Gastwerk Saboteurs [LP]

Imperial Wax are the surviving members of the last and longest running edition of legendary Manchester post-punk band The Fall. Their debut album is Gastwerk Saboteurs. As the core of The Fall drummer Keiron Melling, bassist Dave ''The Eagle'' Spurr and guitarist Pete Greenway served 11 years, recording six full-length studio albums with Mark E Smith. They recruited fellow Northerner Sam Curran as lead vocalist and second guitarist and dubbed the new act Imperial Wax (in honor of the first album they recorded with Smith, Imperial Wax Solvent). While assuredly reminiscent of The Fall, Gastwerk Saboteurs succeeds at blazing a new trail. Still dense, noisy and atheistic in regards to genre the approach is (slightly) more melodic and punk in vibe. Imperial Wax seem poised to join the canon of great Manchester-bred acts that includes Joy Division, Happy Mondays and The Buzzcocks.