THE FIERCE AND THE DEAD

Part 1/On VHS THEFIERCEANDTHEDEAD.BANDCAMP.COM

The ‘pronk’ rockers’ first two EPs, remastered and repackaged.

Straddling the genres – post-rock, psych, punk, stoner rock – instrumental quartet The Fierce And The Dead have added value to the line-ups of everything from ArcTanGent to Ramblin’ Man Fair, and given fresh-blood support to old-school acts such as Hawkwind. They’re currently recording the followup to their name-making 2018 album The Euphoric (with bassist Kev Feazey rumoured to be stepping up to the mic), and in the meantime they’ve repackaged their first two EPs together, complete with a crisp remastering job.

Released in 2010, Part 1 stemmed from a jam instigated by rising solo guitarist Matt Stevens with friends Feazey and drummer Stuart Marshall (future co-guitarist Steve Cleaton’s credited as adding ‘moral support’).

The music was intended for Stevens’ next album, but their jam soon spawned its own, distinct character. This continuous 19-minute piece rests on an insistent bass motif, an anchor for Stevens’ clean, angular lead guitar, minor-key and moody. The lulling improv is punctuated by fittingly fierce moments of hard distorted noise, with their Floyd and Crimson roots beginning to show. Even this early on, the unit had rare skill in knowing exactly how long to explore one section before changing up into the next. Following two years later, fourtracker On VHS saw them expand on their early promise. The record opens with the diabolically strong signature 666…6 (with which they still close their live shows), and Feazey’s fuzzy, hyperactive bass and Cleaton’s intelligent, fierce drumming lock in strongly with the fretworks. Here, as well as on the heavy, thrashy Hawaii and C86-style title track (two hip remixes included), TFATD’s knotty, Crimson-y melodies, shrewd grooves and turn-on-a-sixpence tonal changes are ready-formed. And crucially, also present beyond embryonic form is the lovably wonky, off-the-wall humour and chemistry that has helped make them one of the current scene’s most welcome and unique propositions.