Battalions
Moonburn
Self-Released
Released 5th August 2017

I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard Battalions: sat in my mate Chunk's back garden quaffing a few cheeky cans with the lads in the heat of the late spring sunshine last year. I was immediately taken with their ten-tonne hammer riffs and unparalleled groove and swagger. We were listening to the quintet's debut album "Nothing To Lose", which peaked with the monstrous closing sledgehammer brainfuck that is "Shitstorm Troopers". I was instantly in love.

14 months later, and now slimmed down to a quartet, the Hullensians return with their sophomore effort Moonburn and it’s a thing of beauty. Unlike some bands, Battalions musical formula is relatively easy to describe to the uninitiated: widescreen and sludgy bouncing riffs hammered into submission by a tight rhythm section which sits just behind the beat….. whilst frontman Phil Wilkinson screams like a man who’s being shagged to within an inch of his life by Satan himself.

Moonburn contains seven exercises in brutal, dynamic and hip-swinging rawk. There’s a North Carolina vibe in the riffs, shuffling rhythms and melodies which brings to mind Corrosion of Conformity but Wilkinson’s unique vocals mark Battalions apart. Whilst some singers bark, others shout, many growl – Phil Wilkinson’s high pitched throaty screams sound like no one else. Nowhere is this more apparent than on Moonburn’s belting fifth track “Betrayal & Delusion” where he spits out acapella the lyrics “BETRAYAL….. IT’S WHAT I DO! CAN’T HELP THIS! FUCK!” and you totally, utterly and completely believe him.

There is no weak link on this album. No filler. From opener “Skin Job”, surely the grooviest heavy rock song committed to tape by any band this year so far, to closing epic “Another Name For Death”, Moonburn doesn’t let up for a second. And I haven’t even mentioned yet the absolute bona fide classic that is “Amazonian Women”, which surely must somehow bring Battalions to a wider audience.

Moonburn is a thoroughly modern album which borrows heavily from the past yet sounds like no one else. It proves there is now a “Battalions sound”. With only Widows “Oh Deer God” in the same league in 2017 thus far, Moonburn is a masterclass in how to do taught stoner sludge rock.

A thrilling record.