Album Review: Bones Shake – Sermons

This could be a very short review. Try this:  Sermons is an unholy mix of the observational qualities of The Streets, the bile of Mark E Smith and the fuzzy twang and howl of Seasick Steve. I know, it’s hard to conjure up what that might sound like, isn’t it?

Bones Shake are a three-piece – drums, (mostly) bottleneck guitar and vocals – grungy blues band from Manchester. They are urgent and in your face from the outset with a steady stream of sleaze accentuated by a robust and intense lyrical style that documents the minutiae of looking in cynically on other people’s lives – as well as your own – from slightly to one side. This style cannot be better illustrated than by Privilege, the opening track: a staccato, scuzzed-out guitar riff underscores what can only be described as a vitriolic Best Man’s speech written by the aforementioned Mark E and delivered by a very angry Guy Garvey. No quarter is given. Cracked Lips is a reverb-drenched Cramps riff that sounds as if it was spawned in some 1960s garage and teleported into today, gathering a contemporary twist on the way. Girl is a particularly sleazily grinding and downbeat observation on a relationship that seems to be imploding (“I don’t wanna hold hands, kiss or get in those fucking panties/But she’s my girl …”)

The whole album, with all its bewildering lyrical twists and turns (“Well, I burned my finger on a fire tonight/’Cos I was cooking that chicken for you and your wife” (Fryin’ Line) and intense, dirty bottleneck blues riffing sounds like the menacing soundtrack to a particularly dark Coen Brothers road movie. While there is undoubtedly a huge nod to American blues, this is also a particularly Northwest sound that derives from the flat Manc delivery of the vocal. It seems an unlikely combination, but boy does it work.

Sermons is intense and a bit intimidating and a perfect antidote to the corporate shitfest that is mainstream musical entertainment. Uncompromising  and exhilarating. Definitely recommended.

Sermons is out now on digital and red vinyl formats on Abattoir Blues Records.