Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The End Of Days, nothing perhaps so biblical, just a recognition that all things, in the words of George Harrison, must pass.

It could be argued that we all have an end of days somewhere in our life, and not just the sense of absolute that hivers in the background, ushering us along to the grave and the mournful cries of evermore but in that what we once listened to no longer holds us to the same sense of creative urge, that our literary tastes may change, expand, wither and die, our love ebbs and flows as if dictated by the waxing and waning of the moon; nothing lives forever. However, perhaps in the Museum Of Backward Hats it will take pride of place under the auspicious lights of an End Of Days is marked only with a smile, a sense of further adventure and one that the listener can depend on fully, and for as long as time persists.

For as the Museum Of Backward Hats show with eagerness and subtly in their single and B side End Of Days and Pain, whilst somethings cannot hope to last, musical determination, the art of telling a story and the creative intrigue of this band will find a way to outlive the creaking sound attributed to the panic of time.

Such a claim may appear bold, but as anyone who has come across their brand of uniquely held observation and simmering music will attest, there is an element of the everlasting that comes hand in hand with the structure of the lyric and the ethos of the group, no matter the incarnation, no matter the personnel.

Both End Of Days and Pain fit into that declaration, two songs that match the prolific nature of previous outings, songs of warmth and mystery, a passion play without expiration, and as each song progresses there is something else underneath, perhaps the sentiment of the as yet unexplored, of the next stage in the band’s history; and it is one that is greeted emphatically with pleasure by the listener.

End of days come and go, and yet for Museum of Backward Hats the forever stands unconquerable.

Ian D. Hall