Men Without Armies

The music I'm about to describe is not for the faint of heart. This is muscular rock music, original and raw, but it can also be melodic and thoughtful. A fusion of high energy rock, electronic, jazz, classical, tinged with, what I hear as almost Celtic music. Confused? Wait and I will try to explain why I come to this conclusion.

I followed the band on Twitter some time ago and got to become acquainted with their music. After, I said, "Wouldn't Men Without Leggies be a better name?" Of course I was just having a laugh, which thankfully they too thought was funny.

Men Without Armies is essentially Brennan Dylan, a potent guitar and a studio of electronic equipment, pouring out highly original pieces. Brennan has been playing guitar since he was a wee laddie. His parents took him to play in clubs from the age of 15, where he played rock standards, as well as his own compositions. Now at 29, he is putting all his experiences into making his kind of sound. He is a prolific songwriter who has been recording for many years and has performed in venues from Los Angeles to New York.

For the purposes of this piece, I'm reviewing their self-named EP. This comprises six original songs, which feature Brennan's screaming guitar, raw vocals and tight rhythms, with hints of British 70's hard driven rock and touches of US anthemism.

First up is "NYC." With its jangly guitar and techno intro, it has shades of the mighty Hawkwind from the Silver Machine era. The melody is strong, with rasping vocals from Brennan. It hurtles along in an avalanche of notes, and keeping up the frantic pace until the last crashing chord. A very powerful piece of music.

The second track, "The Devil's Bride," is slightly more restrained than the first one, but its Lemmyesque vocal is astonishing. The beat is thunderous and unrelenting, but keeping the tune throughout. This song deserves to be heard on a wide scale. It has "hit" potential.

Track three, "The Gift." This begins with a very distinctive guitar riff underpinning the melody. Again, the raucous vocals are unleashed on this thumper of a tune. The pace gathers speed as it hammers towards the magnificent finale, guitars screaming...

As I end this third track, I have to say, the guitar playing on these songs is stunning.

Now, on to track four: "Metal Rain." This is less of an out and out rocker and has a hint of early Black Sabbath about it. Not that that's a bad thing. A repetitive hard crashing guitar behind the more relaxed vocal. This is quite anthemic and gets more so the longer one listens.

The fifth song is possibly my favourite one here. "Bitter Little Pill" is a nonstop riot of aggressive vocal, guitar and an all out assault on senses. A dazzling guitar solo really makes it stand out and rock hard. I love this type of flat out 100 mph music with a touch of Motorhead banging the brain cells.

The final track on this monstrous EP is "She Wears Plastic." The guitar intro feels and sounds like musical notes being fired from a machine gun, like platinum tipped bullets. This fusillade is the precursor to a manic, melodic tune with, at some points, the guitar sounding like bagpipes being strangled by a hyena. This really rocks from the start to the crashing crescendo of the finale.

On the second recording by Men Without Armies, Strapped and Loaded is another tour de force of guitar and vocal virtuosity, showing the full range of Brennan's talent. If you enjoyed the first EP, the next one will blow your mind!

In closing, I think these six songs stand up well, and are also better than many of the current and past masters of this type of ear crunching, wolf guitar howling music.

There is also an EP of instrumental tunes called Walking Through Fire. This is a suite of extremely fine guitar playing from Brennan. It has wonderful melodies as well as seriously strong rock tracks. Definitely worth repeated listening.

I will review Walking through Fire and Strapped and Loaded separately at a later date.