Apologies, I Have None - Black Everything EP (Album Review)
Tuesday, 06 May 2014
Written by Huw Baines
Photo: Marco Christian Krenn
As its title not so succinctly suggests, Raging Through The Thick And Heavy Darkness Of A Bloodlust is by some distance the bleakest, most suffocating thing that Apologies, I Have None have committed to tape to date.
The first song on ‘Black Everything’, a new four track EP, is a five minute slab of squalling guitars and hopeless, Kurtz-referencing lyrics, delivered by Josh McKenzie in a bark last heard on The 26, with its promise of violent revenge.
But, there are twists ahead. Seconds into Two Bombs In A Box, accompanied by the sort of melody that made ‘London’ one of the finest albums to emerge from the UK punk scene in years, McKenzie is asking: “How the fuck did I not see this coming?” More to the point, how the fuck did I not see that coming?
‘Black Everything’ explores personal crisis almost exclusively, with Coffee, Alcohol, Codeine, Repeat and The Clarity of Morning both seemingly bereft in their outlook, teetering on the edge of an oblivion that is, if not welcome, then seemingly on the cards either way.
“But it’s nothing that some wine can’t sort out...drop two sleeping pills and hope to pass out,” McKenzie sings on the latter, adding: “I hate the person I’ve become. Hate the foil, hate the filters, hate the blister packs, but I won’t stop.”
Again, though, these sentiments are packed into driving, melodic songs, which hint at the band continuing to set standards for the scene despite the departure of founding member Dan Bond, who previously shared guitar and vocal duties with McKenzie. ‘Black Everything’ is a tantalising taste of what’s to come on album two.
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