Album Review: Spear Of Destiny – World Service @35

Back in the summer of 1985 Spear Of Destiny released their third full length “World Service“, an album that followed in the wake of 1983’s “Grapes Of Wrath” and 1984’s “One Eyed Jacks“, that came within a heartbeat of breaking into the UK’s top 10 albums. Despite the commercial and critical success of the album, frontman and founder member Kirk Brandon was apparently never happy with the way the album had been mixed, something that has presumably been an unscratchable itch, that is until 2020, with the UK veering in and out of various stages of lockdown, at least partially due to the inept response of our government, Brandon has put the time to good use and has re-recorded and reimagined the album with his current band as “World Service @35“, something he has previously done with the albums that preceded “World Service“

I remember buying the original black wax gatefold sleeve version of “World Service” as I was happily discovering new and old bands in my teens, it was an album that emerged in a era when the alternative and punk scenes were undergoing one of it’s intermittent surges in popularity and acts like Spear Of Destiny, The Cult, New Model Army and The Damned, to name but a few, were all signed to major labels and had albums and singles in the charts. This was great for me as a teenager, it meant that the music I was discovering was readily available on the high street, but with hindsight I can now see what the fans who were with those bands from the start were grumbling about. Major labels have always had a habit of not understanding or caring about much apart from commercial sales, now Kirk Brandon is trying to put that right with this new version of “World Service“.

My vinyl copy of “World Service” seems to have to gone to the mysterious place where much of my elderly vinyl has vanished to, so my comparisons are based solely on my recollections of the album. “World Service @35” is an album informed by experience, and in no small part regrets about past mistakes and decisions, none of the conviction that is a hallmark of Kirk Brandon‘s numerous creative outlets has dissipated and that distinctive voice has lost none of it’s power. “World Service @35” is Brandon’s vision of how things should have been. Revisiting a classic album is always a risky strategy that will invite criticism from the faithful if you get it wrong, but there are no such concerns present, this is an expanded reimagining that should satisfy his established fan base, shorn of the overproduction of the original this is an album that comes across as you would hope to hear it live.

Kirk Brandon is, to the best of my knowledge, the only remaining member who appeared on the original album, now ably assisted by the current established and stable line up that includes fellow veterans Craig Adams (Sisters Of Mercy / The Mission) and Adrian Portas (New Model Army / Sex Gang Children), as well as long time collaborator Steve Allen-Jones, and fresh blood in the shape of Phil Martini (Jim Jones And The Righteous Mind), Spear Of Destiny have delivered a fresh yet faithful reworking of “World Service” that doesn’t disappoint. The fact that is entirely fan funded should tell you everything you need to know about the faith Kirk Brandon‘s following have in his recordings, a trust he has repaid with “World Service @35“

“World Service @35” will be released on the 26th October and is available for pre-order via Kirk Brandon‘s website here