Nottingham sisters Nyrobi and Chya a.k.a. ALT BLK ERA are rapidly becoming Mayhem favourites. This follows them being included in the Mayhem Virgins series, a review of their incredible BBC Introducing Stage headline set at this year’s Leeds Festival, a brief interview with them in a noisy press tent at Leeds in August, and an appearance in the Mayhem charts. Well in amongst all that action, they released their first EP, ‘Freak Show’ which contains five stupendous tracks, some of which have been heard before, along with some excellent new stuff. The opener “I’m Normally Like This” has been available for a while and is a sublime anthem for those who dare to be different. This is for all the misfits, the misplaced, the weirdos, and the oddities, We love you all! ALT BLK ERA is the perfect support act for Delilah Bon. Compatible tunes and parallel passion! “Misfits: SOLAR” has been out there a little while too and is another perfect ode to the outcasts and the unaccepted. This is your call to arms, embrace your originality and shout a big FUCK YOU to the world if they don’t accept who you are!
The title track “Freak Show” does exactly what it says on the tin and so much more. It has shades of full-on dark industrial rock, gorgeously twisted vocals, and hooks that stun you into submission and would not be out of place on the soundtrack to a Tim Burton movie. Perhaps a sequel to ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’. The alternative version of the previously mentioned “Misfits”, known as “Misfits: LUNAR” is the synth and string-laden take of the tune which oozes Gary Numan’s darkest moments and achieves a stygian dark mood that Trent Reznor would be proud of. The EP closes with “Oggy” which on paper should not really work, but on record, it is petrifying in its horrific, twisted beauty. As a live track, it is unsurpassable. That “oggy oggy oggy” chant possibly originates from Devonian Tin-miners’ wives or pasty sellers who apparently shouted it to their men, mostly miners. The firm response from any hungry miner was allegedly “Oi Oi Oi”. Is there a merch opportunity for ALT BLK ERA pasties? Maybe not, but pastry-covered meat treats aside, this is a monumentally fucking awesome EP. ALT BLK ERA has the potential to become planet-straddling huge rock stars!
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