Derision Cult – Mercenary Notes Pt 2
Derision Cult – Mercenary Notes Pt 2
Glitch Mode Recordings
Release Date: 14/03/2025
Review by Mare Grills
8 /10
Having read the Press release explaining the background to the album and the meanings of the songs – after I’d actually listened to it and written most of this review; I recommend that you have a gander on my thoughts and then Google/check them out of Facebook to see if I was right.
The whole album is a spacey, sci-fi comment in a RobZombiesque style. It’s clever, dark and imaginative, although there is clearly a personal agenda here..
I’m not entirely sure that I like it, but I think it’s great.
The first track, ‘Where are you now? ’gives you a taste of things to come, a thrashy, frantic beginning sounding a bit like a computer space war game – Artificial Intelligence (AI apparently doesn’t stand for Alun, one of our colleagues), there are some nice changes of pace which keeps you wanting to listen more. Moving on to Joker’s Wild (And Kings are Dead), the pace drops a little but the message and the timing of the musicianship is immense.
The next two tracks appear later on the album as re-mixes, which does seem to me to be a bit of a cop out but maybe I just missed the nuances although I don’t feel robbed as Radiation Blues is probably my favourite track, with Abdication Day coming a close second. (I’ve just upgraded my score from 7 to 8 out of 10 as I’m listening to it all the time that I’m writing and I write slowly). The remix of Warning Signs makes your heart pump that much faster and I love that feeling when I’m listening to good music.
This is a heavy hitting production – the band has collaborated with people in the industry who have worked with David Bowie, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails and Pigface . It’s by no means an easy listen, chill out album. It has a hard hitting futuristic message and if you’re into Sci-fi you will love it, My main reservation is that I just can’t imagine the band producing this as a live set – the Soundguy will have to be an astrophysicist to be able to align the planets to press the right buttons on the day.
I’m on the fourth run through now and am tending on 8.5 – it just gets better and better.
I commend this album to you – I just hope you’re brave enough to take it and listen.
Lottsa Love,
Mare Grills
TRACKLISTING:
01. Where are you now?
02. Jokers Wild (And Kings are Dead)
03. Warning Signs
04. Radiation Blues
05. Influence
06. Abdication Day
07. Warning Signs (remix with Justin Broderick)
08. Radiation Blues (remix Cyanotic)
LINKS:
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