Description
Ambea007 Barcode: 5060174952470
May 2016
Disc One: – Original Album Remastered
1. Monolith
2. Nobody’s Driving
3. The Power Remains
4. Time Bomb
5. Last Will & Testament
6. I.C.B.M
7. Chain Reaction
8. Fallen From Grace
9. Coming Home
10. The Power Remains Demo Bonus
11. Last will & Testament Demo Bonus
12. I.C.B.M Demo Bonus
13. Chain Reaction Demo Bonus
Disc Two:
Birmingham Mermaid 12th September 1987
1. Monolith –Nobody’s driving
2. Axeman
3. Fallen from grace
4. Time bomb
5. The power remains
6. Arise!
7. Drink & be Merry
8. ICBM
9. Chain reaction
10. Coming Home
11. Nobody’s driving- Live Bath
12. Fallen From grace –Live Bath
13. Arise –Live Bath
14. Drink & Be Merry – Live Bath
tom (verified owner) –
They’ve done such a brilliant job of this re-issue. Its stunning. Amebix always had a wildness at the core of their sound that you didn’t hear in other crust-punk-metal crossover bands of the time. And this re-master really captures that wildness. Amebix’s music is the music of wild places, of mountains and moors. Of the heath.
And the re-mastered sound is amazing. Although I liked the original album, this sounds so much better. Its almost like listening to a different album. Without a doubt, its one of the best re-masters I’ve ever heard. The live CD is fabulous as well. They were a great live band, really powerful. As a frontman, the ‘Baron’ completely dominates the proceedings. He’s often compared to Lemmy for his vocal style. But he was equally a match for Lemmy when it came to sheer strength of character and on stage presence. At one point he’s actually telling the audience that they’re not as good as the audience the night before and that they should be jumping around more, making more of an effort. Talk about having balls like barrage balloons! He’s like a biker version of a sergeant major. The drumming has got a tribal edge to it and Stig’s guitar sounds like a column of Panzer tanks heading into battle. No-one else has ever made a guitar churn and ‘clank’ like he did. Its a raw, sweaty, electrifying performance.
Amebix were one of those rare bands who really lived for their music. Their spectral,emaciated figures in band photos of the time show just how much they battled/struggled/starved in the process of making this album. As Amebix have confirmed, the key to making such great songs was total commitment combined with varying degrees of homelessness, poverty, petty crime, near starvation and, of course, huge amounts of cheap cider and industrial strength drugs. How they managed to survive, never-mind write such quality songs under those circumstances, is incredible. You just don’t get bands like Amebix anymore. They were the real deal.
simon reynolds (verified owner) –
In very short speak, a great CD. As mentioned in other review (so far, writing this 24/08/16), an excellent remaster, indeed it’s like listening to another album, but not in any bad way… ALL good!
The original is still a classic in its own right, but IMOH this brings more out of the album and for the better.