Been prodding at this new Bloody Head record for a while now. Gingerly nudging it with my toe, trying to figure it out as it writhes and squirms and periodically emits greasy fluid. The earlier releases weren’t nice, but you knew where you were with them: bouts of lumpy, hectoring noise-rock where the sharp or jagged or crunchy parts were tempered by a certain stickiness at the edges. ‘Perpetual Eden’, by contrast, is limber and spry. The stumbling gait has quickened, and the saggy flaps of gelatinous skin have slopped to the floor to reveal layers of raw, glistening muscle. It’s still, I guess, a noise-rock record, but the negative psychedelia has been yanked to the fore, and a fragmented bluesiness is more in evidence – as though The Groundhogs had gone fully round the bend after digging into the Boner Records catalogue. It’s twisted and gnarly, but also weirdly liberating: as though the band have gone all out in order to occupy their own very specific psychic niche, and are now maniacally encouraging you to throw off your shackles and follow suit.
