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POSSESSOR
Gravelands

APF (2019)
Rating: 9/10

Boasting a nice algae-green cover that reminds me of a village pond, London, England-based rockers Possessor come haphazardly stumbling and flailing like Motörhead on acid for their fourth full-length release.

This is the first album to feature new bassist Ellie Mathews, who does a fine job of fusing her rusty strings with Graham Bywater’s clattering axe rhythms and Bean Radford’s scrapyard drums which sound as if they’ve just joined forces with the grinding generator that hisses, spews and whirs its way through the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And that’s what I love about every Possessor record, the ability of the formation to provide a buzzing, occult-biased rock that should always be accompanied by the viewing of a video nasty… on VHS of course.

Gravelands pukes up seven rather concise tracks that exude a punk menace. ‘Backwoods’ is a prime example of the wholesome cacophony this creepy trio radiates; bringing a menace and yet catchy doom-cum-stoner vibe and as Bywater hisses “The things I’ve seen, the things i know, from cosmic highs to grizzly lows”. I’m finding that this sentence sums up the experience of listening to Possessor; the grizzly lows provided by the band’s grimier, nasty exultations whereas the cosmic highs come from the demonic rattling supplied by tracks such as ‘Backwoods’ where Bywater is also eager to tell us that they are the “masters of the macabre” over a wailing dirt ‘n’ roll garage riff that is one moment The Cramps, the next Ministry, or even the lesser known Malhavoc.

‘Savage Rampage’ features some truly ugly riffing; the drums of Radford just cause heaps of orange dust to take to the air as Mathews continues her assault on those strings like a mad witch plucking hair from a frazzled cat. Kudos also for a mention of my one of my favourite movies, The Town That Dreaded Sundown.

At the other end of the spectrum, ‘Breathe Fire’ is a straight up sun-drenched cosmic rocker that gallops like a sunburnt coyote chasing its prey down. But for me, it’s ‘Creature Of Havoc’ which ups the ante; the opening chords rumbling like some long lost New Wave Of British Heavy Metal gem before the sinister thunder claps emerge on the wave of Bywater’s sinister sneers. It’s a great title for a track too and I’m tempted to ask the band if it was taken from a 1980’s Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook?! Either way, Possessor continues its musty reign; churning out claustrophobic basement rock to a soundtrack of a humid electrical storm while retro Halloween skeletons and masks dangle from the walls and leer at the wary listener.

The eight-minute ‘Hitchhike To Hell’ provides further devilish delights, conjuring images of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie again with lyrics that speak of an old rusty box lying the road within the coils of a snake. It’s hard to believe then that this trio of terror was born out of grimy old London town, because Possessor really does have the musical qualities of a descent into 80s video Hell. As Graham Bywater screams of the hitchhike to Hell, I for one am glad that I came along for the ride having followed the band since its inception in 2013.

So, if you like your music filthy, dark, and coated in the same mould that plagued so many video cassettes back in the 80s, then dive in to this fully-fried and catchy as Hell smorgasbord of retro lashings and scuzzy, amplified demonic yelps which will have you chasing damsels in distress through your local woods while dressed as your favourite horror movie character. Possessor rocks in pure algae-coated, occult electricity.

Neil Arnold

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