Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
When the day comes that off world intelligent life decides it is worth the risk to land on Earth, it will probably be because they will have worked out that humanity has, in the words of Roger Waters, amused itself to death. There will be no scorched Earth policy, no subjugation of the masses, No Hot Ashes or remains in which to pour a silent thought, and perhaps tear, for those who tried to warn others of the impending doom; just the collected rubbish, the flotsam and jetsam of a once proclaimed civilisation.
In the human complexities of life it seems the only thing we do that is purposeful is to create the art that makes us less estranged from the world, and yet we often shy away from such pursuits, we fall foul of the belief in ourselves because we seek a definitive answer rather than the possible truth into which magic, resonance and the possibility of failure keep us motivated.
It is into this that the debut album by Stockport’s No Hot Ashes plays a wonderful part of examining relationships and how we see fit to spoil even the most innocent of connections by staring at the stars and wishing we were amongst them, rather than keeping our feet firmly on the ground. Hardship Starship is a growling bond that sees the poetic propelled by the ventures of our symbolic place in space.
The album also though shows how we have desecrated our own position by seemingly enjoying the conflict in which differences of opinion have become less about understanding, and instead about the two-facedness of cunning and rivalry.
In songs such as Extra Terrestrial, Trouble, Motion Sickness, Paradise Overdrive, W.Y.N.A and Hey Casanova, No Hot Ashes springboard themselves into the public’s imagination with purpose and respect, a force that rivals anger and the kiss of life for the creative splendour they can bring forth, and one that wipes away the dust filled crevices in which we find ourselves hiding, forcing us to confront the sterile conditions we have been forced into.
A wonderfully adept debut album, one that stands in good stead to propel No Hot Ashes into deeper consideration and pleasure.
Ian D. Hall