They are finally back! And with they I mean one of Edinburgh’s finest loudest bands, Fatalists. Their debut album “Between the Aisles” has been a recurrent favourite on my iPod playlist ever since it was released in April 2010. Now singer/guitarist Zak Cotton, drummer John Pettie and new bass player Chris Sharples are back with this 2-track single/EP, which is a nice indication of what lies ahead of us, as Fatalists have a new album in the pipeline (hooray!).
The single Iron Boots kicks off with the characteristic Fatalists sound, which consists of loud slight distorted bass, complex drumming and intense guitar riffing and of course Zak’s gnarly, slightly shouting vocals. In this mixture of well-orchestrated noise they manage to create plenty of melody, which makes it a great song to listen to.
The first half of second track (or B-side) Maximum Man builds on a Primus inspired riff, but leaves that behind pretty quickly when the second half erupts in some crazy prog fest. It is noisy, funky, loud and all technically brilliantly played with different timings and drum fills thrown into your face, all played over the same repeating bass line.
Zak, John and Chris are some very talented musicians with a great passion for writing complex musical structures mixed with elegant noise and plenty of catchy riffs. Their new album should be a real treat!
Iron Boots/Maximum Man is released by Gamma Proforma and you can buy it for the price less than a pint here.
Words by Sander van den Driesche.
