your Editor-In-Extremis zeal, and I am not here for it. In fact, I’d rather put my balls in a blender and make a smoothie while watching Dave Lee Travis play Macbeth) and I have returned from wrangling recalcitrant young people to talk absolute bollocks for three hundred words or so before actually getting to the business of sharing my views about the music I am listening to.
I bought an unfamiliar German beer a couple of days ago, on a sojourn to Jorvik, in a shop called Trembling Madness. The name should have been a warning. Said Deutscherbier (brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot, natch) gave me fucking nightmares, which if you know what the inside of Dark Juan’s head is like (basically an endless, blood-soaked hellscape slaughterhouse for human meat interspersed with much disgusting kink and a soundtrack of Metal music and screaming. Oh, and lots of weapons) which is no mean feat, considering what passes for normal in there. Also, I am writing this on three hours sleep and a fuckton of strong black coffee – Mrs Dark Juan will tell you that Dark Juan should not be given coffee because it makes me a bit ranty and babble absolute bullshit for HOURS. She once put a double espresso in my mocha for a joke once. This backfired somewhat on her as she was then treated to a two-hour, one-way conversation about the merits of the Bristol Centaurus 24-cylinder radial engine that powered the Hawker Sea Fury fighter aircraft, complete with service history with the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy.
She very nearly left me that night. That will teach her to fuck with my brain chemistry.
Also, I am writing this on the fourth of July, so happy Treason Day to all my ungrateful colonial readers and friends in His Majesty’s former colonies of America. Taxation with representation indeed. That’s no excuse to waste tea.
What? Digress? Me? I haven’t EVEN started on the de Havilland Gyron Junior jet engine yet! Fuck’s sake, ok, I shall instead wax lyrical about Duskwood, whose debut long player is currently gyrating upon the double-denim and leather clad Platter of Splatter™. They hail from the UK (specifically, the parched desert wastelands of Somerset, somewhere near Yeovil) and this record represents the third part of a trilogy about the story of a Space Cowboy who travels alone through space and time, observing and documenting large planets, lifeforms, and structures. This particular album ends the character’s story arc, being chased through time by an unknown force, his demise, and the legacy he leaves. “The Last Voyage” chronologically follows “The Long Dark” and “The Lost Tales”, both of which were EPs released in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
The album opens with ‘Vagrant’ and Duskwood immediately lay down a marker with some seriously sexual fuzzed-out Desert Rock, filled to bloody bursting with riffs of colossal majesty, more fuzz phaser action than Starfleet battling the Borg, and the Jack and Marlboro Red fuelled voice of Liam Tinsley effortlessly holding the whole shebang together. Imagine Kyuss having come across (cheeky, but each to their own) Wolfmother and, having collected Clutch along the way, decided to quietly off the hyperactive mop-top that fronts Wolfmother and chuck in a bit of Soundgarden (‘Deathproof’) for good measure, all pile into their rusted old Chevy pick-up truck and disappear into a desert sunset, leaving only cracked and burning hydrocarbons and empty Lone Star beer cans in their Stoner wake…
The smoky, disturbingly sensual vocals of Liam are particularly special – his voice covers the whole spectrum from gravelly, chain-smoking boozer through to impassioned howling dervish, and his delivery is never less than bulgingly-eyed committed. The same goes for the performances of the whole band, to be fair – there is a refreshing and fucking ADDICTIVE joie-de-vivre to the whole album that is infectious as fuck and makes it a sheer joy to hear, from the opening slam to final fade. This whole album is the living, breathing sound of a band who are enjoying themselves mightily.
‘Gammon Lord’ already wins the Dark Juan Award for Best Title Ever, and this song displays the understanding Duskwood have about allowing your music to breathe, which is an essential component of the Desert Rock that they play – disparate parts that are equally loud, quiet, languid, liquid or throat-crushingly committed all combine to punch the listener in the guts. Although, they are not the heaviest band you’ll ever hear, they have a remarkable power behind their muscular yet melodic sound – guitar and bass combine to fairly fatal effect, avalanches of mighty riffage underpinned by a bass sound that should NEVER be let near the San Andreas Fault because it will precipitate San Francisco’s next plunge into the abyss. Drummer Hugh Landon is the most poorly served of the band as far as production values go – although the man is a fucking excellent drummer and I can hear everything he is doing perfectly well, there’s a bit of a lifeless quality to his drums. There’s no resonance to his bass drum and his snare sounds like Mrs Dark Juan smacking me round the head with a flaccid fish. I will leave that image to your imagination, and it is NOT one of the disgusting kinks I mentioned in my opening preamble. I’m more inventive than that. His cymbals sound absolutely fucking magnificent though, rattling the hell out of my eyeballs with my cans on.
The lead and backing vocals on ‘She Calls’ are nothing short of epic, though. And the interplay of the instruments on breaks and fills is absolutely fucking JOYOUS. Little frills and flashes of genius abound in a song that has everything you are looking for if you love Desert Rock – it’s got groove, it’s got mescaline-fuelled psychedelia and it’s got whiskey-soaked bonhomie. It’s the musical equivalent of the drunk friend you make when in a seedy bar somewhere who ends up becoming your lifelong mate. ‘Blackhand’ is more of the same, spaced-out, long straight road driving Heavy Rock that is just made for hot desert night road trips to fuck knows where, all you know is that you have guitars, some friends piled in there with you, a couple of six-packs of beer and a tank full of gas…
Yeah, man. It seems that Duskwood are fucking awesome and Dark Juan is ashamed that they haven’t come to my attention before.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System is rather taken with Duskwood and offers them a stonking 9/10 for a fucking superb Desert Rock record. One mark was taken away because of the lifeless drum sound, but otherwise this is perfect. Dark Juan formally commends Duskwood to your attention, dear readers. Now go and spend all your hard-earned cash on them and make them huge! I’ve done my bit. Now do yours. Duskwood have torn off my face and I need to go and find it.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Vagrant
02. Gammon Lord
03. She Calls
04. Blackhand
05. Iliad
06. Skyriders
07. Deathproof
08. Legacy
LINE-UP:
Vocals – Liam Tinsley
Guitar – Greg Watts
Bass – Aaron Tinsley
Drums – Hugh Landon
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.