Labels: Paper and Plastick
Review by: MH
Medictation is a band featuring the late Dickie Hammond from Leatherface. Nothing I write could do his contribution to punk rock justice but what I will say is that he played in bands that made a big impression on me and that was over a ridiculously long period of time from when I was listening to “Mush” by Leatherface as a teenager in school and going to watch them play around London in the early 90s to their later records which culminated with “The Stormy Petrel” a few years ago which was up there with their best stuff. I also still listen to the H.D.Q. albums regularly. He was in a bunch of other bands that I’m less familiar with and will get around to checking out in the end.
Anyway, Medictation is the last recorded output featuring Dickie and is basically two ex-members of Leatherface and three members of Canadian punk band, The Sainte Catherines. It kind of goes without saying that this is going to be a punk rock record. There are similarities to Leatherface in the guitar sound and in the grittiness of the vocals as well as the melancholy slant to their songs. Dickie’s trademark guitar sound is prevalent throughout and will obviously appeal to Leatherface fans. Some songs to pick out would be the nostalgic and driven opener as well as “Gods and Glory” which is the pick of the bunch for me. I’m not going to tell you that this is the best album this genre has to offer but it’s a solid affair and has enough good songs to make this worth your while. It ends notably with an anthem of mistakes and regret called “Stalingrad” which sees Dickie take over on vocals.