In times of tedium, The Meads Of Asphodel can always be relied upon to hurl a rusty spanner into the works.
Taste The Divine Wrath pitches the British eccentrics against prolific US blackhearts Tjolgtjar; kindred spirits, perhaps, but few will dispute who the real maniacs are on this split EP.
After a mischievous, folksy intro, Chidiock Tichborne erupts, a rush of blasting and bile that is somehow both raw and well-rounded. But the cover of Candi Staton’s You Got The Love (renamed You Got The Hate) is a disorientating curveball by anyone’s standards. As always with the Meads, the joke is firmly on us. Another woozy transition leads to Balthasar Gerard, which freewheels through jagged aggression and gluey, art rock ambience. Tjolgtjar’s progressive but shambolic lo-fi clatter was never going to overshadow the Meads’ madness, but they have some intriguing moments to share here, too.
