Jim Davies is someone who you might well have never have heard of, despite performing in one of the biggest bands around. Formerly a member of The Prodigy and Pitchshifter, he has largely been away from the commercial music scene for the past few years, preferring to work on music for TV and film. However, that has now changed and he’s back with a brand new release entitled Headwars.
The production on this album is top notch with everything sitting rather nicely in the stereo-space. The bass sinks deep and no instrument drowns out one another. ittedly, you do need a good set of speakers to fully experience the fullness of the bass, but even on a cheap bluetooth speaker the albums sounds great. Top marks to the audio engineer.
Opening up the album, “Headwars” combines elements of Jim’s past with slightly more modern musical trends. You’ll find synths aplenty with a healthy smattering of overdriven guitar riffs at just the right moments to thicken up the sound. “Control + Z” follows and dials up the guitar presence a bit with overdriven guitars being used throughout the vast majority of the track. Again, they’re not overdone and done to just the right the amount. The song hearkens back to Jim’s Pitchshifter time with the drumming from Jason Bowled and further guesting from Mark Clayden. It’s a fine example of the genre and is one of the highlight tracks on the album.
“Trigger Finger” is one of those tracks that would be very much at home in a nightclub situation with its heavy electronic elements courtesy of Tut Tut Child. Whilst it is more of a dance track than a ‘rock’ number, it’s still a very good song and one that is very much at home the album. The same can be said of “Game Of Faces” and “Zombie”. Whilst the former is more of a slower reflective track that’d be common on any modern ‘pop’ music album, the latter is more ‘drum n bass’ mixed with a bit of punk rock. Whilst that might sound weird, it works very well and makes for a highly enjoyable listen.
“Caged” is probably the most ‘rock’ style track on the album, with the overdriven guitars and guest drumming from Jason Bowled providing a lot of the oomph. It’s a welcome change from the electronic heavy former tracks and keeps things nice and fresh. The electronic elements then come back fully with following tracks “Now You Know” and “Defector” being firmly in the ‘electronic’ side of rocktronica.
Rounding out the album, “We Set The Pace” and “Modify Me”, featuring Tut Tut Child and Abbie Aisleen respectively, continue the electronic heavy soundscape with a nice amount of variety in the soundscape. The former takes a techno heavy style with deep cutting saw-bass leads whilst the latter puts more of a focus on the vocals of Abbie, which are magnificent by the way. The tracks are both unique in their own way and serve their purpose in rounding out the varied album.
For those that are fans of The Prodigy and Nine Inch Nails style of music, this release will feel right at home. It’s got a nice mix of electronic elements and guitars along with some tracks which you can have a good rave to. For the average metal and rock listener however, this record might feel like a bit much. There’s more synths and electronic drums than guitars which might initially put some off. If you can look past that however, there’s a very well written and crafted album of songs from a very underrated and under-appreciated member of the music scene.
Headwars is available now – order it from Amazon and help this site
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