ALBUM REVIEW: Slalom D – Waltz Into Anarchy (Serial Bowl Records)
It’s a well-worn adage that bands who have released a fine debut album often struggle with their second.
Years of ideas and creativity are poured into the first, while the follow-up can prove more troublesome, as bands seek to move on musically, or simply try to avoid making the same record again.
Nobody seems to have told Sunderland punk band Slalom D about second album syndrome. Or if they did, they stuck two fingers up at them and cracked on anyway.
Waltz Into Anarchy is the D’s second album, and their first for local DIY punk and hardcore label Serial Bowl. It comes two years after their self-released debut, Happy Skies (reviewed here), an album so good it topped my 2021 end of year Top 40 rundown.
The four-piece have become five since then, adding Andrew ‘Goober’ Scobie on synths, and he fills out their often cacophonous sound even more – as if it needed it!
Slalom D wear their hearts and politics on their sleeves, unashamedly opinionated, left-wing, anti-fascist and proudly working class. Regulars on the North East gig circuit, they’ve expanded their fanbase considerably with appearances at the last two Rebellion festivals.
It’s easy to see why they’re one of the best up and coming bands on the punk scene; with a sound harking back to Killing Joke and the Dead Kennedys, but with their own distinctive twist, they’re a force to be reckoned with.
Producer Phil Jackson has again done a tremendous job of making Slalom D sound good; Iain Murray’s drums have been brought right up in the mix, but Tony Lindstedt’s bass and Gary Roberts’ coruscating riffs still have space to be heard.
The beating heart of Slalom D is vocalist Fiona Duncan, who has a strident voice, offering passion and compassion in equal measure, to go with an impressive stage presence.
There’s no gentle introduction to Waltz Into Anarchy, it’s straight down to business with Red, which slams the senses and demands to be heard, while Empire is more of the same, driven along by juddering bass, thunderous drums, and haunting synths as it celebrates the end of British imperialism.
Title track Waltz Into Anarchy warns of the end of things as we know them, while lead single The Burning Days reminds us that the ‘good old days’ maybe weren’t so wonderful after all.
L’appel Du Vide describes the impulse to hurl yourself into a void – something we’ve probably all felt like doing as we watch the world around us turn to shit. It’s full of chugging guitar and menacing bass, and I like this song more every time I listen to it.
Cat And Dogs, which comes next, is right up there with Slalom D’s very best songs. Nominally about a place on their hometown’s shore, where the river meets the sea, it’s about looking back with rose-tinted specs as Fi sings: “Here’s to all innocence lost, here’s to our dead river”.
There’s even better to come as Cold delivers a damning verdict on the Tories’ handling of health and energy crises: “Keep your loved ones safe from harm, protect them if they’re old? We want to keep you safe, so we can kill you with the cold.” Powerful stuff.
Gen X is another standout track which will resonate with anyone born between 1965-1980 as they mourn their lost youth and the onset of middle or old age. “Have we really had our time, ‘cos we’ve all had a blast?/No use looking back, when the past is in the past”.
As a Gen X-er myself, these words ring so true, as do the lines: “How did it all go by so fast, we’ve still got so much left to say?/We are the Generation X, are we even relevant today?”
Discordance is another song which sees Slalom D at full throttle. It’s about seeking harmony in a world of dischord, and it’s probably the song which would probably fit best on the previous album.
The lyric “What happened to the songs we used to sing along, together all as one?” has never sounded more appropriate, with division everywhere you look.
Slalom D sing about weighty subjects, but show they have a sense of humour too with Soldier On, which insists “This is a happy song, no complaining here, we’re smiling all the time, there’s no time for tears”. Ok, Fi, we believe you!
It’s almost time to say goodbye, which leaves Sound of Her Wings, which at five and a half minutes is not only one of the longest songs they’ve done, but also one of the most different.
There’s an elegiac quality to the first half of the song, which sounds like it’s mourning the loss of a loved one, before the anger kicks in and things get heavier before reaching an almost hymnal denouement.
Waltz Into Anarchy is a very different album to Happy Skies, but every bit its equal, particularly the second half, which contains some of their very best work so far. Do yourself a favour and get into the D. 9/10.
- Waltz Into Anarchy is available from Serial Bowl Records HERE on limited edition CD, red 12in vinyl or as a download, or physically from the band at their gigs.
