Retro is sometimes viewed as a dirty word in music, bands taking a sound and style that has been used successfully in the past and recycling it for today's market. Some bands though can take those past influences twist them round, turn them over and come up with something new and exciting, retaining the grooves of the past but injecting something of themselves into those grooves. Cybernetic Witch Cult are one of those bands and on their debut " Morlock Rock" they show that "retro" can be a good thing ...in the right hands.
There is no doubt that "Morlock Rock" has its roots set firmly in the 70's, both musically and lyrically, its lyrics mirroring a love of sci-fi and horror b-movies and its music nodding its head towards Sabbath and Pentagram and their ilk. Cybernetic Witch Cult are no clones though and manage to avoid the trap of trying to sound like their heroes by injecting a feeling of fun and a sense of humour throughout the eight songs that make up this album. Songs like "Tyrannosaurus Hex" and "Cybernetic Witch" rock out with a dark doomy edge, infectious, well played and full of hooks but you can't help but feel that the band had their tongues firmly stuck in their cheeks while writing them.
Lead vocals and guitar are handled by Alex Wylde his vocal tone clean and slightly nwobhm in style and his guitar tone dirty and distorted, ripping out wah drenched solos and fills as well as thrashing out monster riffs. Kale Dean (bass,vocals) and Liam Stocks (drums) work like shire horses filling out the sound with their respective instruments, plugging the gaps with booming bass lines and thunderous percussive work. Together these three musicians are a force to be reckoned with and in "Morlock Rock" have produced an album that although blatantly "retro" in flavour has enough of "today" in its grooves to placate any of those naysayers.
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