All us old New Wave of British Heavy Metal types remember Andro Coulton, right? The bass player in the wonderful Witchfyde and appearing on the band’s classic and oh-so influential Give ‘Em Hell album.
Now these days Andro is a busy man. He has his record label (Vyper) and his new band ZXY. Their first album – Evolvalution – is available. I have a review copy (thanks Andro) and must say that if you like your NWOBHM, early Hawkwind, early Black Sabbath or good, heavy, driving, spacey rock then ZXY will hit the “sweet spot” dead centre.
It’s a bit unique too. No lead guitar. Whilst that might sound daft, it’s not. A drummer, Andro’s wife on rhythm guitar and the main man himself on bass and “octave lead bass”. What’s that? you ask. Well it’s a bit like playing the lead guitar parts on a bass. Andro invented a way of playing using two octaves at the same time christening the technique “octave lead bass guitar”.
It sounds just fine too giving the whole thing a heavy, driving feel throughout with a bit of a fuzzy edge. As well as being unmistakably heavy it is also a bit spacey and a bit trippy. The driving heaviness and riffage is early Black Sabbath in nature with the fuzziness and trippiness adding in that Hall of the Mountain Grill period Hawkwind feel. Add the two together – wow! We’re back in the ‘70s spacing out with some proper rock music. How I wish I was, but that’s another story for another day – possibly. Or not.
ZXY is a real treat. Powerful, heavy, hypnotic. The unusual/unique bass playing helps much with that as the listener rides the semi-cosmic wave through the CD. See and hear for yourself what a fine mixture it is with a video of White Noise:
https://youtu.be/7D-2O5SgovQ
Rather good is it eh? Did you pick up on the Sabbath/Hawkwind style? Did you think it was the follow-up to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath or In Search of Space that’s been undiscovered in a vault somewhere for the past forty years or so?
Eight more tracks where White Noise came from on the CD with personal favourites being Anthem for the Dammed, Dark Dreams and Priestess of Hell.
I say click on over to Vyper records and pick yourself up a copy at a nice price. Treat the aural senses to something that little bit different though something which works oh so well.
ZXY on Vyper Records:
http://www.vyperrecords.com/andro-coultons-zxy.php
Oh – and coming along in a few days. Witchfynde – The Lost Tapes. Glorious.
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