Labels: Deranged – Helta Skelta
Review by: Alex Deller
Picked up a Helta Skelta 7″ a while back and enjoyed it enough to give this here LP a whirl. ‘Beyond The Black Stump’, their second full-length, combines a range of sharp, spiky punk rock styles, from the Wipers’ dour boom to snotty, blowin’-smoke-in-yer-ugly-puss ’77 vibes and the dislocated disaffection of countrymen ECSR and Power. Songs mulling football, cigs, telly and flick knives are delivered with a curtness of sound reminiscent of Wire and a detached, dismissive vocal delivery, this latter point occasionally keeping you at such a distance that it can seem difficult to engage with the songs as well as you might like. Overall, though, it’s strong stuff and good enough to keep me keep on listening – even if I do imagine them gazing at me with bitter disdain every damn time the record spins.