Surgery [Enhanced]

Heavy stuff, but The Warlocks also know how to sweeten things when the mood arises: both "Angels In Heaven, Angels In Hell" and "Evil Eye Again" nod towards the Wall Of Sound-era pop of Phil Spector, a sound that’s been reconciled with the sonic excesses of noise-rock since the days of the Jesus & Mary Chain. And maybe therein lies a problem: if your rock’n’roll history book is well-thumbed, it’s possible this constant game of spot-the-influence could prove wearying. It’s worth pointing out, though, that The Warlocks play this music with single-minded devotion and not a little skill. Copyists or not, this trip is a trip worth hitching.--Louis Pattison

From the Label
Surgery is the eagerly awaited follow up to 2003’s Phoenix and was recorded by The Warlocks current line up of Bobby Hecksher (guitar, lead vocals), JC Rees (guitar), Corey Lee Granit (guitar), twin drummers; Bob Mustachio and Jason Anchondo, Laura Grigsby (tambourine & organ) and the recently returned original bassist Jenny Fraser in various LA Studios with legendary producer Tom Rothrock (Beck, Elliott Smith, Badly Drawn Boy).

Featuring single "Come Save Us", Surgery sees the band return with a more dynamic, almost accessible pop sound and its twelve songs are without doubt their most ambitious and infectious to date. An otherworldly, subversive soul record it has a ghostly grace which mixes soothing sci-fi lullabies such as "Gypsy Nightmare" and the gorgeous doo-wop of "Angels In Heaven, Angels in Hell"’ with their trademark characteristic rohypnol rock-outs. There’s the intensity of "Suicide", the black humoured nod to illness on "The Tangent" ("I got so sick/ the nurses they’ve all quit!"), while the album’s title track is the sound of The Sex Pistols playing My Bloody Valentine with lacerating lyrics to match ("You operate/ Like no one else I know/ And your scalpel cuts/ Deep clean through my heart and my mind!"). From opener and new single "Come Save Us", the album is a shiver-down-the-spine onslaught which sounds like nothing else around right now.

Recorded over twelve chaotic months, it’s a wonder that Surgery ever saw the light of day. Three years of constant touring had taken their toll and the album was recorded against a backdrop of illness, tantrums, drug problems and band feuding. The Warlocks have gone through nineteen members in their short history. This is a band unafraid to take itself to the outer limits of endurance even if it almost kills them and it’s further proof, as if it were needed, that they’ve grown into a truly awe–inspiring rock group.

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