Electus – ‘Episode IV’

Hard Rock

Independent Release

Released – December 2023

Review By Smudge

Well, here we have the next instalment of Russell Peake’s extraordinary musical brain. Having reviewed pretty much every Electus record I was certainly excited when this dropped into my inbox.

Kicking off with the bouncy heavy boogie of ‘More, More, More’ gets the head nodding immediately. It’s simple, melodic and just heavy enough to make you gurn whilst you air-guitar. Alan Mills’ huge bass opens ‘All The Way’ before it’s joined by a big expensive riff and mighty neanderthal drum pattern from the heavy-hitting Mick Hales. This grooves like a monster and has Russell Peake stretching his vocals.

‘Got The Time’ starts as a simple chugger before it develops into a radio-friendly pop rocker all driven along by Mills’ throbbing bass line. ‘If I Stay’ is a quality slice of melodic rock that shows another side of Peake’s unique voice then the blistering ‘Destiny’ gives us another rapid heavy rocker that hits the right spot before the melodic radio rock returns on ‘NightWalker’ where again Peake stretches those vocal chords. ‘Forever’ is a darker groove with some falsetto that keeps things interesting then we get some ‘gob iron’ on the intro to ‘Paroxysm’ which settles into a reverb-heavy blues grind thanks to that massive Mills bass.

‘Mind Games’ brings a whole of modern rock to the party with Peake coming on like Leonard Cohen with his deep almost spoken word vocal before he lets it all go on the chorus. Fabulous stuff. I must admit that I do like a cover version especially when people make it different, well. Electus has done business with the Carpenter’s classic ‘Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft’ and made it arena-sized.

This is a real step up from the last record, which was superb. If the world was fair Electus would huge, but I think they were born too late. 20-30 years ago, these guys would have been mega. The music sounds complex but it’s pretty simple and direct. It’s well produced with everything sounding huge and crystal clear and boy has Peake developed as a singer. When he once sounded reluctant, he now pushes his voice. Get this record – you will not be disappointed.

Tracklist –

1 – More More More

2 – All They Way

3 – Got The Time

4 – If I Stay

5 – Destiny

6 – Nightwalker

7 – Forever

8 – Paroxysm

9 – Mind Games

10 – Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft