Songs from somewhere between the mosh pit and the séance!
Released just in time for Halloween, ‘The Fields’ finds Birmingham trio BLDSUGR! doing their best to make October considerably less comfortable.
The band call their collision of punk, goth and doom metal “doom punk”, and it fits. Lolly, Leigh and Joe create something heavy, theatrical and pleasingly unhinged. Music with one boot in Birmingham’s industrial hard rocking past and the other planted firmly inside a punky pentagram.
Formed in 2024, BLDSUGR! have quickly built themselves a reputation for theatrical, confrontational live shows, mixing fake blood and gothic excess with a properly heavy musical undercarriage. They’ve already shared stages with BEX, Chris Catalyst, Be N!ce and Bobbie Dazzle, toured around the UK and steadily grown the sort of devoted following that suits a band whose own impressive publicity talks cheerfully of cults, rituals and dragging audiences into the underworld.
Now comes ‘The Fields’, a five-track EP landing on 28 October, conveniently close enough to Halloween to save the marketing department (or review writers) a considerable amount of effort.
The track list alone tells you roughly where we’re heading:
‘I Am Doomed’ opens proceedings with a short burst ofmelodic bass and eerie vocal, before the title track ‘The Fields’ kicks in with a burst of punk rock guitar that drives things kicking and screaming deeper into the gloom. But we gladly follow.
‘The Depths’ is rhythmic and very listenable and at times sounds like the ghost of Ozzy is lurking somewhere in the other worldly vibe of this excellent track.
‘Porphyria’s Lover’ continues the gothic melodrama. Dark romance, obsession and nightmare menace wrapped around serrated guitars, solid beats and Lolly’s spectral and at times deranged vocals.
Closing ‘I’m Not The Same’ builds from quiet beginnings to leave things suitably unsettled with the ensuing big riffs and Lolly’s soulful voice cutting through a solid almost prog rock track.
So, BLDSUGR! embrace witchcraft, horror and theatrical excess, but there’s a proper band underneath all the cobwebs. Leigh brings the rock riffs, Joe supplies the solid rhythmic thump and Lolly switches between ethereal enchantress and full-blown banshee.
It occasionally threatens to become too theatrical at times, but restraint would rather defeat the object. This is Halloween music made by people who would certainly see fake cobwebs as inadequate commitment.
Five tracks. Plenty of darkness. Absolutely no pumpkins required or tolerated. Turn the lights down and enter ‘The Fields’.
‘The Fields’ is out now – check it out HERE.
Main Photo Credit: FLOOD
EP Cover Art: JAIMEE PHILLIPS
- I Am Doomed
- The Fields
- The Depths
- Porphyria’s Lover
- I’m Not The Same
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Writer, lyricist, and guitarist with The Viral Breakdowns, radio presenter and passionate protagonist of Punk! From teenage rocker in the seventies, to playing my own original music in far flung parts of the world, I have a love for fast, loud, short sharp tunes with attitude and edge. Based in Chelmsford, you can find me out and about on the Essex and London music scene or rooting through the racks of record fairs, markets and car boot sales, looking for hidden punk rock treasures.
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