Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Defiance in the face of uncertainty is a measure in which to know the protagonist of any story or tale. it is one of the reasons why we embrace the spirit of characters in literature who display guile, wit, cunning and intelligence, as well as vision.

This sense of defiance is why Beowulf will always vanquish Grendel despite being complex and flawed, why Sherlock Holmes endures even in a world that has seen police procedure surpass his intellect, and why the likes of Marvel’s Captain America still captures the imagination despite the attentions of a crowd that wishes to denigrate and vilify such actions undertaken by the graphic novel hero…defiance in the face of uncertainty is not an act of recklessness, it is the underpinning of courage.

Courage though is not all about muscle and perfectly drawn characters, it is to go against what might be the easy option, to be seen as one of the crowd in any given situation and embrace the comfortable, knowing full well it will be applauded, clapped for by those who expect the ordinary.

Defying the Norm is to create a new perspective, to set a new standard in which to implore others to shake loose of their own branch, and to walk tall amongst the backdrop of the bush and the mountains.

Not only is it fair to say that 2020 will go down in living memory as one of pain and damage, it will also be the moment when personal revolutions will have been mapped out, with any fortune the spirit of humanity will embrace compassion and empathy like never before, but also it is to be hoped that the every individual will find courage to step out of norm’s shadow and demand more, to show defiance against leaders whose vested interests are dictated by the Me, Myself and I regime, and to be bold when to cower is expected.

For The Voodoo Sheiks, being bold is not only their way of life, it is the music to which their style is further recognised as powerful, as the prelude to rebelliousness against stagnation and the dull routine.

Courage, a resolution to offer a quicker pulse when uncertainty suggests you meekly cower, to not go quietly into that good night as W.H. Auden urged, and for SlowblowDave, Adrian Thomas, Andy Pullin, Brent Hitchinson, and special guest on the new single, Henry Gee, courage is just a part of their appeal, and as characterised, as captured magnificently in Norm, it is their ability to cut others free from the audacity of the faceless crowd that makes them urgent and dynamic.

Absolute class from The Voodoo Sheiks, a spell of positive thinking in which to embrace.

Ian D. Hall