This is a call to arms
Supergroup is a word which is bounded around quite a bit. If a band has two or more members from other bands who have done well for themselves, they are a supergroup. Bands like Osaka Popstar, Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad and the Queen have all been given that illustrious title but what do you call a band which compromises of members of no less than nineteen bands including; Killing Joke, Napalm Death, Send More Paramedics, Hundred Reasons, Charger, Fightstar, New Model Army, Therapy and Hiding Place, to name but a few? Super-dupa group?
Already causing quite a bit of controversy with the album's cover artwork recreating 'The Last Supper of Christ' substituting apostles for controversial historical characters including, Adolf Hitler, Princess Diana, Elvis, Bill Gates, Marilyn Monroe and Josef Stalin, breaking bread with JC, who himself is represented as a two headed calf. With accusations of blasphemy, the band had to change artwork to appease distributors, but still the intensity and the rock and roll two fingers up at the world salute still remains within "The Scene is Dead".
Released independently by Mark Clayton and Jason Bowld (both from Pitchshifter), who compromise of the core band members along with Paul Fletcher and Gez Walton, each guest vocalist all brings something new to the mix. From the crashing tsunami of Colin Doran's 'Oversight ' to the crushingly brutal 'Beg for Silence' from Napalm Death's ever amazing Barney Greenway, each shade of the modern rock dynasty seems to be on show here. Although the album's title seems a self knowing point to the decline of good old fashion, earnest rock music, the new school is on show here with Fightstar's Charlie Simpson leaving behind those Busted days and screaming with the best of them on 'Avenue of Heroes' . Listening to this album, you can't help but feel that this is a last call to arms for several of the contributors here, with each seemingly proving themselves worthy in this new climate of metal core and emo.
It's probably fair to say that this is a collection of bands which probably haven't received the success that they should have previously deserved. Hundred Reasons, Send More Paramedics. Pitchshifter and Amen in their day should have been huge. Whether this album will change anything is yet to be seen, but the fact that many of the contributors are still plugging away, whether touring in their respective bands or still active in the music industry long after the demise of their band is a testament to each individual's integrity. This is a group of people who love music and that shines through above everything.