NARCS - A Thinking Animal

  by Adrian Janes

published: 29 / 7 / 2016

---

Review

A rock band that uses Greek philosopher Aristotle’s definition of a human being for a title is clearly not lacking in education or intelligence. And hearing them crash into action on opener ‘Drains’ - like a mash-up between Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys, topped by a vocal born from the rawer end of John Lennon’s range - shows they’re not lacking in musical ability or passion either. It’s a style that is typical of much of the album, the guitars squealing and squalling, the rhythm section hard-hitting but agile too. The publicity attending them makes much of their political stance, fuelled by anger at the current state of the nation. But this rage reaches such a pitch that on several of the songs (e.g. ‘RAUS!’, ’Mile Die’ and ‘Head Boy Sonnet’) the lyrics are at times all but lost, or non-existent, because of vocalist Wilko’s penchant for screaming (though elsewhere he demonstrates a fine Northern English rock voice, in the Liam Gallagher and Alex Turner tradition). It’s not asking for the worthy dirges of a Billy Bragg to expect that professedly political songs should marry personal feeling with a message that can be more widely understood and related to. Lennon preferred to do his primal screaming outside the studio, while using what it helped him to tap into. Or, to take an example closer to their Leeds home, forebears the Redskins managed to be both passionate and articulate in the same breath. When the lyrics can be heard, they’re often powered by an unvarnished scorn that has largely seemed lost since the late ‘70s, such as on the strangely named ‘Empathy the Dog’: “Every day I pray for civil war/That moment when I can nail your fucking head to the floor”. Since we live in times when we see the horrific consequences of civil war in countries such as Syria, maybe a little more empathy wouldn’t come amiss. Yet that blunt refusal to accept the poverty of choices in this country is still refreshing, even if the rhetoric sometimes blunders. Criticism shouldn’t be allowed to obscure what is good in this album and this band. While ‘RAUS!’ might lose points vocally, its privileging of the visceral over the verbal does allow the brisk, tight rhythm to effectively occupy the spaces in the music, as feedbacking guitars lurch from speaker to speaker like a wind-blown swingometer. And if ‘Bullingdon Boys’ inexplicably doesn’t follow ‘Pig’ in the track order, nonetheless it’s Manics meets the Melvins sound packs an unaffectionate punch. After the onslaught of the first seven tracks, the limpid guitar and yearning vocal of ‘Soak’ make for touching, consoling relief, and while ‘Swinehound’ and ‘Told You I Was Ill’ return to the dominant sonic template, the final track springs a surprise that confirms that NARCS are more than rock and roll Ranters. ‘Pilot Light’ features echoed harmonies that implore “Take me higher”, before moving into a long instrumental section of intricate guitar and tom toms which evokes ‘The End’ by those “erotic politicians”, the Doors. A distorted voice comes in as the music builds to a powerful crescendo, before the song fades out on delicate guitar. Music sorely needs bands willing to take a stand, and it’s all the better when they can sing and play like a well-oiled political machine, as do NARCS. The album’s successful ventures into more reflective moods, alongside the more frequent impassioned attacks, suggest a band still striving to balance instinct and thought in their songs. It also suggests a band that isn’t satisfied, with themselves as much as anything else, who may for that reason yet create something great.

Track Listing:-

1 Drains
2 Pig
3 Raus!
4 Bullingdon Boys
5 Mile Die
6 Head Boy Sonnet
7 Empathy the Dog
8 Soak
9 Swinehound
10 Told You I Was Ill
11 Pilot Light

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/NARCSband/
http://narcsband.com/
https://twitter.com/NARCSband
https://www.instagram.com/narcsband/
https://www.musicglue.com/narcs/
http://narcsband.tumblr.com/