Having already chalked up some serious previous in the criminally underrated Sid Presley Experience, South London’s The Godfathers cut an aggressive swathe through 80s indie rock, upholding old-fashioned rock’n’roll values in an age of faddish synth poppers.
Eighteen years after the release of final studio album Afterlife, their return finds them battle-scarred but unrepentant. Opener Let Your Hair Hang Down is the sound of Ian Astbury fronting the Jim Jones Revue, while Back To The Future is a knuckle-dusting declaration of intent where Peter Coyne screams, ‘Rock’n’roll music for ever and ever!’ with a lifer’s menace.
If a Mariachi-tinged Theme To The End Of The World is as spooky as a rendezvous with a Mexican drug cartel, only Man In The Middle – quite possibly a score-settling pot-shot at departed guitarist Kris Dollimore – finds them dwelling on countless deals gone wrong. Instead, by Lennon-esque send-off Thai Nights – creepy by dint of its sheer loveliness – you’re left marvelling at the resilience of their gangsters-with-guitars vision.
