Kleptocracy
Well, since I found the password to the blog it seems rude not to mark the auspicious occasion of a new album from the band that kickstarted this whole venture, doesn’t it? I’ve had a few previous tracks for a while but thought it worth waiting ’til release before committing type to box.
It feels like this album’s been a long time coming, it arrived on streaming platforms yesterday and the postman brought me my pre-order this morning – idiot me bought two black LPs rather than a red and a black one. D’oh! My chimpish oversight gladdened slightly by the inclusion of THREE signed postcards.
In digital or CD format there’s a smorgasbord of sixteen tracks, stripped back to ten for the vinyl format. The latest generation of Ferocious Dog feels more at home with the rabble-rouser anthems than some of the more poetic elements thrown into the mix of previous albums. With the political landscape as it is, and political luminaries like Ben Bradley and Lee Anderson looming large in their area of the country it’s perhaps not a surprise there’s a more overt protest feel for this collection of songs.
Launching into Witch Hunt sets the tone quite nicely, fast folk punk issues an immediate call to the mosh put with a chugging beat and bass overlaid with intricate instrumentals and rasping vocals from Ken. We’ve already heard SUS Laws as it was released – it grabbed me straight away because of the stunning fiddle arrangement – which I realised I’d heard before, Jamie has repurposed the strings from Montagu’s Harrier from his past life with The Silk Road – it’s a beautiful composition and fits well into a full song rather than a pure instrumental.
Title track Kleptocracy has more than a whiff of Levellers about the instrumentation (which is certainly no bad thing!) before Ken’s distinctive vocals kick in to make it unmistakably Ferocious Dog albeit with some nice electric guitar licks giving it a rocky undertone. I wondered if Iron Mike Malloy might be the traditional cover FD usually throw in to their albums – I’m not sure it is though, it’s a tub-thumping tale of a real character – an Irishman living in New York with a fascinating back story, worth reading up on. There’s shades of Pogues about the sound here, which is deeply appropriate!
What kind of albums would this be without a song about rebellion, Merthyr Rising provides this – whistles and percussion with bouncing lyrics give an almost medieval feel before the song kicks in to a full on dervish. We do get some respite from the energy that maybe the influx of youth into the band of late has brought, A Place We Called Home is a charming duet ballad talking of love through the hardest of times, with a stunning contribution from Lizzey Ross providing the other half of the story. A real highlight for me, but then I always crave a bit of melancholy. This is lovely.
Blood Soaked Shores brings us back into protest mode – acoustic guitar and vocals start before the band joins in to another mosh pit stomper. Darker Side of Town sees Kyle take the vocals and judging by the electric guitar lead probably the songwriting too – as a huge fan of Pocket of Madness and his work with The Outlines, this is a very welcome addition! It brings a different dynamic to the album which I really like. Matty Groves is the traditional cover inclusion – probably best known from Fairport Convention‘s version – this is predictably on steroids and a few grammes of something probably more illicit!
Running with the Hounds is almost a reprise of Hell Hounds that of course fans of Ferocious Dog took their nickname – starting slow with guitar and light percussion, then lighter fiddle-driven instrumentation to give a little respite from the pace and heaviness – I really like this little break, we get a little build in intensity towards the end of course, but just in depth of tone rather than pace, then a faster instrumental reel built from the track melody at the end.
We have another slow starter in Moby Dick, string melodies almost evoking images of Tetris and gull calls kick into a lively telling of Herman Melville’s famous novel. Unusually for FD there’s some ‘la la la’ type singalongs here, and that’s most definitely no bad thing! Anger on the Streets kicks in with heavy guitar and instrumentation and properly angry vocals – it’s quick and to the point, and evocative I’m sure of how many feel with the state of politics both home and abroad at the moment.
Brixton’s Burning is back to a folkier sound – albeit still with the anger, but soaring instrumentals and pauses. You get two choices for The Protest Singer, a bluesy harmonica-infused Americana version that would be great for a ho-down, or a slower paced folksy version – they both work really well! I like the Voltaire quote in there – “it’s dangerous to be right, when your government is wrong” – indeed! (Don’t think that makes me well-read, my main knowledge of Voltaire comes from watching Sharpe, haha!
Which leaves us with Tell God and the Devil, starting with some banjo before kicking in with drum, bass and soaring fiddle at pace with vocals describing the trials and tribulations of working in the mines, something I’m in awe of that people used to do – it’s hard to imagine that kind of endurance when you’re an office-softened numpty like me!
As I write the band will have just rocked out the 100 Club in London and will be preparing to unleash an all day event at Rock City in Nottingham – it’s sure to be a high energy show. I do hope Ken’s got his ‘I can’t talk lots’ sign ready as it promises to be hard work on his voice!
