Thursday 1 September 2011

Big Business - Quadruple Single EP

Big Business
Quadruple Single EP
Gold Metal

Big Business never ever fails to sound heavy, and the trait admirably continues here on the ‘Quadruple Single EP’, their first release with newly-installed guitarist Scott Martin (400 Blows) and their first on their new label, Gold Metal. We’re still waiting for the full-length follow-up to ‘Mind the Drift’, but for now we’ll have to be content with this slab of sonic genius.

It maintains that thunderous feel throughout, opening with ‘Always Never Know When to Quit’. It’s right up there with other memorable Big Biz anthems such as ‘Grounds for Divorce’, ‘Just as the Day Was Dawning’, etc. The drums roll, the guitars squeal and the bass rumbles like the sound of hundreds, if not thousands of hooves pounding the savannah, as bassist/vocalist Jared Warren yelps over the top. Even with two guitarists on board, Warren and drummer Coady Willis are still the ones providing the horsepower. ‘Ice Cold War’ follows, a six-minute-plus machine that rumbles throughout. It shifts through a few different gears, culminating in a huge riff that gradually slows and crashes to an end.

‘City Ham’ isn’t quite as grand in scale but still maintains a heaviness and crunch in trademark Big Biz fashion, setting up nicely for the closer ‘Guns’, a one-chord stomp which leads to the gang chant of ‘guns are better than everything else!’ It’s a fine way to conclude proceedings, and one that’s guaranteed to have you repeating those words as though Warren is the drill sergeant, and you’re the grimy little maggot doing his bidding.

Put simply, Big Business continues to do what they do best – making quality heavy sludgened rock without giving a fuck about what anyone else does. Free of such restrictions, it’s onwards and upwards for this band. And it’s high time you paid attention.

Peter Clegg

‘Quadruple Single’ is streaming here. As soon as I find a decent link to actually purchase the thing, I’ll post it up here.

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