Brimstone Howl: Big Deal

I really enjoyed Brimstone Howl’s last LP. They called it We Came in Peace, the cover displayed a photo of the Earth taken from the surface of the moon. It’s a record I take out to show people while I flick through for something to put on. I hold it up and seek agreement on how cool the title is, trying to lead them: “so they came in peace, but then, you know, something else happened, probably”.

Perhaps I’ve just had all the Brimstone Howl I can take. They’ve chosen an appropriate name for their group too; mixing the connotations of wrath implicit in the old “fire and brimstone” preaching, which itself springs from the spectacle said to be witnessed by those incurring the wrath of the big preacher in the sky.

Let’s keep going with this line of inquiry a little longer eh. No question mark means I’m not asking, there’s something important lurking here and I intend to show it to you. Just like Brimstone Howl feel about dirge-dirtied rock ‘n’ roll of the youthful and energetically bleak variety. These boys are playing their stoogey-boogie somewhere in the reverb bedecked background, but we have religious history to deal with.

So when people smelt Brimstone in biblical times, they were either near a Volcano and didn’t know that people in the future would be calling it Sulphur, or they were in the presence of Him, an unhappy Him at that. Him is said to have breath which smells like Brimstone, which may explain why Him is the One God. Genocidal temper, bad breath… we all know someone like that.

On Suicide Blues the guy sings “It’s ok, it’s alright, nothing's gonna happen tonight” which is how I feel about this record, perhaps with the exception of ‘Suicide Blues’, which caught my attention long enough for me to derive some meaning. There are also some great solos that sound like a large machine breaking down while doing whatever it does at top gear. The guy also sings about “Some wethead jerk that you don’t know smiles on your misery” which could well be me.

Oh, next track is pretty cool too, reminds me of the purple-Christmas moments on that older LP I was talking about. Moments that reminded me of the Velvet Undergound.

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‘I’ll Find You’ starts with some strangely clear hi-hat taps, whose rapidity coaxes out three chords that are probably the mainstay of a million songs but sound new and rather attractive. Like your auntie’s sweater on a hot young thing. What’s that sulphurous smell…

It goes on to not be as good as I had hoped, but my expectations were high, so it’s pretty good all the same. Full of vigour, but as with the rest of the record they’re pouring said vigour into a vessel with enough leaks in it to ensure that the level never gets past my knees. See what I’m saying? Not in the mood, but you might be. ‘Final Dispatch’ is another good one. It has eyebrow raising chimes, wobbly chords from the sloppy rhythm monkey, sincere bass and gorilla drumming. A motley bunch. More good solo’s, morning glory alone in the desert. Something like that, feedback totems. It even has what sounds like a nearby explosion about halfway through.

But me, I’m happy to stick with We Came in Peace, which is such a better title than Big Deal. The only people who need two Spirograph sets are people with evil children and collectors, or collectors of evil children. Love to see them live, where are they now? Somewhere sulphurous I reckon, keep grooving, and don’t give your auntie’s sweater to your girlfriend’s people.

Goodnight.