General – Moonbase 808 Demos
Mains Spike Music
DL
Out now
General Rock. That’s what they do. They have released two albums and each has been more Rock than the last. They are heavier than a piano dropped on your head and swing like a chandelier with Errol Flynn hanging from it. They have just released a collection of their early demos which Fighting Boredom review below.
General restored my faith in the glory and fog of Rock, they bludgeon like a young, hungry Sabbath and swing like the Stooges at their most drug addled and loose. Their two albums have been consistently brilliant and Fighting Boredom heartily recommend that you go and check them out.
This collection is from the very beginning and rough around the edges and raw as it is, the songs here form the basis of what they have become. This is the sort of thing that your mates recorded for you over an old cassette and you played until the player ate it. Right after you’d recorded it for another few people.
It’s the sort of thing we used to throw across smoke saturated room at each other and shout ‘Play That!’ it’s how this music moves around, crunching and lurching into peoples ears and brains. Kids falling in love with the riffs and voice and making their friends care too just by wearing them down with relentless playing.
The groove is heavy and huge. You can see where they are heading and if you’ve heard the other releases you already bloody know. Your hips and head move with the massive sound and before you’ve even inhaled you are right back there surrounded by Rock. This isn’t the past, even if it’s nine years old, it’s the sound of a band, pausing, listening and then killing it again.
General will make another album that will yet again batter the soul of Rock, but until that happens.. listen to this, it’ll not disappoint and it’ll make you remember why Rock mattered, and realise that it still does.
General’s website is at general-hq.com, they are also on Facebook.
Mains Spike Music are also on Facebook.
All words by Adrian Bloxham.