Album Review: Calling All Astronauts - "#Resist"

 

Well here's one we missed when it came out midway through last year. Hailing from London, Calling All Astronauts sound like some righteous cross between Ministry and Tones On Tail with the sledgehammer guitars and sinister electronica being pinned together with a vicious political invective to create something that's definitely intriguing.

Songs like Unholy Trinity, Divided States Of America and Give Them A Leader take a well-focused aim at the fucked up state of the world at the moment. There's a definite hint of the Sisters of Mercy circa Vision Thing here as well although CAA are much more overtly political than Eldritch and co ever were. And that's not a bad thing - it's quite a rare thing that you'll come across goth bands dipping their toes in these waters and it makes the likes of New World Disorder, Not In My Name and Post-Truth World feel just that bit more hard-hitting. Elsewhere, they train their lyrical guns on everything from vapid pop stars (Fifteen Minutes) to fascist scum (Welcome To The Black Bloc).

If there's a slight criticism of this album, it's that the production is a bit tinny in places but it's nothing that wouldn't be easy to fix on future efforts and the group have enough of a brutal kick to them to ensure that it's something that's fairly easy to overlook. Overall, this is a good album and one that's made me keen to check out some more of Calling All Astronauts' back catalogue (it's actually their third album which makes me wonder why it's taken so long to discover them!) Any road up, give this a listen, it's a much welcomed dose of political anger to shake up the goth/industrial scene.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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