Catherine Wheel
Chrome

THE REVIEW

It can be said that a generational step has been completed and that the influence of contemporary masters (still active) is beginning to be felt among younger pupils.

Catherine Wheel are part of the British indie-rock scene, yet they stand out in this broad scenario for some significant peculiarities. The allusion to medieval Gothic architecture contained in the name suggests a hypothetical stylistic profile: globally readable as a Gothic Rock project, these pieces of music are actually something more polychromatic, paraphrasing the album title.

The sound matrix is post-Manchester, dense and full-bodied rock, with the Stone Roses as the first reference. The union of delicate melodies and distorted guitars in Wall of Sound style shows that the teachings of The Jesus And Mary Chain in "Darklands" and "Honey's Dead" have been perfectly assimilated, also being a diamond no longer rough but finely cut that glistens with the romantic melancholy of the most recent Cocteau Twins (graceful and ethereal) and Cure (guitar-driven and in perfect balance between large spaces and intimacy).

Various episodes accentuate one component or the other: indie rock with dream-pop hues can be appreciated in "I Confess" and "Half Life", in other instances the harmonic scores are more expansive and imposing, as happens in "Pain", one of the best episodes of the album (where the broad and spatial rock of "From The Edge of The Deep Green Sea" echoes), or in "Strange Fruit"; the perfect architectural symbiosis between the various elements is achieved in "Brocken Head": cadenced, powerful drumming in perfect post-wave style (like "Bullet The Blue Sky"), a captivating melody recalling Ride's "Chrome Waves", and the space-psychedelic mood characterizing the best Spiritualized.

Perhaps the experimentalism of the suite "Ursa Major Space Station" stands at the same (high) level, in which case the dreamy space rock joins with electronic ambient-dub. Between British rock that has now entered the dimension of iconic classicism and (more or less) new sounds relevant to different stylistic spheres (electronic dub, shoegazing, new psychedelia...) Catherine Wheel demonstrate remarkable mastery of the lesson learned from various pioneers, as well as excellent skill in arranging the various elements (post-wave, dark, gothic rock) in their stylistic architecture, though perhaps the original contribution is the most limited, and (for the moment) limiting: in my opinion, there is potential, the sculptural beauty of this work is the clearest testimony, it remains to wait for time to flow "in upbeat" to eliminate unnecessary waste and fully liberate the talent of these musicians and the beauty of these Songs.