Well, a new day’s here and with it the new Chrome Hoof album, Pre-Emptive False Rapture. I’ve just started it playing it, and it’s delivering on everything that the reviews have promised. That is, it sounds like a metal band with a disco obsession playing Pentangle covers in a circle of Hell themed around 70s concept albums, which ironically is in many ways my definition of Heaven.
The Hoof are a ferocious live act; I saw them at Christmas, sharing a stage with the mighty Circulus. They represented darkness; Circulus were light. At the end of the evening, both bands merged to become *activates echo sound effect* HOOFULUS and gave us double headed folk metal Ragnarok, as the Hoof’s giant demon puppet capered around the hall, music merged with sword dancing on stage, and the audience went nuts.
No particular point in writing about this, beyond the fact that Circulus and Chrome Hoof are wonderful bands that everyone should hear. Tho’ come to think of it I’ve always been very inspired by Circulus.
A key part of their musical mission has always been to spread simple, uncomplicated joy. It’s very easy to get very hung up on the complexities and subtleties of creativity; and indeed, Circulus have spooky and interesting depths going on beneath the joyous prog-medieval mayhem.
But sometimes you’ve just got to stand back and say, ‘Isn’t it so wonderful that we’re all here just now, and we can all get together and do THIS!!!!’ – and that’s what they’ve reminded me to say to myself all the time, every time I’ve seen them play.