THE WILDHEARTS SATANIC RITES OF THE WILDHEARTS

REVIEWER – GRAEME WRIGHT

It’s frustrating being a fan of The Wildhearts. Right from the early days I was all on board with the band and it was great to see the recognition they got early in their careers because the sheer raw power and accessibility of their music was ripe for the burgeoning rock and roll scene back in the day. I saw them in the live arena many times in the nineties and they blew the roof off every single time, so to be honest this band should have been absolutely huge. Trouble was on the horizon unfortunately and the bands problems and excesses are both legendary and frustrating to their fans. There were many strong personalities in the band so over the years it’s been rinse and repeat for The Wildhearts. Release a great album, receive massive plaudits, tour on the back of the album then inevitably disappear back into the ether for a few years before re-emerging with another great record.

This time around it’s just Ginger with a band chock full of superlative musicians, so let’s see what the new album has to offer….

It’s no surprise to anybody that this will be one of my albums of the year come December. Ginger has been and always will be one of the greatest songwriters in the business and the new record is crammed with fantastic tunes from start to finish. How he finds the energy after all these years is beyond me but this record sounds as fresh to me as the first time I ever heard ‘Earth vs The Wildhearts’ all those years ago. From opener ‘Eventually’ which is a rough edged angry masterpiece, through to the amazing ‘Troubadour Moon’ which is one of the best songs ever released by The Wildhearts, to album closer ‘Failure Is The Mother Of Success’, every song in this collection is an absolute belter.

Ginger has lead such a chaotic life (drug abuse, mood swings, wild behaviour), that’s it’s amazing he is still here. What this has done however, is enable him to write such deeply personal and thoughtful songs such as ‘Hurt People Hurt People’ which I find genuinely moving, so perhaps we wouldn’t be able to have one of these things without the other. Ginger is also a brilliant and amusing wordsmith, which is fully on display in ‘Blue Moon Over Brinkburn’ and ‘I’ll Be Your Monster’ which pound along at a furious pace.

In conclusion this album contains everything you could possibly want from a Wildhearts record. Pace, power, pathos, humour and big emotions are all on display, and while many still hark back to the days of C.J. and Ginger running rampant across arenas, I’m happy to fully embrace the latest version of one of my favourite bands. To paraphrase one of Gingers own songs, I’ll always love The Wildhearts and I’ll always love Ginger, even if he’s a bit of a “Kunce” at times.

BAND

Ginger Wildheart – Vocals/Guitars

Ben Marsden – Guitars

Kavus Torabi – Guitars

Jon Pool – Bass

Dudge – Drums

ALBUM TRACK LIST

1. Eventually
2. Scared Of Glass
3. Troubadour Moon
4. Fire In The Cheap Seats
5. Kunce
6. Maintain Radio Silence
7. Blue Moon Over Brinkburn
8. Hurt People Hurt People
9. I’ll Be Your Monster
10. Failure Is The Mother Of Success