New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Manchester indie rock outfit The
Speed Of Sound present 'Apocalypse Metropolis', the latest offering from their album 'A Cornucopia: Victory', the second of the three-album set 'A Cornucopia: Minerva, Victory, Bounty', released via Big Stir Records. Earlier, the band shared videos for several tracks from this album - 'Apocalypse Acropolis', 'Underground' and 'The Same River'.
Formed in 1989, The
Speed of Sound is made up of father and son John Armstrong (guitars and vocals) and Henry Armstrong (keyboards), Ann-Marie Crowley (vocals and guitar),
Kevin Roache (bass guitar) and John Broadhurst (drums). Their music has always been idiosyncratic and counter-intuitive, in search of something new. Creating music with lyrical bite, expanding their foundation of 1960s, punk and new wave influences, their dynamic and stylistic variation crossing borders and pushing boundaries at every opportunity.
Twinned musically with 'Apocalypse Acropolis', linked yet totally different in approach, feel and sound. 'Apocalypse Metropolis' envisions a bright, bustling, busy cityscape, of traffic noise and neon lighting creating shadows and glamour, reflecting a civilisation continuing onwards unaware of its imminent collapse. A three-line phrase skates across eight bars and then shifts in 3/4 time as Bob Dinn's glorious trumpet is given free rein while ascending piano and vocal harmonies combine with a first
Speed Of Sound usage of a string section. This is the very definition of the unexpected.
Full of ambition, energy and melodic brilliance, this three-album deluxe edition is available on vinyl and CD. Accompanying the earlier-released 'Minerva' album, The
Speed of Sound shared videos for the hauntingly spacious 'Trickledown', the stratospherically vast 'The Great Acceleration', the uplifting 'Mind Palace' and 'West Wind', where a recklessly fast rhythm merges with a Wagnerian horn section.
Grounded yet trippy, this song brings a sobering view of the future. A 12-string picking pattern gives way to elevated vocals and overdrive, all while surveying a dead civilisation of industrial ruins and artefacts overtaken by nature, reclaiming the crumbling walls and empty windows of once self-important commercial buildings. All the workplace stress and crushing pressure of deadlines amounted to nothing. Industrial decay merges, becoming inseparable from the ruins of war which drives so much of that trade.
Following 2021's critically acclaimed album 'Museum Of Tomorrow', this trilogy sees the band returns triumphant, defiant and redemptive, marking their 35th anniversary. Most music is never even recorded, and most recorded music remains unheard. 'Victory' is a celebration of this unheard underground music and the counterculture itself - music made for the pleasure of making it.
'Victory' includes 14 wide-ranging pieces of unheard and highly contagious fresh and unexpectedly shape-shifting grooves. From the supremely danceable 'Underground' through the unabashed sensuality of 'Monsoon' to the gothic lounge jazz of 'Permafrost' and the strangely linked pairing of 'Apocalypse Acropolis' and 'Apocalypse Metropolis', they offer something special here.
From the hypnotic orange-and-sandalwood scented wisps of masala rock in 'Rock Paper Scissors', acoustic powered spaceflight 'in From The Cradle To The Stars' and the reckless garage punk punch of 'Go For It', it becomes clear. There is the data scraping warning of 'X-Y Axis', the post-nostalgia of 'The Same River',and swaggering rock with a pinch of Brazilian sway in 'A Walk By The Sea', while 'E to F' displays glam rock tendencies and a pinball metaphor before the soaring harmonies of 'Empathic Reaction' and ending with the triumphant shimmering elegance of 'Tranquility Falls'.
The full trilogy 'A Cornucopia: Minerva, Victory, Bounty' is out now and can also be obtained on CD or vinyl.
All songs written by John Armstrong
John Armstrong - guitars and vocals
Ann-Marie Crowley - vocals and guitars
Kevin Roache - bass guitar
John Broadhurst - drums
Henry Armstrong - keyboards
Bob Dinn - trumpet and flugelhorn
Chris Guest - harmonium, vibraphone, organ, shakers, tambourine
Alex Armstrong - typewriter on 'Yet Another Tuesday'
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered at Vibratone Sound Studio in Manchester by Chris Guest, Adam Crossley and The
Speed of Sound
Main sleeve image: Purple Spaceman © Lina Landers 2022
Artist photographs by Shay Rowan
'VICTORY' TRACK LIST:
01. Apocalypse Acropolis
02. From The Cradle To The Stars
03. Go For It
04. Underground
05. Rock Paper Scissors
06. X-Y Axis
07. The Same River
08. A Walk By The Sea
09. E to F
10. Apocalypse Metropolis
11. Empathic Reaction
12. Permafrost
13. Monsoon
14. Tranquility Falls
