Self-styled UK riff merchants Hercules Morse, who boast a hybrid of Fu Manchu styled stoner rock with a Beatles-esque approach to melody, blended with the Foo Fighters’ take on classic rock. are really spoiling us here, with their debut album AND a new track.
As it happens, what this actually means is that the new track, ‘Everything is Great’ is getting an on-line release, complete with video ahead of the album. That title alone made my inner tension rise and ready to decry ‘Vita Boundary’ a bunch of bollocks even before they crashed in with their breezy melodies and cowbell clanking all over the shop. I began forming the argument that while full-strength rock and melody were by no means mutually exclusive, the latter has a habit of sucking the strength from the former.
But three tracks in and I’m coming round to the idea that this isn’t the review I’ll be writing. Because while referencing QOTSA, Foos and Biffy Clyro, ‘Vita Boundary’ showcases a sound more rooted in 90s alt-rock, and packs 10 riffy tunes bursting with energy that all the melody in the world can’t dissipate.
I have to concede an admiration for the Southampton four-piece, whose two previous EPs have also convinced. ‘Talk Me Down’ evokes the spirit of the lighter end of early 90s grunge a la Bivouac, et al, and the slower, lower, more reflective ‘Resigned’ has strong echoes of Eight Storey Window, and across the course of the album’s 10 tracks, it’s the nagging, wistful emotion of Dinosaur Jr that comes to mind, although there’s nothing slacker about Hercules Morse – they really do pile in hard with the chunk riffs, and instead of the melodic aspect diluting the rock power, the full-throttle guitars send those melodies to another level. Strong.
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