Axes – Glory
In the world of instrumental rock, it can be all too easy for bands to get bogged down in the weight of their atmospheres or the jungle of their rhythms, making music that can feel more like brain-training exercises than recreation. Not so for London’s Axes, who’ve served up an unabashedly joyous album of mind-bending, foot-tapping, jaw-dropping tunes on Glory, their second LP.
The impression that this album leaves above all is of irresistible groove. Without compromising their math-rock credentials, the band channel those hallmark time signature shifts through their nimble hands and feet to make music by turns heavy and airy, but always danceable – if you’re an octopus, that is. If not then you’ll make a fool of yourself at least once trying to bust a move, whether to the stop-start lurching of album opener The One or Chun Fai Pang’s intense closing wriggle-fest, but goddamn will you have the best time doing it. The song that expresses the true extent to which Axes have gone for the funk jugular on this LP is the Math & Blues brilliance of Real Talk, which sounds like Chic as done by The Mars Volta: disco rhythm guitar is sandwiched between fierce riffs on the one side and J. Mascis noodling on the other, all underpinned by shifting rhythms that segue into one another smooth as anything. That switching of rhythms and melodies without the batting of an eyelash is the subtle standout of this album, as the result is that its complexity doesn’t force the listener’s attention, but shimmies its way along with maddening dexterity and puppylike enthusiasm, content to just have a great time.
As a work of production this album is also stellar: every instrument has ample room to swing its shoulders and show off each member’s talent, but this spaciness has absolutely no effect on the monstrously thick riffs that they can churn out when the pedals are kicked on and the amps are up to 11. The band’s collective 40 years of experience in music can absolutely be heard in the way they balance these two aspects of their style. As with much instrumental rock, the album can occasionally come across as somewhat lacking in variety, but when there’s so much to be found in Axes’ euphoric combination of math-rock, thrash and R&B this impression barely makes it out of its hole for more than a second before being brutally bashed back down by a gleeful sonic mallet.
Sam Birkett
Connect with Axes
https://weareaxes.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/weareaxes
Big Scary Monster Records – http://www.bsmrocks.com/
Watch their Music Video for ‘Junior’ Below:
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[…] I reviewed the album a couple of weeks ago, [link] and just to start I’d like to say I thought it was […]