THE WILDHOUSE - HYENAS CD

The mighty Wildhouse - a band that put the fear of god into audiences far and wide that never know from one gig to the next whether or not they're gonna emerge with their senses scarred for life.
So, it is with positive enthusiasm that I leapt into this debut album, to see if the mighty Wildhouse could distill the essence that makes them what they are, and capture it on CD.
That they succeed admirably, on a level that is way more tasty than you could have possibly imagined, is a testament to the band and the recording studios in which it was recorded.
Opening with an instrumental that's full of effects and treated guitars, you hear something that sounds uncannily similar to the opening of King Crimson's "Larks Tongues In Aspic Part 1", with wheezy electronic-like sounds next to laid-back guitar textures. Then comes "Miro" as Sheila's drmatic drumming kicks into gear, a deep almost bass-like guitar wells up from below, jangly lead guitar billows out briefly before the upfront and almost crooned vocals emerge into being, the whole thing riding solidly along with a distinctly spooky atmopshere, gradually building its intensity, before dropping back ever so briefly and then - blattttttt!!!!!!!! - the drums move up several gears and a hail of blistering lead guitars rains down as the whole thing takes off. Just a short time later, it falls back down, the ever present drums still pounding away as the jangly guitars and guitar rhythms move back into the vocal finale and four minutes of strong and streaming dynamics comes to a close. With a climb up the intensity and volume ladder, we come to "Pre-flyte", a stunner of a track led by Sheila's mantra-like vocals, that starts as the closest thing to vintage seventies Can that this band has ever sounded, complete with bass and guitar work that positively wreaks of Karoli and Czukay. But then, one and a half minutes in, they plunge you headlong into a fiery furnace of guitars and storm-force drumming that is simply jaw-dropping, as the molten guitar work unleashes an assualt on your senses while the drumming intensifies adn accelerates as Sheila's mantra-like vocal continues to chant, and the effect is absolutely incredibly, especially turned way up loud, as just over four minutes goes by far too quickly, leaving you wanting to repeat the whole thing once again. But, without a pause for breath, we're into "Vanilla Jnr" as combined male and female vocal combine with jangly, chiming guitar leads, rippling cymbals and a distinct air of classic early seventies Velvet Underground, the almost scarily close Reed-Nico styled vocal unfolding for two, once again, all too short minutes. This leads immediately into the chiming guitars and harmony vocals of "Hope Is How You Control Me", as heartbeat drums lie below slowly soaring, rippling guitar leads and laid-back vocals before it all threatens to launch into space, only to return to its smooth running air of New York psychedelia, the Velvets influence once more apparent. Then, just over two minutes in, it finally takes off like a rocket, as a burning ferocity of guitars and drums simply scorches a path into the night sky, as the combined elements of Krautrock and Neil Young styled guitar at its angriest deliver the goods for a minute and a half before it all drops back to earth for a few seconds finale - just exquisite in every way.
Amid a surging mass of explosive and driving guitars and drums, is heard this vocal effect that's right out of The Orb's "Perpetual Dawn" only here latched onto a song that's turning from fiery to positively nuclear, the red hot and rampaging flaming pit of driving drumming and earth-shattering guitar heaven that is "Aguilar.....End of Bookburn", just rages and surges to awesome effect, the Krautrock influence coming into play once again to a simply jaw-dropping degree, the guitar work right up inthe mix and as on fire as it gets, ultimately ending in the heart of a blazing sun and out the other side into a space that's eerily serene for a few seconds before the rocket engines kick into action and the fiery ship takes off once more to dimensions unknown, fuelled by a guitar and drum fire that's as potent as it is effective, as stunning a near seven minute piece as it gets. "Outro", after all the rage, calms things down, only with a menacing deep ocean of bass rumbles over which theremin whistles and Asian-sounding percussion weave a tangled musical web for two and a half minutes of eery but deceptively busy serenity. "Custard" returns us to the land of song, as the gorgeous chiming guitars combine with distant electronic backdrops, as Paul's lead vocal intones the song, once again the feel of ballad-like Velvets appearing, only here mixed with an almost coutry-ish approach as a song unfolds that endears itself to your heart, the sound of just guitar, vocal and the effects in the background, creating a spellbinding three minute gem of a song with more than a whiff of the seventies to it. Finally, the sound of feedback guitars ushers in rumbling guitar bass, chiming lead guitars, tambourine and then some absolutely scorching lead guitar work as the track builds into this towering inferno of amorphous guitar textures and soaring chords, all filling the airwaves with this huge expanse of sound, enveloping you in nearly seven minutes of an immense guitar inferno before dropping back to just a single feeding back guitar lead - and it's gone - the end - over!!
Thirty eight minutes that you simply can't wait to revisit - I'm on my fourth play already - and there's nothing on this album that's less than brilliant, and it really does showcase everything bar the xcesses, that make The Wildhouse, not only one hell of a stunning unique band in Dundee, but positively unique in Europe right now. You put this in the hands of the likes of Ultima Thule, Ptolemaic Terrascope, Aural Innovations,Julian Cope and many more, and they'll be extolling its virtues, far and wide.

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