Something is heading our way and it’s coming in fast, hard and slightly insane….’Data Doom’ by Frankie And The Witch Fingers is imminent and it will fry your brain in your head! It seems something or probably many things, have rattled their cages and wound them up and their response is this; a furious howl of rage where nothing is left out and everything goes. But while they may be reflecting desperate times they’re ensuring that you’re facing up to it with heads banging and bones shaking..
So no gentle intro here…we’re straight into ‘Empire’ – 7 ½ minutes of frenzied but controlled super speed space rock with more going on than some entire albums manage; speed freak Sabbath riffs, fuzzy 60s garage blurs, never staying in any place or time for too long. The momentum then doesn’t let up for the rest of the album; if that makes it sound a bit samey think again – there’s plenty going on here, so many idea’s, thoughts and sounds that the band are almost tripping over themselves trying to get it all down…
‘Burn Me Down’ – unhinged garage punk colliding with LA desert rock – with horns! and ‘Electricide’ everything faster than everyone else Motorhead mayhem – would both be mental in a live setting ..but then so would the entire album!
Although ‘Syster System’ starts at a slightly slower and more controlled pace, it seems the witchy fingers can’t control themselves for too long before they’re off again; multiple changes of tempo, a good singalong chorus and a whole range of instruments and sounds employed to deliver the message.
Just when we think you’re savvy to what’s going on and expecting another dose of the same we’re thrown into a different zone entirely –the choppy guitars and a steamy chugging funk undertow, wah wah blaxploitation soundtrack vibes of ‘Weird Dog’. ‘Doom Boom’ continues the exuberant and fried trajectory -a weird and whacked out dance track with a dirty funky bassline and catchy chorus. Feels like the ghost of Prince tried to bust in on the recording session for the second half of this album, bringing Miles Davis with him and elbowing Lemmy out of the way…
‘Futurephobic’ takes yet another twist…driven by a pulsing synth, pace not letting up, it’s a frantic and paranoid future electro punk floor filler, with a mutant choir thrown in naturally…. Check out the insane video here….although avoid if consumer clowns give you nightmares!
Recent single release ‘Mild Davis’ and album closer ‘Political Cannibalism’ combine the electro elements, the punk funk elements and the warped garage rock elements and nail it down with a skittering voodoo funk bass ; a polyrhythmic jam session, partying hard in the tech fucked wasteland.
A massively enjoyable explosion of an album – controlled chaos and madness warning of dangerous present and threatening future times; an unrestrained psych rock freak out but so much more – complex rhythms, instruments and tempos colliding, vocal chants and some massive choruses! Frankie and the Witch Fingers throw everything into the mix to give us a good time while the whole shit heap burns around us….
Gary Powell August 23
Frankie and the Witch Fingers on YouTube
