(((O))) Review: Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell – The Trouble With The Shovell

Just a regular Sunday afternoon. And here I am, playing the indie retro arcade game Abathor on my XBOX whilst listening in to the new Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s album, The Trouble With The Shovell. When I heard a name like Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, I immediately thought to myself, “That’s a kick-ass name, right there!” Almost like the son of Budgie and Atomic Rooster, rolled into one. Well, if you think they’re a new band, think again.

This band have been around since 2008 in Hastings, East Sussex, England. A trio, who have unleashed four studio albums from Don’t Hear It… Fear It, to Very Uncertain Times. They have carried the ‘70s hard rock genre with a sludge-like attack, by proving themselves that they aren’t spring chickens when it comes to the metallic energy that is needed in their music.

Taken their name from a 17th century English naval commander, the Shovell’s get down and dirty with the energy and the power that is needed on the album released on Lee Dorrian’s Rise Above label. For Johnny Gorilla, Louis Wiggett and Glen Mitchel, they’re not acting like amateurs, nor showing off, they are down to the bone, playing gritty hard rock in how it’s supposed to sound, and believe me, they can really kick some motherfucking ass when it comes to the bluesy-driven sounds.

This power trio are bringing in the realms of not just the big names in the metal category, but as I’ve mentioned before; Budgie, Atomic Rooster, and let’s not forget; Sir Lord Baltimore. But there’s also; Buffalo, Leaf Hound, Blue Cheer, and Dust which featured Marky Ramone before joining up with the Ramones. That’s how proto-early Metal the trio have honoured to get those revved-up arrangements needed.

From the beer-drinking bar fights between ‘Kind Boy’ and ‘Sideways Barnacle’ to the dooming bass walk into the forest preparing for battle with ‘Slayed in Full’ which shows a nod to Black Mountain’s In The Future-era. ‘First City Seconds’ captures that gritty yet rough orientated motorcycle drive into the unknown as the ascend into the elevator ride of full-throttling guitar riffs on ‘A Better Day’.

How heavy can you get? Pure, in your face, and not give a shit attitude is how heavy the Admirals are. And they ain’t pulling in to stop for the night, they are going in for the ride which is what you have in your hands to get you up on your feet and head bang like crazy during the glam-rock stomper ‘Head in a Noose’.

I don’t want them to be compared to Sabbath, because it would be too much of a cop-out, but when you hear the lead and riff-like improvisations Johnny is doing, he’s giving Louis and Glen a chance to come in at the right time, at the right place for driving off into the night. Johnny is very much a metallic conductor in his own brainstorming momentum, and he’s laying down the lawn by hitting those fret boards like crazy.

Once we get down and doomy on the drug-orientated pill, ‘Blue Mountain Dust’, you have to prepare yourself to witness the heavy hallucinogenic kaleidoscopes coming into the frame with Johnny’s lead work and powering riffs that burst through the floodgates, then goes into this dance of death routine in a way he and Glen do by going in for the kill. That’s how unexpected and twisted the trio know their source material very well.

The Trouble With The Shovell captures Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell in their electrical magnitude – full maximum power. This is also my first time delving into the Admirals pool and being blown away on how raw and energetic the three-piece get the job done by having more fun and having more enjoyment about making sure that Metal isn’t dead, it just smells funny.

And that’s the best thing I could say about their new album. Put it on now, crank up the volume, and make sure you keep on headbanging until the crack of dawn, because it only gets louder and nastier than ever! And in the words of Bette Davis from the 1950 classic, All About Eve; “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”