Punk has taken on many different forms over the years; from its humble garage rock beginnings to its polished pop sound of recent and yet, it’s certainly never been this groovy. Erotic Secrets Of Pompeii have managed to create some of the most chaotic, disconcerting fun and positively danceable music of the year. They Wouldn’t Let Me Write My Book is the Bristol band’s newest effort, which takes the already established fuzzy punk from their debut LP, and shoves it into a blender with bouncy drums, blistering riffs and apocalyptic vocals, before smashing the pulse blends and suitably melting your face.
Appreciation must be given to the increase in quality of the production; the wider panning of guitar and drum heads congeals into a real violent consumption of space and aids in the complete immersion. The track begins, ironically, with a world-ending drone of distortion, chugging drums, shimmering guitar and a crackling, nihilistic drawl about the lies told by society about freedom: “They told me sex would set me free”. The first movement ends with a sudden halt before launching into an onslaught of beats and riffage. The whole affair changes from this bleak doom-punk into an upbeat, aggressive, and in your face post-punk disco. The second movement contains this listener’s favourite section as the song opens up to fuzz guitars and surf-inspired trills of melody. And just when you think you’ve heard everything, it mutates into its final part, a funky stomp around of headbanging and knee-jerking proportions.
Anyone listening to They Wouldn’t Let Me Write My Book can find something to cling onto. Whether you fall for its madness, its hostility or its groove; you’re are going to fall hard for this organised chaos of post-punk shambles. “Recommend it at your leisure”.
