Avalanche Party - 24 Carat Diamond Trephine (2019)

Avalanche Party are the feral garage-punk quintet from the North Yorkshire Moors who've built a prominent reputation off the back of their intense and immediate performances across Europe and the US. '24 Carat Diamond Trephine' is an eleven track joyride that veers from the poetic and introspective to a ferocious barrage of explosive energy. Brimming with their infamous live urgency, it's a masterfully curated album that ranges from full-throttle sonic assault ('7', 'HAHA') to refrained moments of cool clarity to catch your breath ('Hey Misdemeanour', 'Every Last Drop'). The legendary James Aparicio (Grinderman, Spiritualized) was the man tasked with taming the beast and it s a production that does no such thing. Album opener 'El Dorado' is a melancholic murder ballad with its lonesome keys and baritone vocal delivery; the quiet before the storm. 'Bugzy' treads murkier, threatening waters with a blues informed rhythm and guitar tones seeped in darkness while elsewhere tracks like 'Howl' and 'Playing Field Blues' boast gloriously infectious, swaggering rock 'n' roll built for aggressively prowling the stage. It's an album barely contained, constantly teetering on the edge of insanity but is completely alluring throughout. '24 Carat Diamond Trephine' is undoubtedly a fist-raising crowd pleaser, but like contemporaries Fat White Family, Viagra Boys or The Blinders, they've used it as an opportunity to enforce their own birds-eye view of the world. They tackle hefty themes of anger and fear, the capitalist machine that drives us ever closer to the great flaming End, cloak-and-dagger corporate greed, the environment, lyrics of love, death and an individual's walk through a world they were spat into, laughing as they go.