Album Review: Before Victoria - "Moving Forward"

 

Before Victoria are the brainchild of former Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing bassist and music writer Marc Burrows and with TMTWNBBFN currently on hiatus, the one time side project has clearly now moved up in his priorities a bit. I'd heard the group's previous EP Carry On Up The Chartists a few years ago and, I'm gonna be brutally honest, was a little bit disappointed by it - it seemed to lack the oomph of The Men That... However, everyone deserves a second chance so I was intrigued to see where the group had gone since then.

Moving Forward actually gets off to a good start with Another History Song almost sounding like a farewell note of sorts from Burrows to his old group with its overriding message of moving forward from the past and learning from our mistakes rather than repeating them again and again - there's a definite hint of social commentary on here as well...and this was before the frankly terrifying events of the last week or so in politics...

Second track Stop The Car (which originally surfaced on an earlier BV release, the electronica based The Sad Machines which I'll hold my hands up to having missed, sorry guys) is further proof that Before Victoria are moving away from their roots - a panic attack style slice of doomy new wave claustrophobia with a definite Joy Division influence to it (though Burrows' vocals are very different to Ian Curtis'). Take Take Take is another well-aimed punk diatribe at the repugnant avaricious likes of Musk, Branson and Bezos ("You're up there in outer space/Casually shitting on the human race") which reminds me of Chris T-T in one of his angrier moments or maybe Jim Bob's recent solo output before Spots And Tiny Trees does an almost 180 degree turn, a gentle lo-fi break-up lament built up with some big lush Sparks style orchestration which shows another side to Before Victoria.

Dorothea In Britches was originally on the Carry On Up The Chartists EP but this is a much improved version, shaking off the slightly scratchy production to bring it out of its cocoon and create a gentle affecting duet between Burrows and Karen from Flesh Tetris which reminds me of Disintegration era Cure a bit with its dense guitar sound. Carly Simon Says, however, quickly ups the noise again, an angry discordant slice of lo-fi grunge which is reminiscent of early Mudhoney before Polly's Arms starts off with that '80s Cure sound again before taking another turn down grunge alley with some good guitar work from Burrows' TMTWNBBFN bandmate Andrew O'Neill.

For some reason, Molly Knows reminds me a bit of Construction For The Modern Idiot era Wonder Stuff (Storm Drain in particular) but takes that formula and adds a dose of heaviness with a Nirvana/Smashing Pumpkins style wall of guitars crashing in on it. Which just leaves the gentle and disarmingly honest acoustic led confessional The Shame Parade (possibly the best song on here - you may well find a lump rising to your throat towards the end of it) and the stark spoken word track The Hanging Tree to guide this one home.

I really enjoyed this album - it definitely shows off Burrows' skill both as a lyricist and a musician with Before Victoria taking in a whole range of styles but managing to create a well-written and thought-provoking album that hangs together well as a whole. Certainly I think it's safe to say that Moving Forward definitely sees them proving that they're much more than just a side project.

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