British rock’s prodigiously gifted godfather Ginger comes back from the brink with The Wildhearts’ 11th album of songs that are like hits from some delicious drug.
We all know that certain words in the English language are overused. The likes of ‘genius’ and ‘unique’ – we say them but don’t always mean them. Ginger Wildheart, however, genuinely means every damn word, and just when you think he surely can’t do it again, can’t rival the alchemic interlocking diversity of music from his long past, the bloody guy goes and does just that.
This is the sound of an artist that has navigated the matrix of depression, sought help, found help, and been subsequently revisited by his creative fire, a pumped muscle car that even he struggles to control. This 11th album from The Wildherts (he’s already written the 12th!) speaks for itself in great, glorious gobs of creativity, a scarcely imaginable bridge between the Sex Pistols and Machine Head. ‘Life is the page, and you are the pen,’ our man notes on the typically extraordinary Failure Is The Mother Of Success, a song in three parts, all of which are better than the parts some bands will ever write.
Oh sure, you’ll listen to the first four tracks and be ensnared by their addictive lure, the storytelling and melodic power encouraging repeat plays, but you’ll be worrying that the one thing missing is a really ‘obvious’ punk-ish anthem. Then a riotous glitter bomb called Kunce happens; then the even better Blue Moon Over Brinkburn, a vengeful V-sign to his old school, happens. That’s how you write a punk metal classic. The combination of that, with the thrash-meets-doo-wop Maintain Radio Silence and I’ll Be Your Monster’s if-The-Beach-Boys-backed-Andrew WK madness; that’s what makes the world lovely.
We could point out that Satanic Rites… isn’t quite the greatest Wildhearts album ever, but it’d be like trying to judge which of Serena Williams’ 23 Grand Slam trophies is the most polished. More importantly, this album is the spectacular proof of one man’s return from pitch-darkness to pitch perfection, so let’s be honest enough to say it and mean it: the unique Ginger Wildheart is a total fucking genius.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: The Struts, Devin Townsend, Von Hertzen Brothers
Satanic Rites Of The Wildhearts is released on March 7 via Snakefarm
