Four-piece progressive rock band from Manchester, Amplifier produce expansive, reverb-washed alt-rock designed for better living. Think Soundgarden meets Tool meets Oceansize with a pinch of Pink Floyd and you get the idea of their sound. Melodies are huge and the chords are pulled form a collapsing supernova.
Sel Balamir leads his band of merry men, Matt Brobin, Steve Durose and Alexander Redhead on journeys of sonic annihilation. At times their music shreds dimensional space and allows us to peek through and witness worlds beyond ours, worlds of snapping effects pedals and hissing filters.
Their debut album the self-titled Amplifier was several years in the making and I first heard a handful of tracks, including the epic opener ‘Motorhead’, on a four-track demo cassette back in 1999. It was obvious they were something special.
The album is a heady mix of pure ram-jet grunge and static-cracked ambience. ‘Motorhead’ must rank as one of the finest album openers of all time as it charges headlong into the record with roaring guitar, Sel's melodic folk-tinged vocals and poetic lyricism:
"Beneath a dirty blanket of distorted bass
there's music in my head
I heard a gasoline voice mixed with Marlboro reds…."
‘Airborne’ is bright and floating where ‘Panzer’ is dense and layered. ‘Old Movies’, ‘Post Acid Youth’ and ‘Neon’ are resplendent in their bright jacketed melodic wardrobes, consisting of distinct movements of noise and spacy expanses.
‘On/Off’ is a beautiful slow-build and once again demonstrates Sel's mastery of the poetic "Watching all the ash fall/Well it's just like cigarette snow/And when I'm stoned /I'm missing you my dear".
‘The Consultancy’ is a rock song pure of mighty riffs that tumble down and spin out with increasing ferocity. Damn right "there are too many rhinos for just one cage" as Sel opines. Guitar and voice occupy the same space working as one, dual waves of fraught energy until the voice withdraws and the guitars burst outwards spraying the scene with electrical sparks.
Closing out with the stunning shimmery bliss-core of ‘One Great Summer’ and ‘UFOs’, Amplifier have forged an album of such distinct and catchy chemistry that you are left with panting, head-spinning and blurred-out euphoria. It is intoxicating and addictive. I found myself reaching for the replay button almost immediately.
Buy, stream or borrow this album and keep it for future times, for they will come and hug you with all their might.
