Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
If Dante can take the reader’s hand and lead them through a spiralling poetic narrative of figures inhabiting Hell, then the modern listener can certainly appreciate what it means for a youthful soul to attempt to atone for their sins and gain access to the other realm, and perhaps aid them in the melody-filled adventure of a lifetime.
The detailed inscribed visions of a 13th Century Italian poet and a Muse for the 21st Century arguably should not cross paths in any way that could be described as meaningful interaction; after all several centuries have passed, times have changed, and what we believe as two ends of the divine spectrum is radically different from the doctrine of a time long since consigned to allegory and symbolic parable.
And yet the two are tied, and through the motion of concept, what drove a man to engrave in his mind is now designed and brought to life by a group of musicians in an exceedingly demonstrative and powerful way.
Through the motion of a concept recording the six-piece band that now make up the glorious Midwich Cuckoos, Patch Barbet, Dan Rouse, Rob Jones, Ben Wooster, Lesley O’Brien, and vocalist Tanzy Velanyne, bring their stunning sound to the fore in the fantastic musical arc of Death Or Glory,
The upscaling from a four-piece band to a half dozen collective is one that may have been a surprise for the fans, but where the debut album We Are Everywhere was barnstorming, this new line up, with the addition of Rob Jones and Tanzy Velanyne is dramatically enhanced, it is the cyclone and the thunderstorm thrown together, it is the shaping of steel by flexible muscles and a mind ready to accept the legend, and it has a name, it is the honour of Death Or Glory that shapes this concept shaped feast.
You cannot change the past, however, you can make the future greater than you may have first perceived it, and as spoken interludes mix freely with dynamic tones fleshed out as if Dante had found a musical inspired muse in which to captivate the senses, so Majesty, Crosses, Hourglass, You Used To Be Cool, Blood Mother, Ultimatum, and Ballad Of Tanzy Vlanyne add fire to the proceedings, the effect is one of black and white insight being giving the subtle treatment to show off vibrant and vigorous form.
Death Or Glory is a concept, it is progressive as well as deeply inspiring, but it is also a longing, of wanting to push the natural talent to a place far beyond where others might wish to keep you, and in this tightly produced album, the sound, the story, the music is one that proclaims absolute gold and the maturity of growth.
Midwich Cuckoos release Death Or Glory on April 8th via Onslaught Music.
Ian D. Hall