Filthydirty – The Rise And Fall Of Blasphemouth

When I heard Filthydirty of Evil Blizzard was releasing his first solo album ‘The Rise And Fall Of Blasphemouth’ my thoughts turned to one of those luxury Ramones advent calendars you buy for Christmas, where you excitedly expect a little miniature of your heroes to pop out when you open each door, yet find they contain nothing more than unrelated tat. So having prepared myself for the worst and as each track arrives, I’m expecting to hear the world’s worst carol singer, yet I find it’s nothing of the sort.  This is ‘Hey Ho Let’s Go’ right from the off, as the opening song ‘Disease’ kicks off a rock/metal anthem and one that has me visualising Ozzy Osbourne fronting Killing Joke. 

‘All My Friends’ is up next, a track that takes no prisoners as its lyrics highlight. Filthydirty has met some right cunts and he’s not afraid to tell you about them either.  Here we see him in a no holds barred all-out attack yet despite his disdain for these people he shows some compassion by vaguely protecting the identity of those it seeks to chastise in the lyrics, “Wobbly Bob, Furtive Dave, Curtains McGinty, Paraffin Jane, Tony Giblets, Shiny Grifter, Phoebe Drainpipe, Terrible Steve, all cunts, best avoided, all cunts, all the same…” This may well be my favourite track on the album with its driving bass, and a sincerity that is menacing, genius in its simplicity.

‘All Of This For Nothing’ is up next and it’s only a matter of time before we hear this in a horror movie soundtrack.  Filthy explained some of the tracks on the album he’d reworked from rejected Evil Blizzard demos, this might well be one of those he’s turned around. ‘Don’t Trust Me, I Don’t Trust You’ is a song that makes me wonder if he’s taken a chainsaw to those who indulge in Dub, I bet Ruts DC were nervous gigging with him on hearing this. If there’s a single from this album it’s ’Straight To Hell’ and thankfully a song that’s nothing like the one The Clash did on Combat Rock. This is Filthy’s best stab at Top of the Pops and boy what I’d have given to have seen that happen. 

I’m a big fan of Gary Numan and the track ‘It Wasn’t Me, It Was a Ghost’ could well have come off any of Numan’s last 5 albums, this has a Trent Reznor feel to it who incidentally I can’t stand, despite that, I love this track. This is yet another driving, seismic anthem. We have two tracks left and ‘One last Drink In The Last Chance Saloon’ left me wondering if Filthy was once a fan of The Man From Uncle?  If he was he’s thrown in some strange effects as he dissects the theme tune that this reminds me of. Last but by no means least we have ‘Monolith’ a track that may be the Brussel Sprout on the album as you’ll either love it or hate it.  I happen to really like it. This is torture in the basement of Filthy D Towers and again hints at having Gary Numan down there with him.

This album is about as left field as it gets for me and I love it. Irrespective of it’s position in The Punk Site’s top 20 (editor’s note, it made number 11) it is my personal favourite and my No 1 album of 2021. Filthydirty told me he wouldn’t be doing a second solo album. Boooooo!!!!

The Rise And Fall Of Blasphemouth is available via Crackedankles Records

Live photography courtesy of allthecoolbandsphotography