Iron Monkey
SIGIRIYA UNDERWORLD, LONDON
SEMINAL SLUDGE CREW MAKE A FILTH-FUELLED RETURN
LOST IN THE mists of time, Welsh ruffians Acrimony were the finest stoner band ever to emerge from Europe.
SIGIRIYA [8] started as four-fiths of them, before two had to go for a lie down. They have, however, kept the same darkly hypnotic grooves, steeped in Sabbath and Hawkwind, and former Acrimony and Iron Monkey guitarist Stu O’Hara has a knack for catchy and warmly enveloping riffs.
When Nottingham’s loudest disintegrated in 1999 it seemed that the world would never again know the joy of the fist-in-the-face aggro of an IRON MONKEY [9] gig. When original core member Jim Rushby and Steve Watson announced a rebooted line-up many rejoiced, and some moaned. Monkey were very much a product of the Notts hardcore scene and so, with Jim sidelined by health issues it makes perfect sense to see Bloody Kev from the closely linked Hard To Swallow (amongst many) take the stage. Kev’s equally savage broken glass-gargling screams are the perfect stand-in for the late and much-missed Johnny Morrow, and he shares a suitably wild-eyed, mouthfoaming sense of cathartic release. Andrew Morgan from Army Of Flying Robots does a killer job laying down those thick slabs of noise and filth. Queen and Black Sabbath riffs meet Burzum and classics like Web Of Piss and Black Aspirin still sound as vital as ever while new songs like OmegaMangler feel just like the band have never been away. Welcome back to Britain’s nastiest.