Album Review: Professor and the Madman - "Seance"

 

Punk concept albums? Hang on, is that even a thing? Apparently so. Professor & The Madman are a supergroup of sorts with the former DI duo of Alfie Agnew (also ex-Adolescents) and Sean Elliott linking up with the Damned's imperial years rhythm section of Paul Gray and Rat Scabies (and I'm sure plenty of other Damned fans will agree, it's good to see those two working together again) and Seance is indeed a concept album about a group of friends carrying out an attempt to contact the dead which leads to a journey into the afterlife.

The obvious touchstone upon first listen is the Damned's Black Album and not just because of the presence of Gray and Scabies. Songs like the opening title track and So Long definitely mine the same vein of gothy garage rock as that classic did and the 12 string guitar work on Real Me is definitely reminiscent of Captain Sensible in that era.

It's not a one trick pony though and the band definitely show a bit of versatility from the almost Broadway stylings of Time Machine through the almost glam-rock swagger of Two Tickets To The Afterlife. Council of Purgatory meanwhile conjured up the weird image of a goth Monkees if you can imagine such a thing and Greetings From The Other Side almost comes across like a more '60s influenced version of the Mission.

The occupational hazard of concept albums is that they can be a little bit all over the place musically and Seance does occasionally fall into that trap in places but it always seems to just about turn it around when it does. The only other slight drawback of this album is it doesn't quite contain a real knockout killer tune to really seal the deal although everything here is competently done and carried off well with all four members of the band acquitting themselves well. If the prospect of a punk/prog kitchen sink opera appeals to you then you could definitely do a lot worse - check it out at the Professor & The Madman Bandcamp page.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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